THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE SYSTEM FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN IN THE SOVIET PERIOD (1960-1969)

The vocational guidance system, which received its active development after the revolution, was banned in the second half of the 30s. The ban was initiated by the resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) “On pedological perversions in the system of People’s Commissars”. The vulnerability of the professional orientation of schoolchildren during this period is due to the tightening of the totalitarian regime, which does not allow the existence of freedom of choice, which is the basis of the phenomenon under study. The intensive development of industry in the 50s, along with the consequences of the Great Patriotic War, led to a shortage of qualified labor, insufficient training of school graduates for practical activities. This has determined that the training of qualified labor is becoming one of the most important functions of the general education system assigned to it by the state. Referring to the contents of the XXI, XXII, XXIII congresses of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the decisions of which were binding, allowed us to conclude that a gradual change in attitude to the problem of professional orientation on the part of the leading government body: from an unambiguous position of satisfaction of industry and agriculture in personnel, regardless of the desires of school graduates, to the acceptance of their subjectivity in choosing a profession. The construction of a vocational guidance system in the 60s received a wide experimental research base and scientific basis. The results of the activities of various organizations engaged in professional orientation during the period under review are reflected in publications widely published in various regions of the USSR. In 1968, the All-Union Pedagogical Readings were organized, the purpose of which is to generalize and disseminate advanced pedagogical experience. The compulsory direction of the readings is the professional orientation of schoolchildren. The results of the readings are subsequently published in collections of materials, as well as in recommendations for the development and improvement of labor polytechnic education and vocational guidance of students. In 1969, the First All-Union Meeting on career guidance and career guidance at school was held, which demonstrated the scientific approach formed at this stage to building a system of vocational guidance in the USSR. The described period of development of the system of vocational guidance for schoolchildren in the Soviet period (1960-1969) is characterized by scientific validity, wide coverage of educational organizations, regardless of type and location, expansion of the methodology of vocational counseling and professional selection. The most important social institution of vocational guidance is becoming a school, whose career guidance activities are regulated at the level of the Ministry of Education of the USSR.