The process of professional self-determination in psychology. Prerequisites and difficulties of professional self-determination of students. Professional self-determination of personality

Professional self-determination is a form of personal choice, reflecting the process of searching for, as well as acquiring a profession. Self-determination is realized in the process of analyzing personal capabilities and abilities in relation to professional requirements. Currently, the understanding of professional self-determination takes into account the problems of the relationship with the life self-determination of the individual, and also includes the impact of the impact on the social environment and its active position. In a market economy, there is an acute problem of freedom of choice of profession and ensuring the competitiveness of an employee.

Professional self-determination of students

Self-determination of students is the process of formation by an individual of a personal attitude to professional activity and the way of its implementation through the coordination of socio-professional and personal needs.

Professional self-determination of students is a part of life self-determination, since it is included in the social group of choosing a profession and lifestyle.

In professional self-determination, there are various approaches: sociological - when society sets tasks for the individual, socio-psychological - stage-by-stage decision-making by the individual, as well as coordinating the needs of society and personal preferences, differential-psychological - the formation of an individual life order.

The interconnected stages of professional self-determination of students are symbolically distinguished:

- preschool stage, including the formation of initial labor skills and abilities;

- elementary school, including awareness of the role of labor in the life of an individual through participation in various activities: educational, play, labor.

Awareness of one's abilities and interests associated with a professional choice occurs in grades 5-7, and the formation of professional self-awareness falls on grades 8-9.

In the professional self-determination of students, a significant role is assigned to the family and the state-public structure (vocational and general educational institutions; institutions of additional education, employment services).

Psychological and pedagogical support of self-determination of students is aimed at the implementation of a conscious choice of profession.

Students are determined with the choice of a profession in the process of teaching the basic sciences, as well as during professional training.

So, the professional self-determination of students includes the process of formation by the individual of a personal attitude to the labor sphere, as well as the way of its self-realization through the coordination of professional and intrapersonal needs.

Professional self-determination of high school students

Determination of high school students with a future profession is one of the forms of personal self-determination and is characterized by the process of acquiring, as well as the search for a profession, analysis of personal capabilities, abilities in comparison with the requirements of the profession.

At the age of fifteen, it is very difficult for a high school student to choose a profession. Often, professional intentions are vague and diffuse, and professionally oriented dreams, as well as romantic aspirations, are impossible to realize.

The unsatisfied coming future stimulates the development - awareness of the personal "I". A high school student is “determined”: who he is, what his abilities are, what his life ideal is, who he wants to become. Self-analysis is a delayed psychological basis of professional self-determination for the majority of vocational school students.

Those high school students who receive a complete secondary general education feel more comfortable. At the time of graduation, high school students from fantastic, imaginary professions choose the most acceptable and real options. Children understand that success and well-being in life, first of all, depends on the right choice of profession.

Assessing their capabilities and abilities, the prestige of the profession, the socio-economic situation, high school students determine themselves in obtaining professional education.

Thus, for high school students, educational and professional self-determination acts as a conscious choice of ways of vocational education and training.

Professional self-determination of personality

Psychologists attribute professional and personal self-determination to the process of forming a person's personal attitude to the professional labor sphere, as well as self-realization through the coordination of socially professional and intrapersonal needs.

Consider professional self-determination, including different stages of personality development.

In preschool childhood, children in play activities imitate adults and reproduce their actions. Role-playing games, some of which are professionally oriented, become widespread in preschool age. Kids playing, assign themselves the roles of sellers, doctors, builders, educators, cooks, drivers of vehicles.

Of great importance in professional self-determination are the initial labor actions - the performance of simple actions to care for plants, clothes, and cleaning the premises. These activities contribute to the development of interest in the work of adults in children. Professional role-playing games, performing elementary types of labor, observing the work of adults contribute to the self-determination of preschoolers. At primary school age, kids willingly imitate the actions of adults and, based on this, there is an orientation towards the professions of relatives, parents, teachers, and close acquaintances. An important feature of schoolchildren is the motivation of achievements in educational activities. A child's awareness of his capabilities, as well as abilities based on existing experience in playing, educational, labor activities, forms an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe future profession.

The end of primary school age is marked by a significant increase in individual differences in the development of abilities between children, and this, in turn, affects a significant expansion of the range of professional preferences. Labor and educational activities influence the development of the imagination of children, both creative and recreative. Thanks to this ability, ideas about various types of labor are enriched, the ability to see oneself in a certain profession develops. Often, a child has professionally colored fantasies that have a huge impact on professional self-determination in the future.

Adolescence is marked by the laying of the foundations of a moral attitude to various types of labor; a teenager develops a system of personal values ​​that determine selectivity in relation to professions. Psychologists refer to this period as responsible for the formation of personality.

Teenage boys, imitating the external forms of adult behavior, are guided by romantic professions that have endurance, strong will, courage, courage, for example, astronaut, test pilot, race car driver. Girls prefer the professions of "real women" - they are charming, popular, attractive top models, pop singers, TV presenters.

Orientation towards romantic professions is directed under the influence of the mass media, which replicate samples of "real adults". Such a professional romantic orientation is facilitated by the desire of adolescents for self-affirmation and self-expression. A differentiated attitude to various activities in circles, academic subjects forms children's intentions and dreams. Dreams, patterns of the desired future are strokes of self-determination.

Professional self-determination of a person in early youth is the most important task. Often the plans of a teenager are very amorphous, vague, represent the nature of a dream.

A teenager most often imagines himself in various emotionally attractive roles and cannot make a psychologically sound choice of a profession on his own. And at the beginning of adolescence, this problem confronts young men and women who leave the main general education school. They make up one third of older adolescents who enter institutions of secondary and primary vocational education, while others are forced to start independent work.

Psychologists have found that often students who receive education in professional lyceums, vocational schools, colleges and technical schools have not finally decided and their choice of an educational institution was not psychologically justified.

The vast majority of young people aged 16-23 are educated in educational institutions or undergo vocational training in institutions or enterprises. Often, romantic aspirations, dreams are in the past, and the desired future has already become present, and many experience disappointment and dissatisfaction with the choice made. Some attempts are being made to make adjustments to their professional start, and most young men and women gain confidence in the correctness of their choice during training.

At the age of 27, social and professional activity is noted. Already have a job and some experience. Actuality acquires professional growth and achievements. However, the vast majority begin to experience psychological discomfort, which is due to lofty, unrealized plans, as well as labor saturation.

The uncertainty of career prospects, the lack of achievements actualize the reflection of personal existence, giving rise to self-assessment of the "I-concept" and introspection. This period is characterized by mental turmoil. The revision of professional life pushes towards the definition of new significant goals. Some of these include professional development and improvement; changing jobs and initiating promotions; choosing a new profession or related specialty.

For many people, by the age of 30, the problem of professional self-determination again becomes relevant. Two ways are possible here: either to affirm oneself further in the chosen profession and become a professional, or to change the place of work, as well as the profession.

The age period up to 60 years is considered the most productive. This period is marked by the realization of oneself as a person, and is also characterized by the use of professional and psychological potential. It is during this period that life plans are realized, the semantic existence of a person is justified. The profession provides a unique opportunity, using their abilities at work, to realize the need to be a person, as well as to develop an individual style of activity.

After reaching retirement age, people leave the profession, but by the age of 60, a person does not have time to fully exhaust his potential. This period is marked by an alarming state, because the stereotypes that have developed over decades, as well as the way of life, are being destroyed overnight. Skills, knowledge, important qualities - everything becomes unclaimed. Such negative moments accelerate social aging. Most pensioners experience psychological confusion, experience their uselessness and uselessness. The problem of self-determination arises again, however, in socially useful, social life.

Psychology of professional self-determination

Domestic psychology connects the processes of professional self-determination with personal self-determination and the choice of lifestyle. Choosing this or that profession, a person plans his way of existence, while correlating the future professional personal status with life values.

The following researchers worked on this problem: M.R. Ginzburg, K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, N.S. Pryazhnikov, E.I. Golovakhi, E.F. Zeer, E.A. Klimov.

The most versatile and consistent issues of professional self-determination of the subject were studied in the works of N.S. Pryazhnikova, E.A. Klimova, E.F. Zeera.

