L’orientation des collégiens en milieu rural est généralement perçue sous le régime de la contrainte. Il est vrai que ces adolescents choisissent, davantage que les jeunes urbains, des formations courtes via les voies professionnelles, ce que la littérature attribue à un ensemble de causes : un modèle d’orientation prévalent dans les familles populaires, des exemples de possibles moins diversifiés, des possibilités de formation plus rares et plus éloignées, nécessitant une mobilité à laquelle toutes les familles ne peuvent consentir.Considérant d'emblée une pluralité d'espaces ruraux plus qu'un milieu homogène ou résiduel, ce travail tente de mesurer, outre ces différents facteurs, le pas à pas de la construction des choix opérés sans perdre de vue le poids des collèges eux-mêmes, par une approche essentiellement qualitative associée à des données statistiques. Si le milieu social des jeunes, surtout le diplôme de la mère, induit les demandes d’orientation des adolescents, le caractère socialement situé de ces demandes peut être accentué par les pratiques en cours dans les établissements en matière d’éducation à l’orientation et d’orientation proprement dite, différentes d’un collège à l’autre. Mais il peut également être modulé par les loisirs et les sociabilités amicales et familiales des adolescents, qui y découvrent des pratiques ainsi que des exemples de possibles de formations et de professions.

Rural Secondary School children’s “Further Education” choices and career plans are generally seen as being an almost forced decision. It would not be wrong to say that Secondary School leavers from rural areas tend to choose shorter, professionally based courses which experts put down to several specific reasons. First, families from a working-class background have a mindset tending towards the idea that the options available are more limited and that the possible “Further Education” courses are therefore rarer and further away from the family environment. Some families are not prepared to accept this imposed, educational mobility. The starting point for the following analysis takes into account the obvious notions that there is not a homogenous rural community but rather a variety of rural areas and working-class families. Considering these elements, this thesis tries to measure the step-by-step processes which lead to the decisions made for post-Secondary Education. The influence of Secondary Schools must also be considered in the essentially qualitative approach which includes the input given by statistical evidence. If the Social Class origins, especially the mother’s educational achievement level, can explain, for a large part, the choices made by students at the end of Secondary School ; this analysis must also take note of the professional and social level of the schools’ catchment area. Thes factors can be accentuated both by the Careers’ Advice available and the actual results of post Secondary School decisions, prevalent in each Secondary School. These influencing factors and the differences subsisting between each School are also important in each Educational Community’s way of apprehending Careers Advice and the decisions made by their pupils. Other reasons are also to be included, such as leisure time activities as well as peer pressure and influence of each family environment. These sociability factors can also contribute to the discovery of new Careers and Further Education possibilities.