The article explores the problems of students’ motivation and its influence on educational effectiveness, considering the importance of motivation for young people’s personal and professional development. The significance and functions of motivation in various aspects of students’ activity were studied (including social conditions of their life). The leading educational motives of people entering a professional educational institution are “professional” ones, but the role of motives changes within the period of study. This process is considerably influenced by vocational guidance work, the organization of industrial practice, along with the possibility of further employment. The research purpose is to study the specifics of developing students’ educational motivation at theoretical and empirical levels. The research methodology and its algorithm include conducting a complex p...