E.A. Klimov attributed professional self-determination to the quality of the mental manifestation of human development. During the life of an individual, a certain attitude is formed to different areas of work, an idea of ​​​​his capabilities, professions is formed, preferences are distinguished.

According to E.A. Klimov, the most important component in self-determination is the formation of self-consciousness.

The structure of professional identity includes:

- awareness of personal belonging to a specific professional community (“we are builders”);

– assessment of one’s place and personal compliance with standards in the profession (one of the best specialists, a beginner);

- knowledge of the individual about his recognition in a social group ("I am considered a good specialist");

- knowledge of weaknesses and strengths, individual, as well as successful methods of action and ways of self-improvement;

- a personal idea of ​​yourself, as well as work in the future.

E.A. Klimov notes two levels in professional self-determination:

- Gnostic (restructuring of self-consciousness and consciousness);

- practical (changes in the social status of a person).

E.F. Zeer highlights the problem of individual self-determination in the context of applied psychology, where professional self-determination is noted:

- selectivity in relation to the individual to the world of professions;

- a choice taking into account the individual qualities and characteristics of a person, as well as socio-economic conditions and requirements in the profession;

- constant self-determination of the subject throughout life;

- determination of external events (change of residence, graduation);

- a manifestation of the social maturity of the individual with a close connection of self-realization.

Tasks in self-determination are solved in different ways at each stage of professional development. They are determined by interpersonal relations in the team, socio-economic conditions, professional and age crises, but the leading role remains with the activity of the individual and his responsibility for personal development.

E.F. Zeer believes that self-determination is an important factor in the self-realization of an individual in a particular profession.

H. S. Pryazhnikov proposed his own model of self-determination, which includes the following components:

- awareness by the individual of the values ​​of socially useful labor, as well as the need for professional training;

- orientation in the socio-economic situation, as well as forecasting the prestige of the chosen work;

— definition of a professional goal-dream;

- highlighting professional immediate goals as stages for achieving further goals;

- search for information about specialties and professions corresponding to educational institutions and places of employment;

- an idea of ​​the personal qualities necessary for the implementation of the plans, as well as possible difficulties in achieving goals;

- the presence of backup options in the choice of profession in case of failure with the main option of self-determination;

- practical implementation of personal perspectives, adjustment of plans.

Professional self-determination according to N.S. Pryazhnikov takes place at the following levels:

- self-determination in a labor, specific function (an employee sees the meaning of activity in the qualitative performance of operations or individual labor functions, while the freedom of choice of actions by an individual is limited);

- self-determination at a specific labor post (a labor post is marked by a limited production environment, which includes certain rights, means of labor, duties), while the performance of diverse functions makes it possible for self-realization of the activity performed, and a change in a labor post negatively affects the quality of labor, causing employee dissatisfaction;

- self-determination at the level of a certain specialty provides for a change of labor posts, which allows expanding the possibilities of self-realization of the individual;

- self-determination in a particular profession;

- life self-determination is associated with the choice of lifestyle, which includes leisure and self-education;

- personal self-determination is determined by finding the image of the Self and its approval among the surrounding individuals (the individual rises above social roles, profession, becomes the master of his personal life and the people around him rank him as a good specialist and a respected, unique personality);

- self-determination of the individual in culture is marked by the orientation of the individual to the "continuation" of himself in other people and is characterized by a significant contribution to the development of culture, which makes it possible to talk about the social immortality of the individual.

The problem of professional self-determination

The experience of vocational counseling shows that students who have not chosen a profession often seek the help of a psychologist to determine the type of activity where they will be most capable. Behind this lies an unconscious desire to shift the solution of a life problem to another individual. Difficulties of such a plan often arise due to the lack of adequate ideas about professional suitability among schoolchildren, the inability to assess their abilities and capabilities, and also correlate them with the world of professions.

Many students cannot answer: “What activity would you like to do?”, “What abilities do they see in themselves?”; “What qualities are important for success in mastering a future profession?”

A low culture of knowledge, as well as ignorance of modern professions, makes it difficult for high school students to choose a life path.

Career guidance work of a psychologist should turn from diagnostic into formative, developing, diagnostic and corrective. The stages of consulting work should be aimed at activating students to form a desire for a conscious, independent choice of profession, taking into account the knowledge gained about themselves.

In domestic psychology in recent years, an increasing number of scientists associate the processes of professional self-determination with the choice of lifestyle, personal self-determination. Choosing a profession, a person plans a way of existence, correlating his future professional status with meaningful life values. In line with this approach, studies by K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, M.R. Ginzburg, E.I. Golovakhi and others. The most consistent and versatile issues of professional self-determination of the subject are considered in the works of E.F. Zeera, E.A. Klimova, N.S. Pryazhnikov.
E.A. Klimov considers professional self-determination as one of the most important manifestations of a person's mental development, as a process of his inclusion in the professional community and, more broadly, in the social community. In the course of life, a person develops a certain attitude to various areas of work, an idea of ​​​​professions, one's capabilities is formed, preferences are distinguished in the socio-economic factors of labor assessment, and a range of possible choices is determined. The result of the semantic and motivational searches of a person is the implementation of socially significant activities aimed at the production of a socially valuable product.
The most important component of self-determination, according to E.A. Klimov, is the formation of professional self-awareness, in the structure of which the following are distinguished:
1. Awareness of one's belonging to a certain professional community ("we are engineers").
2. Assessment of one's compliance with professional standards and one's place in the community according to the system of social roles (beginner, one of the best specialists, etc.).
3. Knowledge of a person about the degree of his recognition in a social group (“I am considered a good specialist”).
4. Knowledge about your strengths and weaknesses, ways of self-improvement, individual methods of successful action, about your individual style of activity.
5. An idea of ​​yourself and your work in the future.
E.A. Klimov identifies two levels of professional self-determination:
. gnostic (restructuring of consciousness and self-consciousness);
. practical (real changes in the social status of a person).
E.F. Zeer considers the problem of professional self-determination of a person in the context of a new branch of applied psychology - the psychology of professions. Professional self-determination is characterized by:
. selectivity of a person's attitude to the world of professions;
. making a choice taking into account the individual characteristics of a person, the requirements of the profession and socio-economic conditions;
. constant self-determination of the subject throughout life;
. determination by external events (graduation, change of residence, etc.);
. close connection with self-realization, the manifestation of the social maturity of the individual.
The tasks of professional self-determination are solved differently at each stage of professional development (Table 3).

