Social Mapping in the Context of a Community-build Day: Strategy to Strengthen Links with Community in a Small Rural School

Abstract

In this paper we present a strategy for linking the school with its territory carried out in a colegio rural agrupado (a rural primary school serving several small populations on different sites) in the province of Valencia (Spain). A one-day community-building event was organised to promote community participation and development, with two aims: to provide information on the projects carried out in the school with local community involvement; and to apply a participatory social diagnostic tool (SDT), namely, social mapping. The strategy falls within the methodological framework of a process of Participatory Action Research (PAR). We analyse the meaning of PAR in the context of the experience and describe how the various stages were carried out. The results show the implications for community agents that the mapping strategy had in linking the school to its local area. We conclude by outlining a series of reflections on the basic factors that foster the link between the school and its local context, and we highlight the great potential of this strategy for resituating the school in its territory and revealing previously hidden relationships and resources.