A Multilevel View of Small Schools: Changing Systems in Baden-Württemberg and Vorarlberg

Owing to demographic changes, discussions concerning the quality of small schools have increased in European countries. Two opposing schooling paradigms form this discussion’s backdrop: Advocacy of and opposition to small schools. How the discussion on the “making of schools” is conducted depends on preferred education policies and ideological affiliations, as well as on national state or economic situations. Numerous actors on a number of different spatial levels are involved in determining concrete school parameters, e.g., system structures via school planning, traffic planning, teacher allocation and organizing school routines. The multilevel view on small schools introduced here identifies an array of factors that influence the making of schools, i.e., societal processes, structures and systems, groups of actors and individuals. The author’s empirical research in Baden-Württemberg and Vorarlberg covers 25 years, and the pioneering comprehensive multilevel view on issues related to the making of small schools illustrates its importance for spatial planning.