ABSTRACT
Having dealt in the aggregate at the global, national and regional scales in the previous chapters, consideration must now be directed to the local scale. This will examine the individual school and its relationship with the community in its immediate catchment area and, more directly, with the children it serves. Education is most commonly delivered in fixed site buildings, and takes the institutional form of ‘schooling’, more narrowly defined than ‘education’. Schools are inevitably physically within local communities and linked to the economic and social life of the community in several respects. They are familiar physical features: characteristic classroom blocks in a variety of building styles – both local and imported – often with a large play area, especially for rural schools. They are often identified by a prominent signpost. Their physical location, often near the centre of a village or other settlement, seems to be symbolic of their broader social and economic significance for the community.
