Rural Education and Out-Migration: The Case of a Coastal Community - Core Study Findings

Oct 15, 2026

Rural Education and Out-Migration: The Case of a Coastal Community examines how formal schooling relates to out-migration in a Canadian coastal community from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. Case-study evidence shows chronic village-level out-migration alongside short-range migration trajectories, with a geographically stable population overall. Those who stayed nearby show persistently low high-school graduation rates. The study argues that schools function as mechanisms for sorting and selecting youth for out-migration rather than guaranteeing retention.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Learning and Leaving

Formal education and modernization

Education, migration, and policy debates

Central research questions

Rural Education and Out-Migration: The Case of a Coastal Community MichaelCorbett In this article, I report on findings from a case study examining the relationship between formal education and out-migration in a Canadian coastal community from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. Although high rates of village-level out-migration were chronic, most migration trajectories were short-range. Contrary to large-scale quantitative analyses of rural depopulation, I found a geographically stable population and persistently low high-school graduation rates among those who stayed in the proximal area. In the analysis of educational attainment and migration, schools served their traditional role of sorting and selecting youth for out-migration. Keywords: rural education, educational attainment, geographic mobility, school to work transition, coastal communities Dans cet article, l􀂒auteur présente les conclusions d􀂒une étude de cas portant sur la relation entre l􀂒éducation formelle et l􀂒exode au sein d􀂒une communauté côtière canadienne du début des années 60 à la fin des années 70. Silestaux élevés demigration hors des villages ont été chroniquement élevés, la plupart des migrants ne sont pas allé très loin. Contrairement aux résultats des analyses quantitatives de l􀂒exode rural sur une grande échelle, l􀂒auteur a constaté ici que la population était demeuréerelativement stable et que les taux d􀂒obtention du diplôme de secondaire étaient d􀂒ordinaire peu élevéschez les personnes qui sont restées dans larégion. Dans son analysedurendementscolaire et del􀂒exode, l􀂒auteur a noté que les écoles ont assuré leurfonction traditionnellede sélection scolaire ainsi que de filtrage de celles et ceux qui iraient étudier à l􀂒extérieur. Mots clés: éducation rurale, rendement scolaire, mobilité géographique, transition del􀂒école au travail, communautés côtières 􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖􀂖 LEARNING AND LEAVING It is common to think of universal access to secondary schooling as a feature of modernity, well established by the 1920s and 1930s (Sutherland, 1995) . Yet, as spatially sensitive historical analysis has shown, time does not transform all spaces and places equally. In many of Canada􀂒s rural communities, the routines of secondary schooling were not effectively established until at least the postwar period (McCann, 1994; Perry, 2003) . CANADIAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 28, 1 & 2 (2005): 52􀂖72 In rural Canada, such factors as diverse uneven development, local labour markets, patterns of informal education, and direct socialization to adult roles offered an educational alternative to the school and the oftenquestionable training it offered (Davey, 1978; Gaffield, 1987; McCann, 1982; Wilson and Stortz, 1993) . Rural communities have also offered active and sustained resistance to early efforts to impose schooling on children, with little regard for the social, economic, or cultural composition of communities (Corbett, 2001b; Curtis, 1988; Popkewitz, 1998; Scott, 1985) . Indeed, the normalization process of making protracted schooling and higher education automatic and habitual is not yet well established in some Canadian rural and coastal communities (Corbett, 2001a; McCann, 1994) . As a southwest Nova Scotia fisherman pointed out tome, it is easy to say that young people 􀂓need􀂔 an extended formal education, 􀂓but the argument has never been proven.􀂔 As a result, schooling in coastal communities, and in rural and northern places, remains a significant challenge for youth, for those who educate them, and for the Canadian state (Government of Canada, 1999; Rural Communities Impacting Policy, 2003). One core problem is that by implicitly defining educational success in terms of a mobile population of youth exported to urban areas, rural schools may tacitly promote the erosion of their own human capital (DeYoung, 1995; Theobald, 1997). On the other hand, many urban-centric policy analysts like Richard Florida (2002) see contemporary migrations of educated, u

FAQs

What is the main focus of the study?

The study investigates the relationship between formal education and out-migration in a Canadian coastal community across the 1960s to the 1990s.

What does the study find about migration patterns?

Out-migration was chronic at the village level, but most migration trajectories remained short-range rather than spreading far.

How are schools described in relation to migration?

Schools are described as traditionally sorting and selecting youth for out-migration, influencing educational attainment and mobility.

Oct 15, 2026

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