Profesionalna orijentacija kao dio poslova stručnog suradnika pedagoga

There is no man who has not at least once in his life encountered decisions of professional choice on continuing education or employment. Such decisions can largely determine his future, his material and social position, and thus the future of the wider community. Given this, it is very important that the educational system responds well to the challenges of professional development. In the period of completion of primary and secondary school, students are faced with decisions making that can determine their future and life. Therefore, educational institutions in cooperation with the family and other factors of professional orientation have a key role in helping students in solving problems they encounter in choosing a profession or further education. School pedagogue should professionally inform and advise students, taking into account their specifics, preferences, interests and abilities, at the same time aware of the constant changes that occur in the labor market where certain professions are dying out, but also new ones are emerging. Therefore, precisely because of this, the role of the school pedagogue in the field of professional orientation is extremely important and valuable, especially in those schools where the pedagogue is the only professionalist. The aim of this paper was to examine the opinion and experiences of school pedagogues on the implementation of professional orientation programs for students in primary and secondary schools in the city of Zadar. The research was conducted by the qualitative method of semi-structured interview. The results showed that school pedagogues are aware of the importance of achieving professional  orientation, and they use various methods and forms of work in the implementation of professional orientation programs. Furthermore, the research showed that there are minor differences in the work of professional orientation with regard to the type of institution and the work experience of pedagogues. The differences mainly arise with regard to the commitment, initiative, attitudes, values and motivation of school pedagogues in the implementation of professional orientation programs. In addition, the implementation of vocational guidance programs requires direct work with students and cooperation with teachers, parents, the Employment Service and other external and internal factors of vocational guidance.