FEATURES OF STUDENTS’ SELF-ESTEEM AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF PRIMARY PROFESSIONALIZATION

Abstract

Purpose. The article analyzes a number of publications of Ukrainian and foreign authors which are devoted to the problem of students’ self-determination and self-esteem. The aim of the article is to highlight the results of the theoretical and empirical research and the comparative analysis of the correlation of students’ expected and overall self-esteem in different years of study. The paper uses comparative and empirical methods of research for studying students’ self-esteem. As a result of the conducted empirical study, it was found out that students’ self-esteem in different years of study undergoes certain changes which are influenced both by personal circumstances and certain knowledge gained in the educational process. The comparative analysis of results of the conducted research has revealed a discrepancy between first-year students’ expected and overall self-esteem. They estimate themselves lower than the people around them, at the same time they estimate their health and intellectual abilities as average while rating their character and happiness rather low. Second-year students mostly have an average level of general self-esteem, their indicators of “health”, “intellect”, “char­acter” and “happiness” being average. However, we saw the greatest discrepancy between their expected and overall self-esteem, that is, we can talk about excessive self-criticism. Such indicators as “health”, “intellect”, “character”, and “happiness” are, in most cases, at an average level. Third-year students also have certain divergences between their expected and overall self-esteem but they are not as considerable as those of first-year and second-year students. They can already estimate themselves more adequately, taking into account the estimations of the people around them. At the same time, their health, intellectual abilities, character and happiness are estimated as average. Fourth-year students estimate themselves in the most adequate way, their self-esteem coinciding with the expected estimation.

Conclusions. The comparative analysis has revealed that fourth-year students estimate themselves in the most adequate way while second-year students appear to be the most critical towards themselves.