The spring break gave St Petersburg school students a remarkable opportunity to think about their prospective career and get to know some jobs of the future. During the St Petersburg International Educational Forum, the exhibition centre Russia—My History became the venue for a career guidance festival for school students called The Professional Start.

The highlight of the festival was the agreement signing ceremony between St Petersburg Government represented by Alexander Beglov, the city Governor, and five leading St Petersburg Universities, including Herzen University. The agreement is related to a career guidance programme for school students and the opening of specialised classes and schools in city’s institutions of general education. Specialised classes will provide students with basic knowledge and skills necessary for a particular job.

Sergey Bogdanov, Rector of Herzen University, claimed that once the agreement with the city’s government comes into force, the University will open school classes specialising in psychology and teacher education. Along with that, the University will launch specialized schools. “Today, we have made a major step forward to accommodate the needs of the city and the world as a whole,” said Sergey Bogdanov. He also hoped that many of the school students will choose Herzen University as a destination for their further studies so that Russia’s future will be in good hands.

Before the agreement signing ceremony, Governor Alexander Beglov and Vice-Governor Irina Potekhina along with other members of St Petersburg Government made a tour of career guidance venues that have been providing their services to school children during the Forum week. One of the venues, the Socially-Friendly City, was managed by Irina Kondrakova, Vice-Rector of Herzen University for Cooperation in Teacher Education. The venue, focusing on the mission of a modern school teacher, let students and instructors of Herzen University share their vision with school students. In total, the venue hosted 68 Herzen University students who gained an invaluable experience of working with their school counterparts.  

Alexander Beglov endorsed the initiative, saying, “The more a school student knows about his or her future profession, the fewer mistakes will follow. According to the statistics, about 65% of people have a job that is different from their speciality. Our aim is to help our kids choose a job while they are still at school. Together, we may develop a framework to let school students make the right choice.” 

According to Natalia Putilovskaya, Chair of the Education Committee, in 2021 St Petersburg Government decided to extend the project The Modern School to regions. The Government launched a competition for schools to win grants for the refitting and refurbishment of classrooms and laboratories and installation of modern teaching and learning equipment. Natalia Putilovskaya announced that the competition is open to schools that are willing to launch specialised classes and enter into partnership with universities to engage in career guidance activities. She noted that the first specialised classes would open in the 2021/2022 academic year. . (in Russian)

For more information about the initiative, watch the broadcast The Festival of Jobs (in Russian).