The role of location in education should not be underestimated (Bæck U. 2016), as it is crucial for young people’s educational performance and young people’s future careers. Empirical evidence from around the world indicates significant differences between urban and rural settings in this regard (Green and Corbett, 2013 cited in Bæck, 2016), with urban schools coming out on top (Metsämuuronen & Seppälä, 2022). Moreover, urban schools are observably the norm against which all schools are measured (Bæck, 2016).
It is clear that the regions that demonstrate greater potential and have more promising future prospects are those that boast a high share of educated young people (Karlsdottir and Cuadrado, 2020). This plays an important role in social cohesion and economic performance, as young people’s school performance and drop-out rates cannot be separated from their social context (Lundgren et al., 2020). Moreover, social factors influence young people’s motivation, self-belief and, subsequently, their performance at school and career choices (Nissinen, K., et al., 2018). It is widely accepted that a person’s labour market prospects are tightly connected to how long they stayed in upper-secondary education, i.e. whether or not it was completed (Karlsdottir and Cuadrado, 2020). Boys are the most vulnerable group, especially those with immigrant backgrounds, and are significantly affected by the income and educational achievements of their parents (Karlsdottir and Cuadrado, 2020).
Geographical inequalities are also observable in relation to the degree of urbanisation, with rural areas having a higher share of dropouts than their urban counterparts. The role of geography is important, and the complexity of rural areas may themselves cause inequality (Karlsdottir and Cuadrado, 2020), which may have an impact beyond just disparities in educational performance between rural and urban schools. Educational policies across the Nordic countries need to recognise their inherent bias and acknowledge education’s powerful role in unlocking regional and local prosperity.
This is also the case for access to education in native languages. Access to language training in education institutions (and public services) was raised as a point of inequality in the Sami population in Finland (Weckström, Kekkonen, & Kekkonen, 2023). The lack of education opportunities in native languages is often attributable to a lack of resources (Lehtola & Ruotsala 2017 in Weckström, Kekkonen, & Kekkonen, 2023). Moreover, in certain parts of Greenland, for example, limited language training in Danish or English reduces young people’s access to higher education in these languages. As choices for higher education in Greenlandic are limited, and are often offered in Danish rather than Greenlandic, this leads to inequality. However, it is possible to offer education in native languages. One of the world’s smallest universities, Fróðskaparsetur Føroya in the Faroe Islands, offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, along with PhD opportunities, in Faroese (Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, 2023). The university’s strategic plan for 2020–2024 emphasises its commitment to addressing local, national and international challenges and serving the specific needs of the Faroe Islands (University of the Faroe Islands, 2020, pp. 4-5).
The University Centre of the Westfjords is another example of educational relevance to the local labour market, and has had great success in bringing higher education to rural areas. It works with other universities to offer hybrid forms of remote teaching, and currently serves around 100 distance-learning students. It also operates two master’s programmes that are closely linked to the local economy: Coastal and Marine Management; and Coastal Communities and Regional Development. By providing facilities for group work, reading rooms, and teleconferencing for students and researchers, young people in the Icelandic Westfjords can easily access higher education without having to relocate. It is crucial to consider at what level education institutions in rural areas should be operating, and the role they play in the local or regional labour market and economies.
As urban settings are the presupposed norm and the “end goal”, rural education institutions currently serve as “a quintessential institution of disembedding, making young people adaptable, flexible and mobile” (Corbett, 2001, p. 312). In other words, the structure of the current education system and curricula are intended to provide a “way out” of rural areas. The old idea of a “class mobility”, which entails movement from the rural to the urban, always upwards, and always “growing”, still plays a prominent role in Western attitudes of what constitutes a good or “fulfilling” career (Adams & Komu, 2021). In order for rural areas to thrive in the future, it is important to take a conscious approach to education in these areas, to offer education that serves the local and functional labour market, and to understand the complexities of educational performance.
Recommendations:
Work to maintain and develop smaller schools in rural areas, as they are important for both children and the local community. At the same time, cooperation should be promoted between smaller schools.
Introduce mandatory short-term internships at a local business, so that all young people can gain insight into working life in their local area. The internships should be one or two weeks long and can be spread between school years. This will increase collaboration between schools and workplaces and help show rural youth what local businesses and public offices have to offer.
Invest in vocational education and training by increasing its visibility and enhancing connections between vocational education and training and local businesses. This will open doors for young people, address skills mismatch, and provide a labour force for rural businesses.
Invest in career counselling and guidance for students to show the diverse range of opportunities available in rural areas, while also providing favourable scholarships and financial incentives for college students living in rural areas.
Mainstream satellite university campuses and offer more hybrid, flexible learning options for college students. These hybrid options, including online courses, remote work and distance learning centres, will allow students to maintain connections to rural areas while pursuing higher education. Improved models for hybrid studies at university level can offer access to educational programmes or courses that would otherwise be unavailable to certain geographies.
Ensure that higher education curricula are available in native languages. Young people from indigenous rural areas with little education in, e.g. Scandinavian languages, should have the ability to complete higher education in their mother tongue (e.g. Greenlandic, Sami, Faroese).