In a society that is in the conditions of a long war, economic instability and constant adaptation to new realities, the question of professional self-determination of young people repeatedly sounds in the background – as something “for later”. But when specific numbers and systematic research results appear, it becomes clear: the issue is not that teenagers do not know what they want to do, but that there are simply no mechanisms for choosing. The education system, the labor market, and the expectations of children themselves exist in separate realities that do not intersect.
According to the results research “Index of the future: professional expectations and development of teenagers in Ukraine”, conducted by the Olena Zelenska Foundation in March 2025, every fifth teenager did not think at all about what profession he would like to have in adult life. The survey covered 5,089 teenagers aged 13-16 and the same number of their parents or guardians. The format was online, open: respondents were asked to describe their desired profession at the age of 30 in their own words.
According to the results, only 30% of the interviewed teenagers were able to clearly name the profession or field of activity in which they see themselves in the future. This is twice lower than the average indicator of OECD member countries, which is the target of educational reforms in Ukraine. While the majority of survey participants indicated that they were generally thinking about their future profession, only a third had at least some concrete vision.
In open answers, teenagers most often referred to such factors as the desire to receive a high salary, stability of work, its interest, benefit to society. The phrases “profitable”, “favorite”, “stable”, “work with benefit for Ukraine” were often heard. These characteristics formed the basis of six typical factors that shape children’s ideas about the “ideal” profession.
However, in reality, these are only general ideas. What exactly is behind them is not always clear. For example, most people see themselves in the future at a computer in an office, in a comfortable environment. This trend was outlined by Iryna Shumik, director of the Directorate of Vocational and Technical Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture. She explained that young people often expect high rewards for minimal effort, and this creates a gap between the real demand of employers and the demands of future workers.
The study showed that the most interested areas are IT, mass media, law, design, automotive business, medicine, education, civil service, agro-industry, defense industry and logistics. A total of 20 areas that children find attractive have been identified. A clear gender difference is noted: girls more often choose mass media and medicine, while boys choose car service, transport, logistics and IT. In addition, girls are generally more likely to think about their future profession: 85% versus 74% among boys.
However, if you compare the popular ideas of teenagers with the real state of the labor market, a gap appears. During the presentation of the study, Olena Zelenska drew attention to this discrepancy. She gave an example: in fact, accountants, engineers, doctors, teachers, technologists, economists are the most in-demand in Ukraine, and drivers, locksmiths, electricians, and assemblers are among the labor professions. However, these trends do not actually appear in the teenagers’ ideas about their own future. According to her, “children’s dreams are generally isolated from reality. This is a parallel world.”
Also, the study revealed the extremely limited presence of professional guidance in schools. Teenagers base their ideas about work mainly on conversations with their parents. Only 3% of respondents had internship experience, 7% — meetings with career counselors, 11% — field trips to enterprises. In rural areas, the situation is complicated: lack of after-school centers, low logistical availability, lack of digital infrastructure.
Thus, the professional self-determination of Ukrainian teenagers remains unformed, and the imagination of the future is most often built on conventional images that have no points of contact with the economy or real vacancies. At the same time, there is no system in the country that helps to make this choice. As a result, we have a figure: every fifth teenager in Ukraine has not thought at all about what he wants to be in adult life. And this is not a child’s confusion, but a systemic problem.
