Relationship between personal and professional self-determination among high school students

Abstract

Introduction. Many international organizations are increasingly raising the issue of developing state vocational guidance programs. An intensive study of the labor market, its changes and the evolution of skills needs is being carried out. An important aspect was the possibility of choosing a profession in accordance with the abilities and interests of not only everyone, but also taking into account the needs of society. Now it is not necessary to follow the principles of profitability or prestige of the profession. Now you can choose a business to your liking. The most significant group of the population in this area are schoolchildren who are just starting their career path. It became possible to choose a job due to one’s liking. So, a natural question arises about the features of students’ professional and personal self-awareness. The research aims to study the relationship between students’ professional self-determination and personal self-awareness. Materials and methods. The sample consisted of 60 students from the secondary school "Eureka-Development №96" and the Specialized educational and scientific center of the Southern Federal District, whose average age was 17 years. The respondents completed socio-demographic survey as well as psychological assessment of personal and professional identity. To assess personal self-awareness, the authors used Pantileeva’s self-attitude test, and to indicate the level of professional self-determination, we used A.A. Azbel - A.G. Gretsovas’ questionnaire of students’ self-determination. For data analysis, we used Spearman's Rank-Order Correlation and the Friedman test, processed in the software of RStudio and STATISTICA 13.3. Results. There was significant correlation between such variables as status of imposedon professional identity and openness (r = 0.37; p < 0.05), uncertain professional identity and internal conflict (r = 0.39; p < 0.05), moratorium and self-blame (r = -0.44; p < 0.05), also between formed status of professional identity and self-guidance (r = 0.3; p < 0.05). Results show that almost 40% of respondents are in a state of crisis in choosing a profession. At the same time only 20 % of students are ready to make a conscious and independent choice in their further professional development. Conclusion. High school students are in a difficult period when self-confidence, faith in the surmountability of obstacles collides with inner experiences for their qualities and actions. The study showed that for self-determination, schoolchildren need to see their gaps and shortcomings, but at the same time consider themselves the main source of personal development, a regulator of achievements and success and accept responsibility for their professional choices.