Understanding The Career Of Students Receiving Secondary Vocational Education

The world of professions is changing very quickly

The problem of career is now taking on a new meaning. Both the content of professional activity and the system of relations in which professionals are included are changing (Avramenko, 2015; Kumykova, 2012; Meshkova, 2014). Along with the change in public attitudes, the priorities that the subjects of the labor process are guided by in these relations change. Analysts say that self-determination is difficult in a highly uncertain environment and that future-oriented education should be built with these realities in mind (Yurtaeva, 2012). However, it is important to understand that for employees it is an internal basis for building their professional path. The system-forming component of these foundations is social representations.

It is in representations that stable social contents, meeting new realities and refracted by personal needs, become the form of mental representation that serves as the basis for the actions of social subjects

Representations of certain groups of people are closely related to social processes and the state of social structures and can be considered as socio-psychological characteristics of these groups (Bovina, 2010). The author of the theory of social representations S. Moscovici and the founder of one of the directions of its development Jodelet (1984) characterize social representations as naive, natural knowledge, separated from scientific knowledge and based on the type of common sense. S. Moscovici says about the concept of social representations that it is: "... modern in nature, since in our society it replaces the myths, legends and everyday forms of thinking that exist in modern societies" (as cited in Jodelet, 1984, p. 94). Jodelet (1984) adds that "... social representations are properties of everyday practical thinking aimed at mastering and understanding the social, material and ideal environment" (p. 361). Emelyanova (2001), studying social representations in the conditions of transformation of Russian society, defines them as elements of public consciousness that conceptualize social reality at the level of common sense and indirectly regulate behavior.

Representatives of the social psychology of education speak about the need to study the social representations of participants in the educational process

This is necessary for tracking educational results, understanding the basis of actions of educational subjects, and reasonable design of its optimization (Belinskaya, 2017, Tolstykh, Ter-Avanesova & Chernyak, 2019). When conducting such research, along with the productive aspects of representations, specific contradictions and tendentiousness are found, the understanding of which can form the basis for the development of appropriate innovative technologies (Grebennikova et al., 2017; Lukyanchenko et al., 2019).

Analysis of the ideas about what a successful and unsuccessful career

Through a school assessment, respondents were asked to determine the significance of a successful career for them in the range of 10 points. For most of the respondents, career has a pronounced significance. There are no average ratings, which may indicate that this aspect of professional activity is emotionally charged.

In the continuation of the unfinished sentence "in my opinion, a successful career is that..." there are several semantic alternatives. One third of the answers associates a successful career with the fact that a job is personally significant and attractive (interesting, favourite, enjoyable); one fifth of the answers - with a material reward (a large, high salary). Fourteen percent of the responses have an educational theme (good, higher education). In one tenth of the answers, refers to the involvement in the labor process (working hard). Nine percent of the responses were determined in the topic of psychological comfort of working conditions (good relationships, stability, convenient schedule), and the same number – in the topic of social status (respect, good position). The lowest number of responses (seven percent of the total) reflect the topic of goal setting and goal attainment.

The sentence "according to my peers, a successful career consists of..." was continued in the following thematic ratio: a third of the responses reflects the topic of high pay; thirteen percent of the responses reflect the topic of personal significance and attractiveness; eleven percent of the responses - the topic of education; nine percent of the responses – the topic of having a job (there is a job, and everything is good). Seven percent of the responses formalized the topic of confidence and ability to overcome. Twenty-seven percent of the responses are not themed (either "I don't know" or "like me").

The sentence "in the opinion of my parents, a successful career is..." received these extensions: a fourth of the responses - about a high salary. almost a fifth is about education; a tenth is about "getting settled in life" and another tenth is about the personal significance and attractiveness of work. Six percent of the responses were given to the topics of family support and career advancement correspondingly. A fifth of the responses are vague. One respondent believes that for their parents, a successful career is about following their steps.

The sentence "in my opinion, an unsuccessful career is ..." received the following sequels. The authors of thirty percent of the answers qualified as a career failure low salary; seventeen percent of the answers - low personal significance and attractiveness of work (unloved, uninteresting, not motivating); sixteen percent of the answers – lack of quality education; twelve percent of the answers-uncomfortable working conditions (a lot of hard, difficult work, difficult working relationships, lack of stability); eight percent of the answers-lack of dynamics in professional life and status; nine percent of the answers - non-compliance with the requirements of the work, you can say your own "failure"; six percent of the answers-indifference to the career; two percent-lack of goal setting.

