Specifics of schoolchildren’s self-assessment of readiness for career choice: A combination of career awareness components with informational and motivational-volitional deficits
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction. The article presents a study of the issue of readiness for career choice among secondary school students, with a focus on self-assessment of readiness, which is a significant indicator of professional self-determination and reflects the degree of awareness in choosing a future field of occupation. The aim of the study is to identify the specific features of self-assessment of readiness for career choice among adolescent and senior school students in the current context of labor market transformation. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study includes: (1) L. S. Vygotsky’s cultural-historical approach, as interpreted in contemporary research on professional self-determination under labor market transformation, emphasizing the connection between career choice, age-related developmental tasks, the formation of professional identity, and the social situation of development; (2) the self-determination theory of E. L. Deci and R. M. Ryan; and (3) I. Gati and N. Levin’s career decision-making difficulties model. A survey was used as a research tool. The study involved 5,066 students in grades 7–11 from different regions of the Russian Federation. Both qualitative-quantitative and frequency analysis methods were used for data processing. Results. It was found that school students’ self-assessment of readiness for career choice is related to their perceptions of possible career trajectories: most respondents are oriented toward higher education, with low perceived attractiveness of vocational secondary education and a pronounced interest in entrepreneurship and self-employment. It is shown that a significant proportion of students highly rate their understanding of their own resources (life goals, achievements, abilities), while simultaneously experiencing a lack of knowledge about the requirements of future professions and the labor market situation, as well as a need for additional information. A predominance of a positive emotional attitude toward the career decision-making situation was identified (confidence, feeling of support, perception of choice as a space of opportunities), alongside feelings of uncertainty, confusion, and being lost among some students, indicating a combination of elements of career awareness with informational and motivational-volitional deficits. Conclusions. The obtained results illustrate the multidimensional structure of self-assessment of readiness for career choice among secondary school students: a combination of well-formed elements of career awareness (goals, awareness of achievements, basic knowledge about professions) with significant informational and motivational-volitional deficits (uncertainty, lack of regional information, and difficulties in practical preparation).
Source: Science for Education Today
Institution: Herzen University
Language: English
Subfield: Applied Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7204763736