Abstract:

Due to constantly updating requirements both to the professional competencies of specialists and to their level, each employee faces the task of continuous professional development. However, this task often causes difficulties, especially at the stage of setting goals and objectives. This fact is confirmed by sociological studies conducted by the authors. To eliminate the existing difficulties an algorithm of the setting goals and objectives is suggested in the paper. This algorithm has been empirically verifying for over 12 years of our investigations.

The algorithm consists of five steps:
1) to conduct a personal-professional SWOT-analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats);
2) to identify possible levels of professional activity in respective specialty, to give their characteristics and to note "elements of increment" (as substantive characteristics "know", "can", "make", "want", "teaching others" - according to the theory of activity );
3) to correlate levels of professional activities with the given characteristics and designate a place (audit their own activities);
4) to identify the desired level of professional activity and set the goals. Substantial assistance in this process, it may be provided by a table that is made by the authors. In this table the stages of skills in professional activity are compared with the desirable level and with the purpose of learning and the leading type of training;
5) to determine the steps to achieve the goal (professional development tasks).
The developed methodology allows improving of the system of the self-educational professional development.

Keywords:

Goals, objectives, self-education, methodology.