Professional self-determination is manifested in the emotionally colored attitude of the individual to his place in the world of professions. It is determined by socio-economic conditions, interpersonal relations in the team, age-related and professionally caused crises, but the leading role belongs to the activity of the individual, her responsibility for her own development. E.F. Zeer notes that professional self-determination is an important factor in the self-realization of an individual in a particular profession and culture in general.
H. S. Pryazhnikov proposed a model of professional self-determination of a person, which includes the following components:
1. Awareness of the value of socially useful labor and the need for professional training (the value-moral basis of self-determination).
2. Orientation in the socio-economic situation and forecasting the prestige of the chosen work.
3. General orientation in the world of professional work and identification of a professional goal-dream.
4. Definition of immediate professional goals as stages in achieving a distant goal.
5. Search for information about professions and specialties, relevant vocational schools and places of employment.
6. The idea of ​​possible difficulties in achieving professional goals, of personal qualities that contribute to the implementation of the plans.
7. The presence of backup options in case of failure in the main option of self-determination.
8. The beginning of the practical implementation of a personal professional perspective, the constant adjustment of plans based on the feedback principle.
Professional self-determination, according to N.S. Pryazhnikov, is implemented at the following levels:
1. Self-determination in a specific labor function. The employee finds the meaning of his activity in the qualitative performance of individual labor functions or operations. The freedom of choice of human actions is limited.
2. Self-determination at a specific labor post. The labor post is characterized by a limited working environment, including means of labor, professional rights and obligations. The performance of diverse functions increases the possibility of self-realization within the framework of the activities performed. The change of the labor post negatively affects the quality of work, causes dissatisfaction of the employee.
3. Self-determination at the level of a specific specialty. It involves the change of various labor posts, which expands the possibilities of self-realization of the individual. For example, a motor transport driver can easily drive any kind of car.
4. Self-determination in a particular profession. The employee performs related types of labor activity in several specialties.
5. Life self-determination. It is associated with the choice of lifestyle and, in addition to work, includes self-education, leisure, etc. The profession becomes a means of implementing a certain lifestyle.
6. Personal self-determination. It is characterized by finding an original image of the Self and its approval among the surrounding people. A person rises above the profession, social roles, becomes the master of his own life. Surrounding people characterize the employee not just as a good specialist, but, above all, as a respected person and a unique personality.
7. Self-determination of personality in culture. There is a tendency of a person to “continue” himself in other people. It is characterized by a significant contribution of the individual to the development of culture, which allows us to talk about the social immortality of man.
Professional self-determination is an independent and conscious finding of the meanings of the work performed and all life activity in a specific cultural-historical (socio-economic) situation. This process is due to the manifestations of internal resources, forces, attitudes on the way of the professional development of the personality and its development. Professional self-determination of a person in the world of professions and on a professional path is a personal aspect of the formation of a professional. The problem of self-determination of the individual should be considered not only in the context of choosing a profession, but also in a broader sense, in connection with the issues of professional development of the individual.
The driving force behind self-determination of personality is contradiction. At the same time, external conditions can only become the cause of changes, which is generally consistent with the general scientific principle of S.L. Rubinstein. As noted by V.A. Ganzen and L.A. Golovey, the presence of contradictions between a person's potential and his interests, relationships, orientation (that is, between potencies and tendencies) acts as a necessary factor and driving force for the development of individuality. However, a person may encounter tendencies that are in irreconcilable contradiction with each other. They can be both socially conditioned (between the individual and socio-professional conditions) and localized in the inner world, when there is a discrepancy between the individual's ideas about his own capabilities and the real actions and objective results in which they are embodied.
In the process of professional self-determination, contradictions may arise between:
. self-development and self-preservation in the profession;
. orientation to the result and the labor process;
. social and individual standards, labor standards;
. various types of competence (special, social, personal, individual);
. the pace of development of the motivational and operational spheres of professional activity;
. the desire for narrow specialization and the need for broad competence.
L.M. Mitina and O.V. Kuzmenkov define intrapersonal contradiction as a subjectively experienced mismatch of certain tendencies (assessments, claims, attitudes, etc.) in the self-consciousness of the individual, which interact and change each other in the process of development. Considering the psychological features of intrapersonal contradictions, the authors note that they arise between the I-acting and I-reflected.
The following functions of intrapersonal contradictions are singled out in the process of professional development of a personality. First, they signal the imminent mismatch of conflicting trends, performing an indicator function. Secondly, intrapersonal contradictions can stimulate the process of professional development of an individual if she has a pronounced need to actualize her own potentialities. Thirdly, they can hinder development by performing an inhibitory function under certain conditions.
The ways and means of resolving contradictions can be different: the formation of an individual style of activity; lowering the level of claims; the emergence of new interests, relationships; development and improvement of human properties. An important condition for the realization of personal potential is the psychological maturity of a person, expressed in the ability to constructively resolve emerging contradictions, in the awareness of one's own potentialities and the presence of an active position in relation to their implementation and development in activity. The prerequisites for a constructive resolution of intrapersonal contradictions are the desire for relative independence from external influences, reflective skills, and the acceptance of the values ​​of a self-actualizing personality.
A constructive way of resolving contradictions creates conditions for the further development of the personality, contributes to its movement from the I-empirical with its inherent limited psychological characteristics to the I-creative, containing the full potential of the specialist.
An important feature of self-determination is its orientation to the future. However, students of adolescence and youth, as a rule, have subjective difficulties in determining their life goals and prospects. Therefore, the task of psychological assistance at this stage of professional self-determination consists in mastering practically useful planning skills, correlating near and far prospects.
The prospect of future professional activity is a mental projection of a person's motivational sphere. It represents, to varying degrees, conscious hopes, plans, projects, aspirations, fears associated with a more or less distant future. A personal professional perspective is formed through the internalization of the parents' value attitudes, their expectations regarding their own child, through the assimilation of general cultural, social patterns, and finally, through the development of the entire motivational sphere. Formed in this way, a personal professional perspective acquires its own motivating force, exerting a powerful feedback on the development of a person's personality.
Professional self-determination of a person in the world of professions and on a professional path is a personal aspect of the formation of a professional. Professional self-determination is accompanied by the construction of a personal professional plan, the formation of internal readiness for a conscious and independent representation, adjustment and implementation of the prospects for one's development, readiness to consider oneself as a subject developing in time, and independently find personally significant meanings in a specific professional activity. A self-determining personality is a subject who has realized what he wants (his goals, life plans, ideals), what he is (his personal and physical properties), what he can (his capabilities, inclinations), what the team, society expect from him.
The activation of the process of formation of the psychological readiness of the individual for professional self-determination is realized in the process of conducting a developing professional consultation. The main purpose of this type of professional consultation is the psychological preparation of the individual to determine their position, increasing their readiness to independently solve professionally conditioned problems.

On the threshold of graduation, the graduate determines life and professional guidelines, thereby laying the foundation for his further development. As a result, this age period is of particular importance in preparing the student for the choice of life path and future profession.

In the ninth grade, the question of the future life is decided: what to do - continue studying at school, go to college or work? In essence, society requires professional self-determination from an older teenager, albeit an initial one. At the same time, he must understand his own abilities and inclinations, have an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe future profession and specific ways to achieve professional excellence in the chosen field. This in itself is an extremely difficult task.

It becomes even more complicated in our time - a critical historical period, when the stereotypes developed by previous generations, values, in particular, ideas about the importance of education and the prestige of a particular profession, are collapsing.

There are 4 stages of professional development.

The first stage of the professional development of a person is associated with the emergence and formation of professional intentions under the influence of the general development of the personality and the initial orientation in various areas of labor activity in the world of work and the world of professions. The psychological criterion for the success of passing through this stage is the choice of a profession or specialty corresponding to social needs (labor market requirements) and the needs of the individual himself.

The second stage is the period of vocational training and education, i.e. purposeful training in the chosen professional activity and mastering all the subtleties of professional skills. The psychological criterion for the successful passage of this stage is the professional self-determination of the individual, i.e. formation of an attitude towards oneself as a subject of the chosen activity and professional orientation, in which attitudes towards the development of professionally significant qualities are quite clearly reflected.

The third stage is an active entry into the professional environment, reflecting the student's transition to a new type of activity - to professional work in its various forms in real production conditions. The psychological criterion for the successful passage of this stage is the active mastery of the profession in the conditions of a real labor process and industrial relations, finding oneself in the system of labor collectives.

The fourth stage involves the full or partial realization of the professional aspirations and capabilities of the individual in independent work. The psychological criterion for successfully passing this stage is the degree of mastery of the operational side of professional activity, the level of formation of professionally significant personality traits, attitudes towards work, a measure of skill and creativity. Turning to the current state of affairs in the field of professional self-determination of young people, researchers emphasize the multidimensionality and multi-stage nature of this process, in which several aspects are highlighted related to the tasks of society that it puts forward for the emerging personality; with the process of forming an individual lifestyle, part of which is professional activity; with the adoption of decisions in which a balance of personal preferences and inclinations, and the needs of the existing system of division of labor, must be established. The last aspect is the point of intersection of social and psychological factors of professional self-determination, and represents the widest opportunities for effectively solving the most acute problems of young people choosing a profession and life path.

Each stage of professional self-determination corresponds to a certain social situation, its own environment and atmosphere. There are four main stages in the process of professional development of a person: 1) formation of professional intentions; 2) vocational training; 3) professional adaptation; 4) partial or complete realization of the personality in professional work. The key moment of this long process is the choice of a profession. It is on this critical phase of professional self-determination, directly related to the choice of a profession, that we will further focus our analysis, the object of which will be boys and girls of senior secondary school, for whom the choice of a profession is of exceptional importance.

