CAREER GUIDANCE FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE IRKUTSK REGION: PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
Authors: Shvedina S. A. ,   Irkutsk Oil Company, Petrushin I. S. , Saraeva O. N. ,   Irkutsk State University,   Baikal State University
Published: July 2024

Introduction. The rapid transformation of the human capital market in Russia makes the professional self-determination of high school students especially important. This paper studies approaches and methodologies in the area of professional self-determination at the state level and the experience of practical implementation of career guidance programs of various forms and scales conducted both at the regional level and in Russia. Regional authorities, higher education organizations, and employing companies are involved in organizing these programs. High school students have access to a wide range of opportunities to learn about careers: the Ticket to the Future platform, online testing services Profilum, Proforientator.ru, and project work programs in the educational centers Okean and Sirius. Profnavigator Online is rightfully considered to be the leader of occupational diagnostics on a federal level; in the Irkutsk region it is known as PROF.Navigator. The region’s practice-oriented programs that deserve special attention are Ticket to the Future, Ladder of Professional Tests, IRNITU Network Lyceum, and Samsung IT School. The Purpose of the study is to search for constructive solutions to the problems in the system of career guidance at the regional level. In order to achieve the goal, the following tasks are to be completed: to review the theoretical aspects of professional self-determination; to summarize the practice of career guidance in the Irkutsk region; to assess the effectiveness of career guidance activities; and to characterize the actions and interrelationships of actors (organizers of career guidance activities). In the process of work, the main methods were analysis, synthesis, and statistical sampling method. The results of the monitoring of the regional system of career guidance conducted in 2021- 2022 indicate the authors’ disunity in selecting work forms and methods, which leads to their low overall performance. Scientific novelty. The analysis of career guidance practices in the Irkutsk region is presented for the first time for the region. The pattern of interaction between the actors of career guidance activity is described. It is proposed to overcome the problems of the career guidance system by creating networked educational clusters of end-to-end career guidance by sectors of the economy around resource organizations. Conclusion. The authors believe that the main reason for the situation at hand is the hetero¬geneity of objectives. Regional structures are more interested in the coverage and scale of activities to the detriment of the quality of the activities and the motivation of participants. Organizations of higher education are primarily interested in competitive recruitment during the admission campaign regardless of the interests of the applicants themselves. The limitations of this approach lead to a significant dropout rate among those admitted “by chance”. Enterprises, as customers of future specialists, have the resources and motivation to attract young people into the profession, but they also need the tools to interact with graduates.