Specific features of professional and value orientations of college and vocational school students (a sociological research of young people of the “Ekaterinburg city” municipal entity)[Особенности Профессионально-Ценностных Ориентаций Студентов И Учащихся Профессиональных Образовательных Организаций (На Примере Социологического Исследования Молодежи Муниципального Образования «Город Екатеринбург»)]

The purpose of the article is to explore the interrelation of the students’ maturity degree and the content of professional-value orientations as a factor of successful professional socialization and employment track building at the stage of labor market entering. The problem of finding new forms of interaction between educational institutions and labor market participants, considering the youth labor market specifics and factors affecting its dynamics, is still open because of the insufficiently addressed distinctions of professional identity of various youth groups as labor market participants. The problem is due to the contradiction between the market orientation towards the graduates’ and young specialists’ professional competencies in-demand by employers and a different degree of awareness of their content and, as a consequence, an insufficient degree of their development among graduates and young specialists who are at the stage of labor market entering. The research objective is to reveal the content and degree of awareness of college and vocational school students’ professional and value orientations (a sociological research of the youth in the “Ekaterinburg city” municipality). The theoretical basis of the article includes sociological survey of the youth labor market, theoretical research approaches to studying professional identity and professional-value orientations of young people, individual tracks of professional identity and labor market entry, theoretical investigation of the essence of competence-based approach and the content of professional competencies. The article examined the specific features of labor market and educational services market in Ekaterinburg, provides research data on the given social fields, following the results of the research by the authors of the article using survey methods and questionnaires in educational institutions of Ekaterinburg, at the “Ekaterinburg College of Economics and Technology” State Autonomous Professional Educational Institution of the Sverdlovsk region and the College of Electric Power and Mechanical Engineering of the “RGPPU” Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education. Based on the research results, conclusions have been made on the priority employment areas selected by the respondents, the content of the students’ professional and value orientations, on the maturity degree of conscious criteria to assess the future professional activity parameters in relation to the existing professional aspirations and expectations and also depending on the existing level of professional training within the learning process. In the authors’ view, it is necessary to add the research of the graduates’ professional and value orientations, being the basis for building individual labor market entry and employment tracks to the graduates’ employment monitoring. The results of the given and similar research works will enable educational institutions and employment centers to provide targeted assistance to graduates and young professionals.