The beginning of this phase coincides with the transition from childhood to adolescence, from middle school age to senior. Those schoolchildren who, after graduating from the 8th grade, enter vocational schools and technical schools, already at the age of 14-15 largely determine their work and life path. For those who continue their studies at school, the situation of choice is again aggravated by the age of seventeen. And although they receive some professional training at school, the acuteness of the situation is not relieved, since they have to choose from a much larger number of possible professional paths that open up to a person who has received a secondary education. In this situation, society and the individual are equally interested in ensuring that the process of professional self-determination does not turn into a long series of "trial and error", failures and disappointments, material and moral costs. But how to avoid mistakes and difficulties when a person has to make such a responsible decision even in his school years, practically without crossing the line that separates childhood from maturity, dependence from independence in decisions and actions.

Of course, a certain advantage of adolescence lies precisely in the fact that, perhaps, the most important decision in his life a person must make, being free from the doubts that inevitably accompany an understanding of the complexity and responsibility of the upcoming choice. If at the age of 15-17 he was fully aware of how much his whole future life depends on the right choice of profession, it is possible that this would be associated with excessive emotional stress. When evaluating the situation of choosing a profession, one should take into account the essential point that the choice itself is a decision that affects only the immediate life prospect of the student. It can be carried out both with and without taking into account the long-term consequences of the decision. In the latter case, the choice of a profession as a fairly specific life plan will not be mediated by distant life goals. And consequently, as soon as this plan is implemented, a situation of life uncertainty will arise again, in which a young man or girl who has chosen this or that profession will be in the position of a person who has a very complex and valuable "tool", but who has no idea what he is for. he needs and how to achieve success in life with his help. It is no coincidence that the highest proportion of those who are dissatisfied with their profession and intend to change it is observed among first-year students and young workers with a minimum work experience in production. Partly to blame for this are the insufficiently high level of teaching in universities and the practice that has developed at many enterprises of using young workers in a way that is not in accordance with their level of education and qualifications, as evidenced by sociological studies. However, we must not forget that even ideal conditions for the training and use of workers will not solve the problem of random choice of profession, which is associated primarily with the rash decision of the person himself. Too often, a factor in choosing a profession is "chance" - the proximity of work to home, an example of a friend who is confident in the correctness of the only choice, strong recommendations from parents who have the opportunity to help master a certain profession, the opportunity to get housing or a residence permit in the city, etc.

Consequently, it is necessary that when choosing a profession, a young person proceeds not only from the short-term perspective, but must necessarily coordinate it with distant life goals that could be realized through work in the chosen field of professional activity.

Professional self-determination is an essential aspect of the social process of personality development. Identification of the features of the manifestation of the principle of determinism in the process of self-determination involves the analysis of two systems. On the one hand, this is a personality as a most complex self-regulatory system, on the other hand, a system of social orientation of young people in resolving the issue of a conscious choice of a profession. This system includes the purposeful influence of the school, family, public organizations, literature, art on the motives for choosing a profession. Such a set of vocational guidance tools is designed to provide a solution to the problems of professional education and counseling of students, the awakening of professional interest and inclinations, direct assistance in finding employment and overcoming the difficulties of the stage of professional adaptation. The system of career guidance tools carries a wide range of opportunities for the professional development of the individual, from which the individual “draws” the motives and goals of his activity.

The human need for self-determination is in itself pointless. A.N. Leontiev noted that "... until its first satisfaction, the need "does not know" its subject, since it has not yet been discovered ...".

The relationship of the individual and the external system of career guidance influences arises only in the process of activity. Activity as a form of interconnection between the subject and objects forms the condition of mental reflection and acts as a mechanism for determining the impact on the personality.

In the process of constant communication with the outside world, a person acts as an active side of interaction. Therefore, the psychological manifestation of the principle of determinism can be understood only within the framework of the problem of the relationship between external and internal conditions in the determination of activity. In terms of analyzing the driving forces of activity, it is necessary to proceed from the relationship and opposition of internal and external.

The process of professional self-determination is conditioned by the emergence and expansion of the activity of the subject, which realizes its connection with career guidance factors. Self-determination is woven into this activity as its component.

Structural elements of personality, as the closest psychological prerequisites for professional self-determination, are different in the nature of their functions. The whole set of the most important personal prerequisites for self-determination can be reduced to two main groups:

) personality traits that provide the opportunity to successfully solve the problem of choosing a profession, but do not directly participate in the activation of this process. This group includes strong-willed character traits, as well as such a trait as diligence. This should also include the presence of some work and life experience, the level of general life maturity of a person.

) this group of psychological prerequisites for self-determination is formed by various components of the orientation of the personality, which dynamize the process of professional self-determination and determine the selectivity of the response. This includes the need for professional self-determination, the person's educational and professional interests and inclinations, beliefs and attitudes, values ​​and ideals, and ideas about life values.

The components of the second group, due to their connection with cognitive needs, have the function of conditioning a field of activity that is attractive to a person.

Kuznetsova I.V.

Center for Career Guidance and Psychological Support "Resource",

Yaroslavl

Professional self-determination is a continuous process that accompanies a person's entire professional life. It does not end with a single choice of profession. A person constantly rethinks his professional existence and clarifies his professional choice: changing jobs, types and areas of activity, defining specialization, planning activities, changing the way activities are performed, etc. It is impossible to professionally self-determine once in a lifetime. Professional self-determination is updated when solving various social and professional problems. Flexibility, constant refinement and adjustment of professional values, opportunities, positions, plans and prospects are the most important factors in the effectiveness of self-determination, especially in the context of constant change in the personality itself and significant socio-economic changes.

The key characteristic of professional self-determination is overcoming uncertainty at the personal-motivational level by defining and redefining one's own professional position. Professional self-determination is one of the mechanisms of personal professionalization, closely related to the formation of the subject of professional development. It performs a number of functions in the course of professional choice, formation and development of a person: career guidance, design, identification, organizational, control, regulatory, adaptive, compensatory.

Professional self-determination of a person can be considered as a process, as a state and as a result. From the side of the process, we can talk about certain stages, conditions and factors influencing the unfolding of the process of professional self-determination. From the side of the result, professional self-determination is characterized by neoplasms in various areas of personality: motivational, cognitive, behavioral, emotional, etc.: expanding ideas about oneself and the world (including professional), gaining experience in making choices, experience in professional trials, forming the image of "I" , forming an image of the desired future, etc. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the process of professional self-determination can be carried out according to the success of solving the problems of professional self-determination and the formation of neoplasms necessary for their implementation, which form the basis of the ability to professional self-determination. As a state, professional self-determination reflects how the cross-section of c can be continuously characterized by more or less high emotional saturation, awareness, wide or narrow (focused).

Professional self-determination is an activity process that includes solving the problems of professional self-determination. Its course is carried out in accordance with the system-genetic and system-functional principles: the same problem of self-determination appears differently at different ages and in the implementation of various functions.

The key tasks of professional self-determination are solved on the basis of self-knowledge, understanding (reflexive analysis) of real choices, social and professional trials and other mental and practical actions, designing and redesigning one's own professional future and professional path. An important role in the process of self-determination, along with rational ones (awareness, analysis, comparison, etc.), is played by non-rational components: feelings, experiences, habits, intuition.

Among the significant tasks of professional self-determination of high school students, which will be discussed in more detail in this publication, there are tasks related to making a decision on choosing a profession, developing ways and means of acquiring it, considering professional prospects, etc.

Professional self-determination occurs in a certain situation, which is a combination of subjective and objective factors of choice: socio-economic prospects, characteristics of the modern labor market and professions, the requirements they impose on an employee, possible ways to acquire professions, etc., individual characteristics of each person, subjective attitude to the situation of choice, established connections, traditions, etc.

Generalization of the results of a number of researchers, as well as understanding the practice of our own work, allowed us to develop a normative model of the process of professional self-determination of school graduates. It includes the formation of the image of "I" on the basis of self-knowledge and self-development; the formation of a generalized idea of ​​the labor market and the situation of choice based on analysis and synthesis, the formation of the image of the most attractive, "ideal" sphere of future professional activity based on the comparison and coordination of the image of "I" and a generalized idea of ​​the labor market and the situation of choice; development of alternative choices based on the concretization of the image of an attractive field of professional activity; decision making (preference for one of the options) based on weighting, limited acceptance, crowding out, and other mechanisms; development of a program, ways and means of implementing the chosen option.

