We will present our project in an early stage of the research process. Our project investigates how the Natural Resource Use Programme in upper secondary school contributes to a resilient countryside. Recent societal challenges have shown that Swedish society is vulnerable in areas such as domestic food production.

Our project will study how social and economic sustainability are managed in relation to the natural resource use programme. Our study addresses individual as well as structural levels; students’ own perceptions; school curricula and education linked to these concepts; and register data of students’ participation in work and further studies. The project will use mixed methods (policy analysis, ethnography and quantitative analysis) to answer these research questions:How is the Natural Resource Use Programme constituted as socially important for skills maintenance and development in rural Sweden? How do students in the Natural Resource Use Programme consider their education, future careers, and working lives in the countryside? What educational pathways, income opportunities and career trajectories have been developed by students after attending the Natural Resource Use Programme and how have these changed over time for different ruralities?

The purpose of the project is to investigate the educational programme’s function in relation to skills maintenance and development, and to develop an understanding for the programme’s importance in relation to local rural environments as well as the everyday lives of individual students.