CAREER-RELATED POSSIBLE SELVES OF RURAL ADOLESCENTS

The first independent career related decisions are made during the ninth grade of the elementary school when the further educational institution is selected. The concept of possible selves can be used in career education to help students increase self-awareness, explore and generate options, and formulate plans to achieve future goals. The aim of the article is to examine rural adolescents' ability to generate career-related possible selves and plausible strategies to attain these possible selves. On the basis of the Possible Selves Theory, the open-ended measure was developed by the author. The pilot research was carried out in Latvia in January 2013. Forty six nine-graders from two rural elementary schools and two rural secondary schools participated in the research. Next year and adult possible selves generated by rural adolescents include such domains as education, employment, leisure activities, physical and personal development, as well as interpersonal relationships and lifestyle. The most important ones are domains of education and employment. Statistically significant differences of the results among the gender subgroups are not found in the research, statistically significant differences exist between the possible selves and their attaining strategies generated by rural secondary school students and rural elementary school students.