The real process of professional self-determination is not always carried out in accordance with the normative model. It can be characterized by different latitude (more or fewer components); inconsistency (consistency of internal and external factors); degree of structure, mono-direction (there is an integration of one or a number of intentions); stability (preservation of value orientations regarding various types of activities), validity (the degree of completeness of accounting for external and internal factors). The arising contradictions, difficulties and mistakes refer to different stages and components of professional self-determination.

Organizational and managerial support of professional self-determination - career guidance - essentially depends on how the essence of this process is understood. If we put at the forefront the activity of the individual, when Rthe solution must be found by the chooser himself, then the teacher(or another person involved in supporting the process of professional self-determination)cannot and should not give ready-made recommendations. Just as you cannot breathe and live for another person, you cannot make fateful decisions for him. Even the most infantile young person can do it himself, relying on the help of a wise and understanding adult, since there are no absolutely right or wrong decisions, there are decisions that are acceptable and unacceptable from the point of view of a particular person in a particular situation. A specialist assisting a graduate can create conditions, activate the search process, accompany in the course of professional self-determination, helping to determine the “price” and ways of mastering the profession, possible success and job satisfaction in each case.

Thus, the creation of conditions for professional self-determination of high school students should, first of all, ensure the launch and implementation of an individual's activity for professional self-determination, the formation of means for building her professional career.


Psychology of professional and personal self-determination

TOPIC. BASIS OF PROFESSIONAL SELF-DETERMINATION
Introduction

    1. Concepts: career guidance and professional consultation, professional and personal self-determination, career and professional choice
    2. Professional self-determination as a search for meaning in work activity
    3. Personal dignity as the highest (elite) manifestation of subjectivity in labor
    4. The main (ideal) goal and main tasks of professional self-determination
    5. Psychological "spaces" of professional and personal self-determination
    6. Types and levels of professional self-determination
    7. Basic career guidance methods
    8. Methods for activating professional self-determination
    9. Main strategies for organizing career guidance



1. Concepts: career guidance and professional consultation, professional and personal self-determination, career and professional choice
In vocational guidance, the following areas are traditionally distinguished: professional information, profagitation, vocational education, vocational diagnostics (professional selection , professional selection ) and professional advice.career guidance - a very voluminous concept, for example, one can say that modern Western society is essentially career-oriented, because from birth, orients the child to "success in life", to a "successful career". Career guidance involves a wide range of measures that go beyond pedagogy and psychology alone to assist in choosing a profession, which includes professional consultation as an individually oriented assistance in professional self-determination.
Both vocational guidance and vocational consultation are the "orientation" of the student (optant), while
more correlates with the "self-orientation" of the student, acting as the subject of self-determination (Klimov, 1983. S. 15-21 ).
Professional and personal self-determination have a lot in common, and in their highest manifestations they almost merge. If you try to separate them, you can distinguish two fundamental differences between professional and personal self-determination :
1. Professional self-determination - more specific, it is easier to formalize it (get a diploma, etc.); personal self-determination is a more complex concept (the diploma "for personality", at least for mentally healthy people, is not yet issued).
2. Professional self-determination depends more on external (favorable) conditions, and personal self-determination depends on the person himself, moreover, it is often bad conditions that allow someone to truly express themselves (heroes appear in critical eras). True, even in prosperous eras, full of "temptations" and so-called "happiness" with frozen smiles (when everyone is "supposed" to be happy), there are still people who are looking for meaning for themselves in solving some special, incomprehensible for an inhabitant of problems, for whom the worst thing is the joy of the masses "champing with happiness". For such people, a prosperous era turns into the most terrible torture, and they themselves create additional difficulties for themselves, i.e. conditions for truly personal self-development.
At the same time, such people (true heroes) have the opportunity to pose complex problems with relatively well-to-do "rear areas", when they do not have to think about survival, basic food, etc., so personal self-determination in prosperous eras, on the one hand , is still preferable, but, on the other hand, and much more difficult than in difficult, "heroic" periods of the development of society, since in an era of relative prosperity, true personal self-determination often dooms a person to real loneliness, misunderstanding and even condemnation from others. That is why it is undesirable to call for or somehow "formalize" psychological assistance in personal self-determination. It is better to carefully carry it out against the background of more familiar and understandable for most people work on career guidance (professional self-determination).
The concept of "career" widely used in the West (for example, in the US career guidance is often referred to as "career psychology"). Russia has its own tradition of using the word "career" - this is success in any activity, but with some negative connotation (such as "careerism"). In the American tradition, a career (according to J. Super) is "a certain sequence and combination of roles that a person performs during his life" (child, student, vacationer, worker, citizen, spouse, owner of the house, parent) ". Such an understanding is close to life self-determination in the Russian tradition (see.
Pryazhnikov, 1997. S. 80-81 ).
True, in the Western tradition, the concept of "career" is increasingly associated with irony and condemnation. For example, V. Berg in his book "Career-Supergame" writes: "A successful career is not a fluke. Try not to fall for the "wolves" of economics and politics who have managed to make a brilliant career, but learn how to howl and hunt with them." "Why don't you start poisoning the colleagues around you yourself? Become a killer before you become a victim. But you should always remember that this will slightly spoil your conscience. However, your enemies, your competitors, your envious people are colleagues ... after all, they are do exactly the same. Harassment, intrigue, envy no longer cause feelings of shame "(
Berg, 1998, p. 8 )…
Professional Choice , in contrast to professional self-determination (according to E.I. Golovakha), - "this is a decision that affects only the immediate life prospects of the student", which can be carried out "both with and without taking into account the long-term consequences of the decision made" and "in the last In this case, the choice of a profession as a fairly specific life plan will not be mediated by distant life goals" (
Golovakha, 1988 ). J. Super believes that during a life (career) a person is forced to make many choices (the career itself is considered as "alternating choices").

