UNIVERSITIES AS THE ENVIRONMENT FOR STUDENTS’ DEVELOPMENT IN THE LIGHT OF OWN RESEARCH ON PROFESSIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS OF STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF PEDAGOGY AT THE JAN DŁUGOSZ UNIVERSITY IN CZĘSTOCHOWA, POLAND

The studies on professional and educational aspirations are the important dilemmas on a national scale in each country. Knowledge of teachers’ aspirations is really important because in their social role they will interact with future generations. Students are the part of society that is entering a new stage of their life. Their development makes new demands for the society. It should be concluded that the basic condition for the development of contemporary man is thinking about future perspective. An individual – a student faces new challenges that require multi-sided activity and multiple competencies, which are as follows: ability to change, to communicate, organizational and negotiation skills, assertiveness, self-presentation skills, entrepreneurship and many others. These skills are based on knowledge, sense of responsibility and appropriate activity.

Diagnosis of the aspirations is particularly important as far as students are concerned, who will adopt roles and tasks of adult people after their studies. The studies on plans and development of young people are triggered by the psychological cognitive concept that interprets a person as an independent subject who decides about own destiny. When making decisions, a person influences the course of events and feels their effects.

A lot of similar studies have recently appeared and many research tools have been created regarding emotional-social behaviors. Researchers often use ready-made questionnaires, observation sheets, tests or surveys. In this case, the presented results of the study have been collected on the basis of the author’s survey questionnaire directed to students of the last year of master’s studies at the Faculty of Pedagogy at the Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, Poland.

The study focuses on professional and educational aspirations of students of the Faculty of Pedagogy. The cognitive aim of this study is to find an answer to the question: What is the level of abovementioned aspirations in the case of students at the Faculty of Pedagogy?
In order to acquire more precise data to answer abovementioned question, following detailed questions have been formulated:
Do the students plan to access jobs fitting their qualifications?
What is most important for the students in their work?
What was the strongest motivation to start particular field of study?
Do the students feel prepared for their job?
Do the students have a system of values that they want to follow in their life?

The results of the study show that professional and educational aspirations are really mature in the case of contemporary universities graduates. The results that have been presented seem to confirm the tendency we observe not only in Poland, but also in Europe and all over the world concerning employment chances for university graduates. Educational aspirations of the people who have started university education are considerably high. The high level of professional aspirations of students confirms their readiness to access jobs fitting their university education. According to the students, the job should give satisfaction, enable comprehensive development and provide them with a sense of fulfilment.