The authors present the evaluation results of a network on multigrade education (NEMED). This network, developed in the context of a European Union project, aims to support teachers and educational institutions who work with groups with more than one curriculum grade at the same time. Evaluation of NEMED’s 1st phase was focused on the network’s user’s perception and exploit of it, as well as its impact on them and their professional context. Evaluation data was collected through an on-line questionnaire, accessible in the network Internet portal. The results will contribute to a better understanding of how networking can help educators and educational institutions who work in the context of multigrade education.

Remote small rural schools in Greece provide a valuable service to the nation, albeit facing the consequences of the socioeconomic gap between urban and rural regions. This paper focuses on new leadership roles teachers can take in such schools, as investigated within projects (NEMED, RURAL WINGS) tackling the digital divide and the isolation of the remote multigrade school. Through distance training in ICT and innovative approaches, the teacher is invited to become a change agent catalysing innovation and development in the school and the local community, turning the waning school into a lively node supporting lifelong learning for everyone. Where satellite broadband connectivity is made available to the school, the teacher is encouraged to turn it into advantage and opportunity for all, promoting the development of a new culture among local citizens. Thus the teacher, already acting as the head of the small school and a prominent member of the isolated community, is clearly taking over additional informal roles as a leader: manager of change in an informal local ‘reform’, instructional leader exploring new ways to improve the quality of teaching and learning, a developer of links and synergies between the school, the community and other schools in the area, a facilitator of communities of learning in, around, and outside, the school, a former and implementer of innovation matching local needs. Questions arise relating to the need for corresponding professional development, possible conflicts with the highly centralized educational system and between formal and informal leadership roles of the teacher.