2. Professional self-determination as a search for meaning in work activity
The concept of "self-determination" is quite consistent with such currently fashionable concepts as self-actualization, self-realization, self-fulfillment, self-transcendence, self-consciousness (see more about professional self-consciousnessTopic 5 of this manual) ... At the same time, many thinkers associate self-realization, self-actualization, etc. precisely with labor activity, with work. For example, A. Maslow believes that self-actualization manifests itself "through passion for meaningful work"; K. Jaspers connects self-realization with the "work" that a person does. I.S. Kon says that self-realization is manifested through work, work and communication. P.G. Shchedrovitsky notes that "the meaning of self-determination lies in the ability of a person to build himself, his individual history, in the ability to constantly rethink his own essence" (quoted from:Pryazhnikov, 1997, pp. 78-79 ).
E.A. Klimov distinguishes two levels of professional self-determination: 1) gnostic (restructuring of consciousness and self-awareness); 2) practical level (real changes in the social status of a person) (Klimov, 1983. S. 62-63 ).
Self-determination implies not only "self-realization", but also the expansion of one's original capabilities - "self-transcendence" (according to
V. Franklu ): "... the fullness of human life is determined through its transcendence, i.e. the ability to "go beyond oneself", and most importantly - in the ability of a person to find new meanings in a particular case and in his whole life" Thus, it is the meaning that determines the essence self-determination, self-realization and self-transcendence.
ON THE. Berdyaev in his work "Self-Knowledge" notes that even "on the verge of adolescence and youth, I was once shocked by the thought: "Let me not know the meaning of life, but the search for meaning already gives the meaning of life, and I will devote my life to this search for meaning" (
Berdyaev, 1990, p. 74 ).
All this makes it possible to determine the essence of professional self-determination as the search for and finding personal meaning in the chosen, mastered and already performed work activity, as well as finding meaning in the very process of self-determination .
At the same time, the paradox of self-determination is immediately revealed (as well as the paradox of happiness): the found meaning immediately devalues ​​life (a kind of "emptiness" is formed). Therefore, it is the process of searching for meaning that is important, where separate (already found) meanings are only intermediate stages of the process (the process itself becomes the main meaning - this is life, life as a process, and not as some kind of "achievement").
True, according to V. Frankl (1990) it turns out that meaning cannot be built anew, it can only be "found". But there is an element of predestination in this, which somewhat limits the true creativity of professional and personal self-determination.
With a more creative approach to one's life, the very meaning is created by a person anew. It is in this case that a person turns into a genuine subject of self-determination , and not just acts as a conductor of some "higher" meanings.
One of the most difficult (and at the same time creative) problems is the search for meaning for a particular self-defined client. But there can be no single meaning (for all the same). The only exceptions are the eras of wars and moral trials, when the people or individual strata of society are united by a single idea. It is possible to single out some variants of the meaning of self-determination , designed for general orientation, both for a self-determined client and for the professional psychologist himself.
1. With regard to professional self-determination, a generalized meaning can be distinguished: the search for such
professions and work that would make it possible to receive earnings (public assessment of labor) in fairness, i.e. in accordance with the effort expended (or in accordance with the individual's contribution to society).
But K. Marx also put problem of "alienation of labor from capital". The course of his reasoning is roughly as follows. Two aspects of labor stand out: 1) "living labor" - as an activity, as an opportunity and as a source of wealth, and 2) "abstract labor", expressed in value, in capitals. Due to the unfair distribution of wealth, it often happens that a worker has little money (only to maintain his existence), and an idler can be a rich man. In a just society, living labor (the activity itself, work) must be combined with the abstract (with a monetary reward). Even Plato believed that in a just society, a person's contribution to society should correspond to remuneration. An idler can become rich precisely because labor exists in two aspects and (especially in the abstract part connected with capitals) can be undeservedly “alienated” from a real worker (cf.
Marx, Engels, Lenin, 1984 ).
Thus, it is not labor itself that becomes more important, but the possibility of redistributing the benefits, the results of this labor. But devalued labor gives rise to purely psychological problems associated with the attitude to work and planning one's development as a real worker or as an "enterprising" loafer-exploiter. And although K. Marx himself did not investigate the purely psychological consequences of such injustice (psychology itself as a science had not yet appeared at that time), his reasoning can be very interesting when considering the problems of professional self-determination.
Money is not only an economic category - it is a kind of accumulator of human hopes, dreams and meanings. Already in the development of Marx's ideas, it can be said that the owner of capital, as it were, also possesses particles of the soul of other people . But money (large capital) allows the person who possesses it to free up free time for harmonious personal development.
"A harmoniously developed individual" (according to K. Marx) - this is a person who is constantly changing his professional functions, this is "the essence of the ways of life that replace each other", i.e. harmony is understood as versatility in different types of labor. "With a developed industry, a worker will change his profession every five years," wrote K. Marx. It is noteworthy that in many Western firms (in particular, in modern Germany) it is difficult to make a career without mastering related professions.
The most terrible "swear word" for
K. Marx - this is a "professional cretin" (or - "professional idiocy") , i.e. a person "well aware only of his profession, limited by it and not participating in the life of society", which also greatly limits his development as a person. Another "swear word" by K. Marx is "vocation" person, because assigns it to a specific job function. "Recognizing the vocation, we are forced to recognize the fatality of human life, but man is the creator of his own destiny," wrote K. Marx. One can imagine the reaction of K. Marx if he got a few years ago in the then Soviet school, where slogans like: "You choose a profession. Remember - this is for life!"
K. Marx noted that "The main result of labor is not the goods produced, but the person himself in his social relations" . Under capitalism, many people appear who have the opportunity to use their free time for their development - and this is the progressive meaning of capitalism (compared to previous formations). But all this happens at the expense of the exploitation of other people (who spend their time on exhausting labor to ensure their existence). It was assumed that under socialism most people would have time for harmonious development - this is the main "sedition" of Marx.
2. But, as already noted, K. Marx did not reveal precisely the psychological (personal) meaning of labor.
E. Fromm tried to somewhat "psychologize" K. Marx. His term is "alienated nature "when a person is separated from his business, from his activity, when activity ceases to be personally significant for him, i.e. a person, as it were, loses the meaning of his work. A person simply sells himself on the" market of personalities "(like Marx, a person sells his labor power). The alienated character is the “market personality” that has lost its true meaning (the meaning for such a person is, as it were, outside labor, for example, in making money). But again, it is not clear what this meaning is? For example, the question remains unanswered, why does a person need a lot of money?As an antithesis to "alienated character", E. Fromm singles out "non-alienated character", when a person performs an activity that is significant for himself, as if personally "merging" with it, but the essence of such a person is revealed only through a set of "beautiful" (albeit correct) words like "self-orientation", "active, loving and reasonable orientation", when a person "loves what he works for and works for what he loves" and etc. (cm.Fromm, 1992 ).
3. V. Frankl considers different variants of meanings ("three triads of meanings") and highlights the most important of them - the meaning of suffering, but "only such suffering that changes a person for the better" (cm.
Frankl, 1990 ). True, even before him, F. Nietzsche wrote that "a person's place in society is determined by the suffering that he is ready to endure for this." If we take suffering for the sake of self-improvement as a basis, then the question remains: in what direction should we improve, what ideals should we strive for? And although V. Frankl himself, and F. Nietzsche, give approximate guidelines for self-development, the construction of "spaces" of choice is still left to the client himself. As a result, the client, and the psychologist-consultant himself, remain at a loss.
4. J. Rawls in his famous work
"Theory of Justice" (1995) highlights "primary good" - self-esteem . We can again put the question: why does a person need money, capital? The usual answer is to buy things, experience culture, travel, etc. But then an even more interesting question follows: what is all this for? Many are usually lost with the answer, tk. the answer seems self-evident. Let's try to think in this direction. A typical example: a person bought an expensive thing (he went abroad, "joined the culture, having run around the entire Louvre in two hours"), but often the main point for him is to tell his relatives and friends about it. It is known, for example, that a person often gets more pleasure not from a prestigious trip abroad, but from the anticipation of this trip or from stories about this trip among "friends", or from memories of it. That is, the meaning is not on the trip, but outside of it.
But then the question arises: why is this happening? And why then do we need this trip (this purchase, etc.)? One of the most persuasive answers: to increase a sense of self-worth. Thus, not even money (and the benefits acquired with it) become the main meaning: money is one of the means to increase self-esteem. But all this means that often when choosing a profession (the most prestigious and monetary), a person either consciously or intuitively focuses on what the profession can give him to increase his sense of self-worth. If we discard resentment and indignation about the above reasoning, then highlighting self-esteem as an "initial" category will allow us to better understand many clients, their "primary", more essential ideas about values ​​and benefits, and therefore about the meaning of their professional life.
5. If we try to somewhat develop the idea of ​​the "primary good" and self-esteem, then we can single out another version of the meaning - desire for elitism (cm.
Pryazhnikov, 2000 ). It is known that many people (teenagers and their ambitious parents) often dream of getting "from rags to riches" (including through a "successfully" chosen profession, and through a "successful" employment). This is especially important in the era of socio-economic transformations and upheavals, when not so much creative, highly qualified specialists who work effectively in more stable conditions come to the fore, but the so-called "adventurers" who have not so much the talent to work well as the talent to get a good job. (or more precisely, to adapt to the changing conjuncture of the labor market). The idea of ​​adventurism is now very popular among self-determined youth.
V.A. Polyakov, in his famous book "Technology of a Career", frankly identifies two main goals (we would say - meaning) in building a "successful" career: the first is "to achieve a high position in society", and the second is to achieve a "high income" (see Fig.
Polyakov, 1995, p. 5 ).
Of course, elite orientations in
professional self-determination presuppose not only "prestige" and "high earnings", but also a truly creative construction of one's life, an orientation towards the highest human ideals and values. The only problem is how to figure out where are the real values ​​and where are the imaginary ones, where is the elite and where is the pseudo-elite.

