Professional choice, youth and values

a discussion about the significant relations universe

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the influence of personal values and the universe of meaningful relationships in the process of choosing young people. The subjects were forty-seven young people, aged between fourteen and eighteen years, of both sexes, all participating in Professional Orientation groups. The method used consisted of a dialogical-reflective process that aimed to get young people to recognize, through collective discussion, the values existing in their personalities. For data collection, two activities were carried out: the Identifications Game and the Identifications Map. The results pointed to the family as the main significant agent in the universe of young people, followed by friends and the media. The work environment appears in fourth place, followed by historical characters.The community appears in sixth place, followed by the school and the politics that appear tied. It was concluded that the professional choices of the young people surveyed appear linked to the aspects that they recognize as positive in others, about which they make identifications, as well as to what they recognize as positive aspects in their own personalities. The social value of development work, related to its status and future remuneration, are factors that also affect choices, even though some have not yet decided which professional to follow. The life projects of the young people surveyed seem to be linked to values cultivated in society, with the objective of individual achievements, thus professional guidance projects become important for a reflected and contextualized choice.