This article engages with current debate in New Zealand over the legitimacy of various young people's activities within a transition-to-work framework based around the metaphor of "pathways".

The article argues for a more complex understanding of the imperatives young people now face in choosing careers within a deregulated, seamless tertiary education system and an intensification of particular kinds consumer choice-making.

Drawing on analysis from the first year of a longitudinal study of "navigations" of pathways from school, young people's reflexive application of risk management to themselves is explored. Young people's descriptions of their activities illustrate a just-in-time flexibility sitting in tension with a just-in-case pursuit of qualifications and experience. The indeterminate domains and possibilities of identity produced for young people are discussed in terms of both "moments of consumption" and opportunities for critical support of young people.

The full journal article is published in: Journal of Youth Studies, 8 (2), 2005.