«Individual curriculum» as a way of planning by students of vocational and technical education of their employment

The article deals with the problem of student’s employment in the specialty of graduation at vocational education institutions. Considering the plans of some students on relearning or developing new skills in courses or internships, they need awareness of right specialty to choose and job preferably to find after graduation. The paper considers the relevant issue of research and development of individual planning methods for vocational education students in terms of their employment. The emphasis is made on this factor impact for future employment, namely its impact on the individual professional orientation and career, which can be planned through an individual curriculum i.e. balanced life planning. An individual curriculum is a set of activities that help taking responsibility for the future by combining educational activities at school, college, work and in general throughout the career. It determines the sequence, form and pace of mastering the educational program components, own experience and other successful experiences, methods and activities necessary for achievement of the main planning goal. An individual plan is important as planning efficiently turns knowledge into skills. The study considered based upon the "Individual curriculum" method and auxiliary test methods: "Success motivation and failure fear (questionnaire by Rean A.O.)", a test to determine the motive for a profession choice – the method of professional self-determination by J. Holland. The research was implemented on the basis of the Sumy Chemical-Technological Center for Vocational Education, consisting of two stages of online testing with further explanation to students and their individual curricula development. The first research stage involved students’ participation in an online quest, tests performance and obtaining explanations based on the methods of comprehensive interpretation. The second research stage involved the method of "individual curriculum planning" based on a plan template according to the study year.