The sentence "My peers believe that an unsuccessful career is..." was continued by respondents in these variants: the topic of low wages is represented the most (36%). Eleven percent of the responses were based on lack of good education and another four on low intellectual competence. Nine percent of the responses were related to the topic of low personal significance and attractiveness of the work. Seven percent of the responses describe the situation of an external task of work and working relationships (to work without giving "to the uncle" on his terms). Seven percent of the answers - the lack of meaningful motivation in the employee. One answer is simply "work hard". One fourth of the responses states that it is difficult for the respondent to determine the opinion of their peers.

Determining the opinion of parents about what an unsuccessful career is, the respondents gave these answers. Low pay – twenty-two percent of the answers. Poor education – nineteen percent of the responses. Low personal significance and attractiveness – fifteen percent of the responses. Low involvement in work – five percent of responses. According to one answer, the team is poor and there is no dynamics in its activity and status, and it does not meet the requirements of the job. The third part of the responses recorded the difficulty for respondents to determine the opinion of parents.

Analysis of the ideas about which factors influence career success

By means of a scale assessment, respondents were asked to determine the share of efforts that they expect to spend in the total volume of life interests (career, family, friends, etc.) on a career. the ratio of ratings on this scale is close to the normal distribution. There are both low and high assessments, but most of them have an average level.

The question about what will contribute to a successful career received the following responses: thirty-eight percent of the responses state the important role of motivational and volitional factors (hard work, efficiency, purposefulness), twenty-eight percent of the responses – the importance of learning (the presence of cognitive competence and the desire to develop it), twelve percent of the responses – the importance of interaction with others (networking, the ability to receive support and build productive relationships). A tenth of the answers are about the importance of the financial factor, and another nine percent - about the need for a good context (choice of profession, its demand, the place where I got to).

The answers to the question, what can hinder a successful career, were distributed as follows. Thirty-seven percent of the responses reflected motivational characteristics of workers (poor motivation, apathy, lack of desire, etc.), one-fifth of responses - a bad relationship, for the most part by the participants of labor process (employees and management), eleven percent - low functionality, low power of an employee, ten percent - the incompetence identified with low level of education, nine per cent - weak mobilization efforts (uncertainty, complacency, indiscipline, etc.), four percent had problems with time. One answer has a paradoxical character, defining high competence as an obstacle to a successful career.

Respondents ' answers to the question: which of your qualities (characteristics) will contribute to a successful career, in half of the cases refer to their motivational characteristics related to the attractiveness of work, engagement, eighteen percent of the answers - the ability to interact productively, seventeen percent - intellectual and practical competence, eleven percent - the reliability of the respondent as an employee. One person gave the answer "success", apparently attributing this characteristic to himself. Two people failed to answer this question.

Indicating what qualities (characteristics) can, on the contrary, be an obstacle, respondents in almost half of the cases indicated weak motivation, lack of involvement in the labor process; eleven and a half percent of responses state low communicative competence, the same number – low psychological reliability (weak confidence and emotional stability), a tenth of responses indicate low intellectual competence. Another tenth indicates that the respondent does not see any of their characteristics that can hinder a successful career.

Analysis of the ideas about what role education has in career self-determination

Using a scale technique, respondents were asked to evaluate the significance of vocational training for a career in the range of 10 points. The ratio of ratings on this scale is close to the normal distribution. There are both low and high assessments, but most of them have an average level.

The question of how, in your opinion, professional training helps a successful career, received the following answers. Forty-four percent of the answers state that education provides knowledge about the profession helping its deep development; twenty-seven percent of the answers - that education provides the necessary documentation for decent employment, positions and salaries; five percent of the answers state that education itself is a manifestation of the quality of life, seven percent of the answers declare that education is not particularly necessary for a career, and another seventeen percent of the answers were "I do not know".

The question of what professional skills in your opinion are necessary for a successful career received the following answers: a fourth of the answers - about communication competence, the same amount – about reliability as an employee; sixteen percent of the answers – about intellectual competence; a tenth - about professional skills. Twenty-two percent of answers were "I don't know", and one person wrote that "none".

The last question of the questionnaire is formulated broadly: What kind of training do you think you will need in addition to basic training for a successful career? What should be its content (what should I learn?), duration (in hours, days), and how often should I be trained? The third part of the answers to it does not have a productive content: one answer is "no" and fourteen answers are "I do not know". The remaining responses indicate an expressed interest in continuing education. The intensity of the educational load that is desirable for respondents varies from one hour three times a week to "the more, the better". Most of them are interested in foreign languages, next in importance, IT-competence, a small number of responses indicates an interest in learning the basics of management, effective communication and additional expansion/deepening of professional knowledge.