Professional orientation and its role in students’ socialization within the cultural learning environment of a higher educational institution

Introduction. The article presents a theoretical review of specific features of students’ socialization, adjusted to the contemporary conditions of multi-vector social challenges, and also assesses the impact of unregulated (creative) and strictly algorithmic professional orientation on the process of students’ socialization within the cultural learning environment of higher educational institutions. Interest in the problem of the phenomena under study is determined by recent discussions around the cultural learning environment of higher educational institutions, the specifics of its self-deployment in a rapidly and unpredictably changing social reality. The purpose of the article is to study the phenomenon of professional orientation and its role in the students’ socialization within the cultural learning environment of higher educational institutions. Materials and Methods. The methodological basis of the study was socio-philosophical and systemic approaches. The authors used the methodological principles of dialectics, historicism, determinism, unity of consciousness and activity, development and personal approach (A.N. Leontyev, K.K. Platonov, S.L. Rubinstein and others); the principle of sociocultural determination of processes and phenomena (B.G. Ananyev, L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein and others); the principle of a systematic approach to the study of a holistic personality and individuality (A.V. Karpov, B.F. Lomov, V.D. Shadrikov, E.F. Yashchenko and others); the principle of metasystem as a general principle of organization (A.B. Karpov, E.V. Karpova, E.F. Yashchenko); the principle of a systemic genetic approach to the study of problems of professional development and fulfillment of employees (E.F. Zeer, A.K. Markova, L.M. Mitina, Yu.P. Povarenkov, V.D. Shadrikov). Among the methods used by the authors are: comparative historical, deductive, chronological, generalization and analysis. In order to assess the professional orientation of the individual, O.P. Eliseev’s ‘Orientation of the individual’ inventory was used. Results. The main results consist in identifying the role of professional orientation in students’ socialization within the cultural learning environment of higher educational institutions. (1) It was revealed that professional orientation is identified with the manifestation of a general orientation in professional activity, indicating a selective attitude to the profession, determined by all motives in the motivational sphere of an individual. (2) It was revealed that traditionally professional orientation includes subsystems of technical and humanitarian preparation that differ from each other and were identified on the basis of a criterion reflecting the relationship between personal characteristics and the professional sphere. (3) The position that personality orientation plays one of the key roles in the professionalization of an individual, determines their motivation, and also contributes to successful socialization in the context of studying at a university is substantiated. The authors highlight current problems of the phenomenon of individual’s professional orientation as a complex structured system of cognitive knowledge, which acts as a basis for the student to master the understanding of the humanistic role of professional education in the development of not just an individual zone of the competence field of action, but, above all, civic responsibility for the quality of one's own activities in the certain sphere of social existence. Conclusions. Finally, the authors conclude that as a result of theoretical analysis, they have identified specific features of the genesis of such concepts as individual’s professionalization, personality orientation, socialization, professional orientation) in the comparative context of the socio-philosophical paradigm of socio-cultural characteristics of education. The position is substantiated that professionalization, taking into account the orientation of students in the cultural learning environment of higher educational institutions, is a criterion for their socialization.