In this dissertation, the general theoretical conclusions and practical solution of the problem of professional self-determination of gifted high-school students are represented. Through theoretical study, the conditions of effective formation of pedagogical readiness of gifted high-school students to professional self-determination have been developed. The different aspects of the psycho-pedagogical theory along with teaching and educational practice in the context of the issue under research are highlighted in this dissertation. According to them, the readiness for professional self-determination could be considered as a personal formation that harmonizes the selective attitude of the person to the chosen profession with this profession''s requirements to his (her) talents, abilities and needs. The unevenness of personal and professional development, inherent in gifted high-school students, is theoretically proved in this work. The uniqueness of the behavior and activities of such students is underlined. Therefore, career guidance of gifted high-school students must be exclusively individual, considering all their personal characteristics. The modern system of career guidance is defined to often use traditional and generalized forms and methods of work, which are perceived by high-school students as childish and not interesting. In addition, the variety and diversity of training activities of gifted high-school students, their personal qualities and individual characteristics have updated the need to determine the substantiation of the developed conditions for professional self-determination of gifted high-school students. The research describes three interrelated criteria characterizing the readiness of gifted high-school students for professional self-determination: motivational (value attitude towards the profession and to oneself as a subject of the chosen profession), cognitive (the depth and strength of knowledge of students about themselves and the chosen profession) and procedurally-effective (the students'' awareness of their choice, future career and acquiring professional knowledge and skills needed for it). The analysis of the ascertaining phase of the study has showed the respondents'' uneven development of readiness for professional self-determination, which was the basis for the division of the participants of the experiment into three groups: with structurally-developmental (36,00 %% of respondents), unbalanced-motivating (38,44 %% of respondents), unbalanced-contradictive (25,66 %% of all the surveyed) levels of the readiness. The author has defined, theoretically proved and experimentally tested the pedagogical conditions necessary for training of gifted high-school students to professional self-determination: initiation of a career guidance based on the individual and differential approach (it provided the formation of readiness of gifted high-school students considering their personal characteristics); organization of a distant career guidance to increase knowledge of gifted high-school students about themselves and about the world of professions, along with the development of the attitude to the chosen profession; keeping a diary of introspection to enhance the cognitive and reflexive mechanisms of professional self-determination, and the beginning of their knowledge and skills formation for the chosen profession; establishing systematic career guidance support for gifted high-school students and their parents through active involvement into various forms of problem communication in the context of professional self-determination. The efficiency of formation of readiness of gifted high-school students (in experimental schools) to professional self-determination has increased, which can be attributed (according to the results of used statistical methods) to implementing the above mentioned pedagogical conditions.
