A Model of Professional Development as a Part of Individual Value System

Deciding upon one’s future profession is an important step in the process of professional orientation which starts before the formal procedure of professional orientation. In accordance to the theoretical model of professional development, the first stages of selecting the future profession take place in early primary school age, and the process of making decisions starts before enrolling into secondary school. The decision-making process is not connected only to the acquired knowledge, skills and habits but also to psychological mechanisms such as motivation for studying and acquired system of individual values. The necessity for education is a highly ranked necessity within the system of individual values, especially with students at institutions of higher education. The goal of this paper is to determine elements within the system of individual values on a suitable undergraduate students' model at one Croatian and one Austrian college. The investigated process was the process of selecting the studies in accordance with the stages of theoretical professional development model, comparing the level of motivation for learning as an element within the system of individual values and estimating the level of satisfaction with the decision made. The results show existing individual and cultural differences in adopting values related to acquiring skills and knowledge at the institutions of higher education. The research results are relevant due to high level of connectivity between a person's individual values and organizational values of working teams in their future posts.