An ethnographic exploration of voluntary action in small rural primary schools in South East England

In recent decades, governments in England have sought to emphasise the role volunteers can play in schools whilst simultaneously reducing the amount of funding per pupil by an estimated 8% (Sibieta, 2018). As a result, primary schools have become increasingly reliant on voluntary action (the giving of time and money), with smaller schools, which are most often located in rural contexts (Hargreaves, 2009), being most heavily impacted (Body et al, 2017). However, in England's highly differentiated countryside (Murdoch et al, 2003) schools in deprived areas have access to different levels and types of voluntary action than those in less deprived areas and thus increased dependence is potentially exacerbating inequalities between schools (Body and Hogg, 2018). Through an ethnography-based comparative analysis of two small rural primary schools, this research aims to contribute to the knowledge of how voluntary action occurs in practice in these schools (particularly the gendered division of labour); how this is experienced by those involved; and, more broadly, what the relationship between deprivation and voluntary action might be; and how social capital might be strategically mobilised in education.