Migration Sentiments as a Factor concerning the Choice of Educational Strategies by the Vologda Region Schoolchildren

It becomes an urgent task to identify the relationship between migration and educational strategies of schoolchildren in the conditions of high migration activity of young people during the period of choosing an educational trajectory. The paper proves the primacy of migration sentiments in relation to the choice of educational trajectory based on Russian experience of studying migration processes and the data of their own research. We show that the choice of higher or secondary vocational education manifests itself differently in the realization of graduates’ migration sentiments. The choice of higher education stimulates and accelerates departure, while secondary vocational education includes some deterrent aspects and forms grounds for staying in the region. In this regard, the growing attractiveness of secondary vocational education and the graduates’ choice of a composite educational strategy (to higher education through secondary vocational education) have the potential to retain young people in the region. At the same time, the main “pushing” factor remains youth’s dissatisfaction with the infrastructure of small towns, opportunities for building a career, organizing leisure time, and modern communications. An important role also belongs to the patterns of migration behavior associated with the stereotype of “metropolitan success”, supported in the minds of schoolchildren by reference groups – parents and teachers. The research results have practical significance for adjusting youth and educational regional policy.