3. Personal dignity as the highest (elite) manifestation of subjectivity in labor
The famous philosopher and sociologist J. Rawls defines self-esteem andself-esteem as a "primary good" that underlies all human aspirations and actions and which must be taken into account in building a just society. Self-esteem itself (according to J. Rawls) includes two main aspects. First, it includes "a person's sense of his own importance, his firm conviction that his concept of his own good, his life plan, is worth realizing." Secondly, self-respect includes confidence in one's own abilities, since it is in the power of a person to fulfill his own intentions" (Rawls, 1995, p. 385 ).
Thus, only the person who is “confident in his own abilities” and is ready to realize his concept of the good, i.e., can consider himself worthy. is ready to act as the subject of building his own happiness. But a person lives in a real society and interacts with other people, and all these people have their own "concepts of the good", which often come into inevitable conflict with each other. If we take as a basis the point of view that all people should equally love each other, then this will turn out to be a deliberate self-deception, because only the Lord God Himself is capable of this, notes J. Rawls. Therefore, it is necessary to look for new approaches, in particular, J. Rawls offers his concept of "justice as honesty".
Only in a "fair society," notes J. Rawls, should people strive to balance their interests, i.e. "negotiate" and make certain concessions to each other. And this means that even in a "just society" certain concessions and internal compromises are inevitable . Moreover, concessions become inevitable in the most important thing - in self-esteem. But only in this case, yielding even in what is so important for oneself, a person and the whole society receive a much greater gain - the stability of this whole society and its further development, and hence the expansion of opportunities for self-realization of each individual member of such a society (see Rawls, 1995). Naturally, all this is directly related to labor activity, where the main self-realization of the individual takes place.
And it is here that a person turns from a "separately taken individual" into a genuine personality, involved in public interests, and a person has what the "late" A. Adler called "a sense of belonging to society" (from him - Gemeinschaftsgefuhl) and what he called for pursuit. In fact, a person who is oriented towards the interests of society (and even better - Culture) does not so much "lose" his dignity in the inevitable concessions to the interests of other people, but elevates him. In this case, we can say that dignity passes a real test - a test of the significance of the goal and meaning for which a person lives and may generally consider himself or not consider himself a person, and the highest such goal is considered to be serving other people and society as a whole.
True, even the French revolutionary and writer N. Chamfort bitterly noted that "too great virtues sometimes make a person unfit for society: they don’t go to the market with gold bars - they need a bargaining chip, especially a trifle." And this means that the problem for many people still remains.
Self-realization in work, understood as the desire to assert one's dignity through serving the ideals of goodness and justice, really faces serious difficulties :
1. Is society prepared to fairly evaluate each individual's contribution to the overall well-being? We think it's not ready yet.
2. Is a particular person, realizing that his work is often not fairly appreciated, nevertheless voluntarily and creatively realize his best talents in work? We believe that in reality there are very few such people, they are sometimes considered "almost saints" or ... fools.
3. Is there currently a unity in understanding what is "worthy" and "unworthy"? If such an understanding were at the level of public consciousness, then it would be easier for many people to focus on the true values ​​of culture, and, accordingly, it would be easier to realize themselves in culture as full-fledged subjects. But so far, even many leading figures of modern culture have become very confused in these issues, which is manifested in constantly replacing each other "crises of culture." And if for culture itself these crises help in reflecting on their problems, then for an unprepared layman it greatly complicates the problems of personal and professional self-determination. These problems are especially acute in modern Russia, where a large part of the so-called creative intelligentsia has already managed to demonstrate their commitment to the best ideals of justice and dignity. On this occasion, the well-known domestic playwright V. Rozov wrote with regret: “I don’t like intellectual holuizh. Frank holuizh, which I noticed at the first gathering in the Beethoven Hall in the Kremlin at a meeting of the President with representatives of the creative intelligentsia. I then spoke in Pravda” and they didn’t invite me to such idlers anymore "(
Rozov, 1996, p. 6 ). Even earlier, a well-known anti-fascist writer said that "the dream of slaves is a market where you can buy masters for yourself," and so on.
Thus, the problem of human dignity can only be re-designated in the context of a person's self-realization in labor activity, but the very solution of this problem in many respects still seems to be the work of the person himself. And it depends on how much he himself perceives the possibilities of his professional activity as a condition for full-fledged personal development.

4. The main (ideal) goal and main tasks of professional self-determination

    Conditionally, the following can be distinguished main task groups professional self-determination :
      information and reference, educational;
      diagnostic (ideally - help in self-knowledge);
      moral and emotional support of the client;
      help in choosing, in making a decision.
Each of these tasks can be solved at different levels of complexity. : 1) the problem is solved "instead of" the client (the client takes a passive position and is not yet the "subject" of choice); 2) the problem is solved "together" (jointly) with the client - dialogue, interaction, cooperation, which still needs to be reached (if successful, the client is already a partial subject of self-determination); 3) the gradual formation of the client's readiness to independently solve their problems (the client becomes a true subject).
For example, when solving an information and reference problem at the first level, the client is simply informed of the necessary information (this is also help!), At the second level, the psychologist analyzes certain information together with the client, at the third level, the psychologist explains to the client how to independently obtain the necessary information (what ask questions to specialists in this profession, where to go, etc.).
To get to the third level of help, it is often necessary to first organize interaction with the client at the second level. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to help the client, limiting yourself only to the first level (for example, in cases where you need to make a quick decision, but there is not enough time for this).
The main (ideal) goal of professional self-determination - gradually form the client's internal readiness to independently and consciously plan, adjust and implement the prospects for his development (professional, life and personal) (see.
Pryazhnikov, 1999. S. 45-46 ).
This goal is called ideal because it is very rarely possible to achieve it, but ideals, as you know, exist not in order to achieve them, but in order to indicate the direction of one's aspirations. Gradual formation means that such complex issues are not resolved quickly (professional consultation "in one sitting" is "profanity"). Vocational consultation involves not only traditional "planning", but also timely adjustment of one's plans (as already noted, the most important result of career guidance assistance is not only the promotion of a specific choice, but also the formation of the ability to make new choices). The implementation of professional prospects implies at least moral inspiration for the client for the first steps towards their goals, as well as initial control over the success of these steps. Professional development must necessarily be considered in the context of all life and in the context of personal development.
It is possible to formulate the main goal of professional self-determination in a slightly different way: the gradual formation of the client's readiness to consider himself developing within a certain time, space and meaning, to constantly expand his capabilities and realize them to the maximum (close to "self-transcendence" - according to V. Frankl).

