Svetlana S. Polskaya

The topicality of the issue of university faculty providing support for students choosing their professional pathways stems from the long-felt need for changes in universities’ and faculties’ performance, with such changes being implemented in the form of more substantial career guidance support. The latter is to be offered not only to those entering universities and then-graduates but also to those who are ‘in between’ these two categories. Our research was aimed to reveal how faculty itself feels about this role, in what way this support can be implemented and what kind of problems and barriers they can face in this process. With the use of pedagogical, psychological and acmeological approaches, possible algorithms of such interaction between a teacher and a student can be established. The expert survey we conducted showed that the majority of the surveyed demonstrated positive approach towards providing career guidance support as part of their performance, with the elements thereof being incorporated into the teaching process and demonstrating certain understanding in what forms such support should be granted, whereas in the course of in-depth interviews, a number of those taking part in the expert survey described potential problems and barriers in implementing such kind of tasks. The practical importance of our research can be reflected in the revealed opportunity of implementing such pedagogical model into university teachers’ performance, which will allow to make the qualitative shifts of bachelors’ training resulting in individuals then joining workforce being well aware of their professional goals and having made a conscious and informed choice of their career pathway.