Teaching in place: rural pedagogical work, spatial inequality, and symbolic orders in a Swedish valley

Abstract

Abstract

his article explores how teaching is enacted in a rural Swedish school situated in the Vega Valley, focusing on how educators handle the intersection of national curricular mandates, spatial marginality, and locally rooted student aspirations. Drawing on ethnographic data—including interviews, fieldnotes, and classroom observations—we examine how teachers mediate between institutional expectations and the social and symbolic landscape of rural life. Inspired by Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic violence and Massey’s notion of relational space, the analysis reveals how dominant definitions of educational value often render rural knowledge forms invisible. Teachers engage in translational pedagogical work: adapting curricula to agrarian and forest-based practices, mobilising digital tools such as Minecraft for sustainability projects, and addressing temporal rhythms shaped by agricultural labour. Yet these efforts are largely individualised and structurally unsupported. The study contributes to international scholarship on rural education and teaching by reasserting the epistemological legitimacy of rural contexts and calling for policies and teacher education that recognise rurality not as an exception, but as a generative site of pedagogical theorising and professional innovation.