The aim of this article is to synthesise and advance current knowledge on the conditions and challenges of rural education in contemporary Sweden, with particular attention to how processes of digitalisation and globalisation shape educational practices and possibilities in rural communities. Drawing on qualitative data material, the study shows how place functions as an active force shaping educational opportunities: organisational closeness creates cohesion but also dependence, social embeddedness provides continuity yet limits aspirations, and geographical distance both constrains and stimulates innovation. Digitalisation appears as a pragmatic tool, a generational condition, and a structural response to isolation, offering new opportunities but also reinforcing inequalities when infrastructures fail. Culture is revealed as contested, oscillating between municipal strategies of high culture and families’ everyday practices that shape children’s belonging and place-based forms of belonging and recognition (Massey, 1994, 2017). Structural inequalities – of resources, geography, and technology – emerge as decisive conditions rather than temporary barriers. Using Massey’s relational notion of place, including her concepts of power-geometry and spatial divisions of labour (Massey, 1994), the study concludes that rural schools must be understood as situated arenas where local and global processes intersect.

Ethnographic research connects theory and practice by providing deep insights into social dynamics and power structures while amplifying participants’ voices and enabling the co-production of knowledge. In this study, researchers’ roles in ethnographic research are examined through a project conducted in three rural Swedish municipalities. The study aims to deepen the understanding of ethnographers’ roles and highlight the critical challenges and complexities affecting educational transformation. The findings reveal the diverse roles of researchers and their impact on collaboration with participants in rural communities. Key insights indicate that researchers’ involvement influences both structural and interpersonal dynamics, uncovering underlying community issues. By incorporating participants’ voices, researchers can identify and address core problems, even when doing so challenges their established trust with the community. In conclusion, the study asserts that researchers’ roles in ethnographic research can significantly influence and transform the studied situations.

The research presented in this paper has been conducted within the field of Ethnography of Education and explores the challenges and dynamics associated with rural culture in the context of shifting economies, demographic changes, and digitalisation, with a particular focus on the Swedish context. Our theoretical framework is rooted in the Sociology of Education. Our ethnographic analysis integrates the social and cultural aspects inherent to our research site. The findings are organised into three prominent themes: Education and Rural Life, The Influence of Global Digital Technologies, and The Significance of Culture. Currently, at our research site, significant attention is given to traditional farming, which emphasises acquiring the skills essential for integration within the local community. In contrast, national policies, along with the prevailing influence of metro-centric middle-class culture, advocate a different path, prioritising formal education to meet the demands of late modern society.

Sustainability education has become central to curricula worldwide, yet little is known about how students in rural contexts experience and make meaning of sustainability. This study addresses this gap by examining how a sustainability project was enacted in a rural Swedish primary school. Drawing on classroom observations, field notes, and interviews with 22 students aged 10–12 and their two teachers, the analysis explores how students engaged with global sustainability discourses through locally grounded practices and multimodal design work in Minecraft. Informed by Bourdieu’s sociology and the New London Group’s multiliteracies framework, the findings show that students reimagined sustainability on their own terms, integrating rural values such as self-reliance, care for nature, and community belonging into their designs. The study contributes to sustainability education by illustrating how place-based and digital practices can enrich curricular work and challenge urban-centric assumptions about where sustainability knowledge and innovation reside.

This ethnographic study explores how educational staff in a Swedish rural community address challenges in supporting students’ educational and professional futures. Drawing on Massey’s relational understanding of space and place, the rural school is conceptualised as a dynamic node where social relations, digital flows, and institutional structures intersect. Using Massey’s concepts of relational place, power geometry, and spatial divisions of labour, the analysis interprets classroom practices as enactments of place shaped by intersecting local and global trajectories. Based on long-term fieldwork involving observations, interviews, and school – community initiatives, the results show how educators respond to tensions between locally rooted occupational traditions and globally circulating media and labour-market imaginaries. Rather than reproducing structural constraints, they reconfigure relational geographies of opportunity by linking local attachments with broader networks and imagined futures. The study contributes to rural education research by showing how educators’ work both reflects and reshapes spatial divisions of labour.

The availability of skilled professionals is a challenge in many rural areas. At the same time, rural youth often view their prospects as limited and pursue higher education less frequently than urban youth. Students’ future study and career choices are influenced by social or cultural background, geographic location, and community resources. Consequently, rural schools may face the challenge of providing opportunities for students to develop skills that enable them to contribute to their personal growth as well as the development of their community. This project, involving three rural municipalities and three elementary schools, focuses on the possibilities for rural schools to promote entrepreneurship in a digitized world. Here, entrepreneurship is based on the idea of relationships and mutual concerns as starting points for developing and acting on opportunities in diverse contexts. Analyses of documents, field notes, and interviews reveal that municipal officials, principals, and teachers, are interested in using digital tools in education to enhance the connections between school, working life, and the surrounding community, which are limited by long distances. For instance, digital field trips to private and municipal enterprises and institutions have been tested as a method. The goal is to provide future-oriented education that highlights opportunities for digital location-independent occupations while also strengthening students’ sense of connection to their local community. However, promoting entrepreneurship by fostering students’ development of creativity and innovation remains a challenge for some schools.

In this paper, we explore how Generation Alpha in a Swedish rural area intersects with global and local spaces. We delve into pupils’ perspectives on digital experiences in school and leisure, shedding light on their future aspirations. Following an ethnographic approach, this study aligns with the established research methods of the field. The empirical data, part of a broader ethnographic project, focuses on one research site. Through the perspectives of Massey and Bourdieu, the findings suggest that the pupils in this study deviate from the typical portrayal of Generation Alpha as they experience the interplay between their rural heritage and the influences of a globalised society. The pupils feel connected to digital subcultures and transform them into communicative content that they engage with, transcending the offerings in their rural community and thereby altering that actual place. However, when envisioning their own future lives, the socially and culturally inherited history of the local economy and politics appears to influence their views in certain directions. The discussion of educational challenges considers both the local and global encounters of pupils, notably reflected in their digital experiences during leisure.