Development of professional identity of high school students within the framework of the activities of a school psychologist

Introduction. The professional identity of high school students is studied by a school psychologist as part of career guidance classes in high school. The activity of a psychologist is in demand, since most students lack the ability to decide on a profession. It is through the development of professional identity that a high school student's personality is formed and his/her ideas about his/her future professional sphere are shaped. The purpose of the article is to examine the development of professional identity in high school students within the context of the activities of a school psychologist. This is achieved through the use of active socio-psychological training, which helps students to form ideas about their future professional activities. Materials and methods. The following methods were employed: The following instruments were employed in the study: “The Professional intentions” (E.F. Zeer), “The Orientation” questionnaire (I.L. Solomina), and “The Methodology for Studying the Statuses of Professional Identity” (A.A. Azbel, A.G. Gretsova). The study was conducted on the basis of the Municipal Budgetary Educational Institution “Gymnasium № 2” in Belgorod, which was attended by high school students in the number of 50 individuals. The empirical data were processed in the SPSS Statistical 25 program. In the course of mathematical and statistical data processing, a nonparametric mathematical method was used for two dependent samples, the Wilcoxon T-test and the interpretation of the study results. The results of the study revealed that the implementation of the specially developed author's program “Me and my future profession” was effective, as students formed an idea about their future professional activities. During the implementation of the development programme there were changes in the level of professional identity of the students, namely the degree of expression of the formed professional identity increased from 7.95 to 9.78 cf. points. Conclusion. The hypothesis that the development of professional identity of high school students within the framework of the activities of a school psychologist will be effective in the formation of professional selfawareness and emotional and evaluative attitude towards oneself was confirmed at a reliable level of statistical significance (p ≤ 0.05).