Vocational Guidance

vocational guidance: see guidance and counseling.

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Vocational Guidance 

a system of scientifically based measures that help young people choose a vocation, while taking into account individual aptitudes and the needs of the national economy. The system of vocational guidance also helps young people find suitable jobs.

In the USSR and in other socialist countries, vocational guidance is part of the system of communist upbringing and a means of rationally distributing manpower resources. It promotes the development of the individual and reveals his potentialities and intensifies the process of training.

In the USSR, work in vocational guidance began as early as the 1920’s. Within the system of the People’s Commissariat of Labor of the RSFSR, vocational consultation bureaus were organized in Leningrad, Sverdlovsk, Briansk, Kiev, and Yaroslavl, and an Interdepartmental Coordinating Council for Vocational Recruitment and Consultation was established, as were specialized laboratories and offices.

Vocational guidance familiarizes young people with the branches of the national economy, types of vocational training, the national economy’s needs, and job opportunities. It also helps define vocational aims and provides direct assistance in the selection of a vocation and job placement. The most important function of vocational guidance is to interest young people in particular types of work. Vocational selection and adaptation are closely related to vocational guidance.

Vocational guidance conforms to the republic and oblast systems for admitting secondary-school students to vocational-technical schools and to higher and specialized secondary educational institutions. The leading role in the vocational guidance of students is played by the secondary general-education school, whose curriculum includes vocational guidance.

The curriculum also includes basic subjects, polytechnic subjects, and manual training.

Interscholastic vocational training centers give vocational guidance to students in the higher grades, provide basic training in the chosen vocations, and acquaint students with the work performed in industry. These centers—established by the executive committees of city and raion soviets of people’s deputies and with the participation of industrial and agricultural enterprises and state and cooperative organizations—are under the authority of the public education agencies. Students visit industrial enterprises and educational establishments, and individual and group vocational consultations and meetings are held with representatives of various occupations. Studies are made of schoolchildren by means of observations, polls, and questionnaires.

Schools are aided in the work of vocational guidance by industry and by vocational-technical, specialized secondary, and higher educational institutions, through open-house days, clubs, and competitions. Also assisting in the work of vocational guidance are specialized establishments, usually existing within the public education system, job-placement commissions for young people, and commissions within the executive committees of soviets of people’s deputies that deal with the affairs of minors. The work of vocational guidance is further aided by public organizations, radio, television, and the press. Materials are published on the theory and practice of vocational guidance. The work of vocational guidance is directed by agencies of public education and vocational-technical education and by agencies concerned with the utilization of manpower resources. Interdepartmental councils on vocational guidance function in the republics, krais, oblasts, cities, and raions.

The theory and practice of vocational guidance have also developed extensively in other socialist countries.

In the major capitalist countries, vocational guidance concerns itself with the economic and social distribution of the work force in the interests of developing capitalist production and ideological influence on young people. Vocational-guidance facilities in general-education schools conduct studies using a number of methods, including tests, to determine the vocational aptitudes of adolescents. Students are acquainted with various occupations, the labor market, and opportunities for vocational training. Employment and vocational guidance offices are in charge of this work and provide group and individual consultation for students. Vocational counselors receive training in specialized courses and educational institutions. As a rule, the work of vocational guidance is directed by the ministries or departments of labor. Various occupations are described and classified, and regularly published materials provide information about available jobs and long-range employment prospects and advice on suitable positions.

IU. P. AVERICHEV