Profesinis orientavimas sovietmečio Lietuvoje 1958–1984 m.: sisteminis, idėjinis ir praktinis įgyvendinimas
Authors: Grišinaitė Rūta 
Published: July 2019

Vocational guidance in the Soviet system of education was considered a high priority of institutional socialisation. Industrialisation and technical modernisation dictated and regulated changes in perception of labour training and vocational guidance and encouraged to promote economically required and favourable occupations in the public discourse. However, in reality, the attempt of the educational staff to direct pupils to vocational education facilities did not correspond with the expectations of parents and children regarding their future. Moreover, children’s choices for future occupations were far from accompanying socialist slogans. In order to reveal this complex phenomenon, the article analyses the systematic, theoretical, and practical implementations of vocational guidance in the educational environment of Soviet Lithuania. The research revealed that educational framework for vocational guidance in Soviet Lithuania was receptive to the changes introduced by educational reforms throughout the Soviet nion. It reflected the government’s economic, technical, and agricultural modernization as well as the increasing necessity of specialized manpower and blue–collar workers. The 1970s was the turning point for vocational guidance infrastructure in Lithuania – a huge institutional development took place. Moreover, state administration sectors responsible for economic welfare imposed their considerable influence on the educational system. The modernisation of the educational discourse in Soviet Lithuania in the 1960s–1970s changed the perception of vocational training in the educational system. Labour ducation and vocational guidance became the focus of the Soviet educational discourse and offered a child–oriented vocational guidance framework, which was based on the knowledge of the child, motivational, and interest related education. However, this sophisticated approach was used to manipulate children and to ensure adequate supply of professionals for various key industries, alongside with the implementation of ideological tasks. The actual practices of labour education and professional choices among children were influenced by family values, teachers’ approaches, and different socioeconomic conditions that surrounded children in the rural and urban environment. Due to the agricultural structure and collectivization in rural areas, children there were used to physical work. Therefore, their labour education included helping collective farm workers and their own parents during harvest periods. Meanwhile faster modernisation of urban educational spaces and more advanced technical possibilities determined that labour education of children from urban areas was less intense in terms of physical work. The development of the infrastructure of post-school activities in urban areas allowed children to get acquainted with different professions and activities. These circumstances were crucial when making a decision for future professional choices. Children’s future occupational decisions were also influenced by the concept of “prestige profession” (lawyer, doctor, engineer etc.) that circulated among parents and children during our research period. This concept was exceptionally strong among cultural and political elite families; therefore, their children most frequently went for higher education. Meanwhile childhood in rural areas based on physical work, determined the urge to escape these difficult conditions. nsequently, these pupils were considering non–manual occupations. However, their strong urge to help the family sometimes left them in an ambivalent position and their work choices were made in favour of the family. These contradictory practises led to the emergence of “vocational misguidance” when only unapt, ill-behaved or ideologically upstart pupils were guided to vocational training institutions.