‘Learning to leave’ or ‘striving to stay’: Considering the desires and decisions of rural young people in relation to post-schooling futures

This article presents an examination of how rural young people contemplate their post-schooling futures and how understandings of mobility inform this decision making. While the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ of rural living has been documented in the literature, rarely has this drawn on the combined perspectives of rural high school students and teachers. Drawing upon interviews and video transcripts created with rural young people and combined with teacher focus groups, this article provides nuanced insight into the complex and negotiated nature of decisions, desires and dreams about life after school. The data has been drawn from a research project that worked with young people to document their educational and professional aspirations post-schooling. Utilising a digital story methodology, this study created both visual and textual representations of shifts and how these choices were understood at a deeply personal level. •The tensions and conflicts that exist for rural youth with regard to their post-schooling futures.•The complex and negotiated nature of rural youths' decisions, desires and dreams about their futures.•Decisions about leaving rural communities or deciding to ‘stay’ and the emotional undertones of these decisions.•How teachers understand the negotiated nature of post-schooling choices and their own influence on these choices.