5. Psychological "spaces" of professional and personal self-determination
For the theory and practice of professional self-determination, it is important to single out those "spaces of choice" in which self-determining people often find themselves, who themselves cannot always be aware of "what" and "from what" they generally choose. Sometimes professional consulting assistance to a client may also consist in a kind of informing him about the existing "spaces" of self-determination, which creates the orienting basis of the actions of a self-determining person (almost in terms of P. Ya. Galperin).
For example, M. Feldenkrais writes about society as "a field in which he (a person. - N.P.) must advance in order to be accepted as a valuable member, so that his value in his own eyes depends on his position in society" (
Feldenkrais, 1993, p. 46 ). One can single out the following the main landmarks of a self-determined person which can form the basis of his reflections on his professional present and future. First, we will present below the basic concepts that are somehow related to the planning of a person’s life and professional prospects.
As already noted, professional self-determination is not only the choice of a specific profession, but often the choice of a lifetime. Recall that abroad, the closely related concept of "career" implies a constant change of various life roles and the fulfillment of these roles (according to D. Super).
E.A. Klimov believes that professional self-determination should be considered not "in the egoistic sense, but in joining society, civilization, culture" (Klimov, 1993, p. 55).
Thus, often a person chooses not only this profession, but something more important (that this
profession gives him a fuller sense of his life).
Considering the problems of building human destiny, E. Bern singled out life scenarios and life strategies (
Bern, 1988 ). At the same time, life scenarios are "programs of progressive development developed in early childhood under the influence of parents and determining the individual's behavior in important aspects of his life"; scenarios cover the whole life of a person in detail, and strategies are considered as general ideas about human life.
    E. Bern identified the following main types of scenarios:
      "I never do";
      "I always do";
      "never done before";
      "I won't do it (I'll do it later)";
      "I do again and again";
      "I will do it until it is no longer possible to do it."
Based on the selection of these scenarios, the following three types of people were derived: winners, losers and losers. E. Bern gives examples of these types, linking them with certain "games" that often make up the life of many people: the game "Dowry", where the person himself determines in advance that there is nothing to take from him (a typical case of a loser); the game "Sisyphus or" start over "(an example of a loser); the game "You won't scare me" (an example of a non-winner); the game "Who needs me" (an example of a non-winner); the game "I'm right!" (an example of a winner); the game "If not so, then otherwise!" (an example of a winner who still finds a way to achieve his goal), etc.
At the same time, E. Bern noted that "scenarios are possible because most people do not understand what they are doing", while understanding, according to E. Berne, is "getting out of the power of scripts." We can add to this that to understand is to learn to build the prospects for your professional and personal development yourself (!), not to be a toy in the hands of fate.
M.V. Rosin , somewhat arguing with E. Berne, notes that the construction of life cannot be associated with purely unconscious influences (E. Berne himself believed that all life is determined by unconscious programs laid down in a person as early as childhood and implemented in certain situations, and that often these unconscious programs prevent a person from living a full life). M.V. himself Rozin believes that, at least, creative people ("symbolists") build their lives as if they were "writing a poem."
    Wherein building life like a poem involves the selection and implementation of the following main points:
      the image of the hero (the image of oneself as the hero of the poem);
      plot;
      tragedy (experiences without which life becomes uninteresting and meaningless);
      unexpected turns (even more diversifying life and making it unique) (see.Rozin, 1992 ).
But are all people (clients) really ready to consider their future life in such a way that they treat themselves as a "hero", and even ready for "tragedies" and "unexpected twists of fate"?
It is important for a professional consultant to clarify for himself such concepts as style and lifestyle, since, as already noted, many people choose not so much a profession as a certain lifestyle and life stereotype.
Lifestyle - this is a comprehensive consideration of life (work, life, social life), often associated with consideration of the quality of life of an individual, social group, society as a whole.
Life style - This is a type of human behavior, where the emphasis is on the subjective and dynamic side of the life of an individual.
In social psychology, such important concepts for professional counseling as social roles and social stereotypes are highlighted.
social role (according to D. Mead) is the social function of the individual, his place in a certain community of people (the role of a leader, an outcast, etc.).
social stereotype (according to W. Lipman) is a schematized representation of any social object (about a person, about a social or professional group).
Interesting, although non-traditional for the theory and practice of vocational counseling, are the
K.G. Jung archetypes . The "archetype" itself is defined as the collective unconscious. K.G. Jung distinguishes consciousness, the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious ("archetypes" as some mythological figures, images, the average experience of the experiences of many generations, which "in the process of history is repeated where the creative imagination" of a given person is freely manifested). At the same time, "each step towards a higher consciousness", which means "the fulfillment of the task that he discovered in his world" and is associated with "virtue" and "efficiency" in the best sense of the word, means the distance of a person from the general unconscious of the crowd, but at the same time makes its more "lonely", misunderstood and often raises doubts and suspicions on the part of ordinary people (Jung, 1994, p. 57 ). In other words, "a breakthrough of the unconscious (in particular, the collective unconscious) can expand the possibilities of a person's self-determination in the world, but it can also complicate his life.
For further consideration of the "spaces" of self-determination, one can single out more specific options for elections, where one or another social and professional stereotypes, life scenarios, etc. are, as it were, specified. Based on this, the following typologies of professional and personal self-determination.
    Even in the Petrine era, the famous statesman of Russia V.N. Tatishchev classified all "sciences" (types of labor) according to the criterion of "good and evil for man":
      "necessary" sciences (economics, medicine, law);
      "useful" sciences (rhetoric, grammar, "mathematics"-arithmetic, "land surveying", mechanics, astronomy);
      "dandy, or amusing" (poetry, dancing, painting, "voltage" - prancing on a horse), serving more to obtain a position in society than for business;
      "amateurish, or vain" (astrology, physiognomy, alchemy);
      "harmful" sciences (witchcraft, divination) (see Tatishchev, 1979).
Probably, such a criterion for classifying professional activity is also relevant for evaluating various areas of modern psychology itself.
    In the 20s. our centuryS.P. Strumilin proposed classify professions according to the degree of independence of a person in work :
      automatic reflex labor (for example, turning the handle of a winnowing machine, hand mill, etc.);
      semi-automatic habitual work (for example, the work of a typist, telegraph operator);
      template-executive work - at the behest (for example, work on the machine, the work of a pianist, clerk, accountant);
      independent work within the task (for example, the work of an engineer, teacher, doctor, journalist);
      free creative labor (for example, work in the field of art, the work of a scientist, an organizer of the economy, a politician) (see.Strumilin, 1983 ).
    In modern Russia, the most famous typology of professions proposed by E.A. Klimov, where the criterion is the attitude of a person (subject of labor) to the object of labor . All professions correspond to five main groups:
      man is nature;
      man - technology;
      man - man;
      man - sign systems;
      man - artistic imageKlimov, 1990 ).
Lithuanian author L.A. Yovaisha divided all professions according to predominant professional values : 1 - communication values; 2 - intellectual activity; 3 - practical and technical activity; 4 - artistic activity; 5 - somatic activity; 6 - material (economic) activity (Yovaisha, 1983 ).
Abroad, today the most famous and popular typology of J. Holland (sometimes written - J. Holland), based on comparison of personality types and types of professional environment (cm.
Proshchitskaya, 1993
    The following main types are distinguished (types of personality and types of professional environment):
      realistic type (technique, male prof.) - P;
      intellectual type - And;
      social - C;
      conventional (sign systems that require structuredness) - K;
      entrepreneurial - P;
      artistic type - A.
It is assumed that a certain personal type should correspond to its own type of professional environment, which ensures a more complete realization of the employee in his work. The table shows approximate ratios of personality types and types of professional environment (see table). Back in 1922 E. Spranger in his work "The main ideal types of personality" he singled out the following types of interest for a professional consultant in accordance with the predominant attitudes of people: 1) a theoretical person; 2) economic man; 3) aesthetic; 4) social; 5) political; 6) religious (Spranger, 1982 ).
When comparing different typologies, it becomes clear that These typologies are based not only on the position of the author, but also on that cultural and historical environment, that society, which often determines the presence of different types of people who realize themselves in specific labor and social activities. . For example, E. Spranger singles out a religious person, but this type is absent in more modern typologies. Another example: in the typology traditional for Russia of the USSR era
E.A. Klimov there is no entrepreneurial type, although there is such a type in the typology of J. Holland (the Lithuanian psychologist L.A. Jovaisha has already identified something similar, apparently because even the Lithuanian SSR is closer to the Western way of life).
Thus, the typologies of professional activity and, accordingly, the space of self-determination largely depend on the cultural and historical environment. An interesting question arises: what typologies should a professional consultant rely on in the conditions of instability of the general socio-economic (and spiritual) situation, for example, in the conditions of Russia in the "transitional period"? The complexity of the issue lies in the fact that the outdated typologies of domestic authors no longer correspond to this situation in many respects, and the construction of new typologies can significantly lag behind the process of changes in the country itself. Well-known foreign typologies, moreover, often do not take into account the specifics of our country. Under these conditions, a possible way out is either to build some kind of "universal" typology applicable to different countries, peoples and eras, or to try to understand what is happening in a country called the Russian Federation (RF), especially since the "transitional the period" to a "bright life" (or to the "light at the end of the tunnel" - in the words of one former "popularly beloved President") was greatly delayed.
In this regard, it seems interesting enough universal the typology of people proposed by the famous Russian historian L.N. Gumilyov . His typology is built according to the passionary-attractive principle .
    Some space is built where:
      one axis - attractiveness- has the following poles: a) selfishness based on reason and b) attractiveness as "a strange desire for truth, beauty, justice";
      other axis - passionarity- has poles: a) the instinct of self-preservation and b) passionarity as an anti-instinct ("unjustified risk for the sake of achieving illusory goals").
As a result, the following types of people are distinguished: 1) ordinary people; 2) vagrant soldiers; 3) criminals; 4) ambitious; 5) business people; 6) adventurers; 7) learned people; 8) creative people; 9) prophets; 10) non-possessors (disinterested people); 11) contemplators; 12) tempters (cf.Gumilyov, 1990. S. 327-330
etc.................


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