Professional secondary education system in Ukraine: legal supply

Problem setting. Nowadays the content of secondary education in Ukraine does not take into account individual characteristics of the students and it is not focused on the formation of creative potential and  system of  knowledge by interests, the educational process is overburdened with secondary factual material and  is overly regulated. It necessitates the search  and implementation of new approaches to organization of  educational process in high school. One of such approaches is career counselling for secondary school students that provides thourough and specialized general education, access to quality education  in accordance with the individual skills and needs of the student youth.

Recent research and publications analysis. The problem of career counselling for secondary school students in Ukraine has become the subject of research by Ukrainian scholars. In particular, theoretical and conceptual foundations of career counselling training were investigated by N. Bibik, M. Burda, S. Volyanskaya, O. Adamenko, V. Kizenko, A. Samodrin, B. Fedorishin, G. Vashchenko, M. Goncharov, N. Dmitrenko.

Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The introduction of specialized secondary education is one of the priorities of public education policy. Therefore, it is advisable to investigate the legal bases for introducing career counselling for secondary education system in Ukraine within the science of public administration.

The aim of the article is to analyze the legal support for the introduction of career counselling for secondary education system in Ukraine.

Paper main body. According to Article 53 of the Constitution of Ukraine everyone has the right to education. However, the deterioration of indicators of competitiveness and the innovative attractiveness of secondary education system in Ukraine need a thorough reform within the framework of the Concept of Implementation of the State Policy for the Reform of General Secondary Education “New Ukrainian School” for the period up to 2029. The aim of the reform of the education system in Ukraine is to create the conditions for personal development and creative self-realization of every citizen of Ukraine, to create generations capable of learning throughout life, to create and develop the values of civil society.

In accordance with the objectives of the first phase of implementation of the Concept (2017 – 2018), a new Law of Ukraine “On Education” was adopted, Article 10 of which defines three levels of secondary education: primary education lasting four years; basic secondary education lasting five years; specialized secondary education lasting three years. At the third stage of the Concept implementation (2023 – 2029), it is planned to introduce a specialized level of secondary education – a process of individual and differentiated learning, the basic ideas of which are the education of students in grades 10 – 12 by: interests; competencies; plans for self-realization.

According to the Law of Ukraine “On Education”, obtaining a specialized secondary education involves two directions:

• academic – specialized education based on the combination of the content of education which is defined by the standard s of secondary specialized education, and in-depth study of individual subjects taking into account the abilities and educational needs of education recipients focusing on continuing education at higher levels of education;
• professional – labor market oriented specialized education based on a combination of educational content defined by the standard of secondary specialized education and a professionally oriented approach to learning taking into account the abilities and needs of students.

Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies.

1. The crisis and the challenges of the problem have led to the reform of the content of secondary education in Ukraine on the basis of competent and personally oriented approaches to learning;  orientation to the acquisition of skills necessary for successfu students self-realization in their professional activity.
2. One of the directions of modernization and improvement of the secondary education system in Ukraine is to ensure the acquisition of appropriate qualitative skills and competences at school needed for work, innovation and active citizenship through the introduction of a specialized link education. The content of career counselling for secondary education involves the introduction of the process of individual and differentiated learning of students in grades 10 – 12 by interests, competencies and plans for self-realization.
3. The legal basis for career counselling for secondary education system in Ukraine is the Constitution of Ukraine, the Laws of Ukraine “On Education”, “On Complete General Secondary Education”, the Concept of the implementation of state policy in the field of reforming general secondary education “New Ukrainian School” for the period up to 2029. For the effective reform of the general secondary education with the introduction of  the career counselling component it is necessary to implement the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On comprehensive general secondary education”, to develop and adopt the new Law of Ukraine “On Vocational Education”.

The subject of further scientific research in this area will be the content and forms of organization of specialized education in secondary school.