VOCATIONAL PURPOSEFULNESS OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SOCIO-ENVIRONMENT FACTORS

Abstract

The development of rural businesses and the implementation of innovations in rural areas depends on possibilities to realize individual’s potential, and the opportunities to develop initiative and creativity of young people. The aim of the study was to reveal the significance of socio-environment factors for the vocational decision making of senior pupils from secondary school in rural areas. The factors were analyzed from the viewpoint of senior pupils and members of rural community. The object of the research – the socio-environment factors of vocational purposefulness of young people in rural communities. The research tasks focus on the attitudes of rural community members and young people toward factors that influence the vocational purposefulness of youth in rural areas. Also, the differences between two groups were analyzed. The sample consisted of 280 respondents: 100 secondary school senior pupils (56% girls and 44% boys, the mean age – 16 years) and 180 rural community members (80% women and 20% men, 35 years old in average). Based on the works of researchers in the area of vocational orientation and purposefulness, the questionnaire was compiled. The results revealed that socio-environment factors are important for the purposeful decision making on the vocational choice of youth in rural areas. From the view point of rural community members, the main factors are: family traditions, the profession’s prestige in society, the influence of parents, friends and important others, and family conditions. According to the opinion of senior pupils from secondary school, the important factors are: family conditions and traditions, friends and other important people, as well as profession status in the rural community. Recommendations for development of young people’s vocational purposefulness in rural areas are presented.