1. 50% of respondents say that it is necessarily to choose a profession according to own calling.

2. For 20% it is desirable, but not necessary, to combine calling and profession.

3. 30% think that calling can be fully realized beyond the profession.

The results of the survey show that pedagogic university students in Ukraine have various reasons to study and not so many of them, about 25%, would like to become teachers. Rel-atively more, namely 33%, of senior pupils at schools appeared to know their callings. That means that pedagogic universities in Ukraine are not exactly focused on pedagogics. They of-fer a big variety of professions in order to get sufficient number of students. Therefore, for the significant part of the students teaching career is not the aim of their study. Nevertheless, for more than a half, up to 70%, of students calling is a really important motivating factor whether for teaching, or for another job.

Future Human Image. Volume 7, 2017 89

The Experience of Calling: Educational Aspects and Cross-Cultural Comparisons by Yevhen Muliarchuk

In-depth interviews about calling

Ten students of the pedagogic university were invited for the individual interviews that took place at H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in May and June 2016. The students were from various departments: 5 were linguistics and literature students, 2 were students of social psychology and social management and 3 were students of philosophy, religion and social science. All the participants were going to become teachers or educators in some perspective and declared their feeling or understanding of call-ing. They were in the end of the 3rd year of study at the university. 8 were female, 2 male, age 19-21 years old. The interviewees came to the university form the various parts of Ukraine. 5 teachers from Kyiv schools were also asked for the interviews in August 2016. The interviews were at places convenient for every teacher, mainly at their school or at H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

All the interviews were audio recorded and later transcribed. In the process of analyses, the main themes were selected from each interview with reduction of non-relevant pieces. The consis-tent statements and general themes were repeatedly reflected on and analyzed. The individual dif-ferences of the experiences were not lost though. Every interview gives the unique appearance of the phenomenon of calling and personal attitudes towards it. The experience of everyone worth to write a special short story, but we have no room for it in this article. All the names of the students and teachers are changed in this article, except one teacher who wanted a real name to be left.

The interview guide for teachers was not significantly different from the students" guide. I asked the students and teachers how did they come to their career choice, what they liked to do at schools and how it became clear for them what to do in their life. Then the theme was the understanding of calling, ethical and other problems on the way of its realization. In the end, we discussed the meaning of calling for pedagogic profession.

The results of the interviews and their interpretation can be divided by 5 main blocks:

1. Decision to come to pedagogic university and chose a teaching profession.

2. Religion and spirituality as motivating factors of the career choice.

3. The definitions and the structure of the phenomenon of calling.

4. Calling and morality.

5. Calling in the practice of teaching.

1. Decision to come to pedagogic university and chose a teaching profession

Teachers in families

Presence of teachers among family members is an important factor for positive attitude to pedagogic profession. In our target survey 44% of students answered that they were from teacher"s families. Accordingly, in the sample for the further interviews 5 of 10 students and 2 of 5 teachers appeared to have relatives in education. Some of them consciously followed the careers of their family members or tried to do what their mothers or fathers had not realized in their own lives. Actually, children or grandchildren from teachers" or professors" families were not often persuaded to go the way of their elder relatives. It was rather a matter of example or the atmosphere at home that influenced the younger generation. Even more, students appreci-ated that their families let them make their own choice.

90 Future Human Image. Volume 7, 2017

The Experience of Calling: Educational Aspects and Cross-Cultural Comparisons by Yevhen Muliarchuk

Good examples or good advice beyond a family

Students and teachers often said that they wanted to be like some of their own teachers or professors. A good example of a school teacher sometimes was more important than the influ-ence of the family in a career decision. Loved teacher was a source of inspiration to come to the university and study his or her favorite subject or just to become an educator. For the part of the students, favorite professors at the university were the source of strengthening of their own professional choice. Some interviewees also told that they got a piece of a career advice from a psychologist or a teacher in their school years. The acknowledgement of person"s gifts and abilities to do something specific received from other people was an important support often needed for making a career choice. Usually it was a kind of specification in the favorite field of activity of the person.

Desire to make a difference

It is rather not a typical motivation, but two students and one teacher said that seeing many wrong examples of the way of teaching at their schools they wanted to be opposite, to become teachers of some new kind. They wanted to change the system and routine of education and bring creativity, helpfulness, liberty to school life.

Previous pedagogic experience or an interest in a specific sphere of knowledge

Many of interviewees said that they decided to become teachers because of their own teaching experience at school or at the university. They had a pedagogic practice, taught some lessons, led other school activities, took care about their younger schoolmates and they liked it. Many students, however, came to the university just to study their favorite subject. Only after a pedagogic practice and getting more knowledge of their field, some of them for the first time understood that they would like to be teachers.

Disposition to teach and grow younger generation

A really often explanation of the choice of a teaching career is love to children. The majori-ty of students and teachers told that they had always enjoyed being with children and therefore they would love to teach and grow up the youth.