Motivation of professional self-determination of students studying in service directions

Professional self-determination of a person is a long process, which acquires special significance in student years. At this time, the correctness of ideas about the future profession is checked, motivational attitudes are strengthened or weakened. An important task facing teachers, especially in junior years, is to maintain and develop the motivation for professional choice by students. For its successful solution, it is necessary, first of all, to understand what needs underlie the professional self-determination of students. The purpose of the study was to identify the motives for professional self-determination of students. In the study, which was conducted using the test-questionnaire S.S. Grinshpun, 86 students studying in the areas of training "Service" and "Tourism" took part. Analysis of the motivation of students' professional self-determination was carried out by calculating the indicators of the severity of motives and ranking them by significance. The study revealed the predominance in the motivational structure of students of motives focused on creative self-realization, the sufficient severity of motives due to the needs to achieve material well-being and material independence, and a less pronounced motivation associated with the assessed prestige of the profession. Also, some romanticization of the future profession by students of the “Tourism” direction and the absence of a sufficiently complete and real picture of the future profession of students studying in the “Service” direction of training were revealed. Based on the results of the study, the main directions for applying the efforts of teaching staff to maintain and develop the professional development of students in the process of studying at the university were identified.