The need to modernize the economy, increase production efficiency, and accelerate scientific and technological progress in the country necessitated the reform of the education system, including vocational education. The goal of this article is to analyze the development of vocational education in the Ukrainian SSR under the conditions of educational reform and the political course of «perestroika». It was determined that the education reform of 1984 was to strengthen the ideological component of the educational process, strengthen the material and technical base, informatization of the educational process, and professional and labor training of young people. This provided for the creation of a modern base of labor and vocational training. As a result of the reform, the previously existing different types of vocational and technical educational institutions were reorganized into a single type – «Secondary Vocational and Technical School». They trained qualified workers for various sectors of the national economy and were formed on the basis of relevant production associations, enterprises, and organizations.

The course of «perestroika», proclaimed in April 1985, actualized new tasks of economic development and training of professional personnel. The main tasks of vocational education in the Ukrainian SSR, which were attempted to be implemented in the second half of the 1980s, included strengthening the material and technical base of educational institutions for training qualified personnel, computerization of the educational process, which required retraining and advanced training of teaching staff, strengthening ties with basic enterprises, which were the basis for acquiring practical skills for professional training of students. Vocational and technical schools became one of the main centers for obtaining secondary education in the Ukrainian SSR, which exacerbated the problems of general educational training of SPTU students. The motivation of students to find employment in their major remained relevant. This especially applied to «non-prestigious» sectors of the national economy, which remained the agricultural sector.

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