THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BASED ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Vocational guidance plays a crucial role in assisting students in making informed decisions about their future careers by identifying suitable directions and spheres of professional activity. With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, it becomes imperative to explore how these tools can enhance the process of vocational guidance of high school students. This article explores the various digital technologies that can be utilized in vocational guidance programs by teachers and psychologists. More precisely, in the paper, the benefits, challenges and perspectives of implementing digital technologies in the professional orientation practices are analyzed. Furthermore, the methods of conducting vocational guidance are considered and represented in a model. As for empirical study, an original online psychological test for the analysis of senior school students’ preferences and attitudes towards five types of professions was carried out. The obtained results were broken down in terms of the level of compatibility with the occupation types. The findings show that digital technologies provide favorable conditions and useful tools for organizing vocational guidance, conducting psychodiagnostic tests, and enabling feedback. For instance, online surveys and tests with the content analysis capability can be created with the use of special programs or applications. Modern educators and psychologists, who are encouraged to apply digital technologies in their professional activity, as well as school students, well-informed and skilled in new technologies, will likely to be interested in the digitalized career guidance.