Relevance. The necessity to research the self-determination of adolescents in the context of significant socio-cultural changes in the Russian Federation at the beginning of the 21^stcentury.

Objective. Study of the value and sense orientation of high school students in modern Russia at the stage of preliminary professional self-determination in adolescence.

Methods. Method of studying personal professional perspective (PPP) by N.S. Pryazhnikov; content analysis.

Sample: 240 pupils (133 female, 107 male) of 9^th-11^thgrades of Moscow schools, aged 14-17.

Results. An analysis of the responses of adolescents to the questions of the methodology of the PPP showed: 1) In 72,5% of answers high school students perceive honest labor as a value; 2) In 81,7% of answers adolescents recognize the necessity and value of professional education after school; 3) In 62,8% of answers the respondents express doubts, and the authors of 23,3% answers deny the value of complicated and expert labor in Russia; 4) 53,3% of adolescent’s answers reflect the wish to leave Russia or thoughts of such possibility.

Conclusions. 1. In the hierarchy of values ​​and sense orientations of modern adolescents in the area of preliminary professional self-determination, the most expressed values are self-development, qualitative education, career achievements, personal success, the perspectives of professional development and decent wages. 2. The adolescents demonstrate a high level of orientation in the current social and economic situation (the economic crisis in Russia) and admit that positive changes in society should be determined by the recognition by society of the value of complicated and skilled labor, the value of honest labor and the value of labor and education exactly in Russia. 3. The data of the study contains widely represented answers without justification, which may reflect the status of the moratorium in the value-sense self-determination of adolescents in the area of labor and vocational education. 4. The current economic situation in Russia is perceived by the surveyed adolescents as unfavorable. More than half of respondents consider the possibility of getting an education and/or moving to a permanent residence abroad as a variant of their professional future.