The article is devoted to one of the actual problems of modern education, in particular, the problem of developing the professional qualities of the personality of a university teacher. The authors analyze the understanding of professionalism in the psychological and pedagogical research of foreign and Kazakh scientists. In our research we use the following definition: “professionalism is a combination of professional competence, professional orientation and professionally important qualities of a teacher”. The authors present the characteristics of a "professional person", where such a person should be capable of self-organization, as well as should be able to identify and solve problems.

An important aspect of professional development, as the authors note, is its psychological support. That is, the development of such qualities as professional consciousness, thinking, a positive vision of the world, confidence and self-competence. However, after analyzing the initial situation, the authors believe that at universities, in particular, at the technical ones, the educational process is not always based on an understanding of the need for psychological and pedagogical support of a future specialist. To solve the problem, experimental work was organized and carried out, and the main method of research was the quantitative survey. The questionnaire was based on five criteria, each of which reveals the psychological invariants of professionalism and non-professionalism of the individual. The article presents main results of the study. Measures for the development of motivation and the desire for professional development are proposed. The authors believe that the relevant activities should be implemented in the professional training of students, which in the future will contribute to a more efficient and high-quality professionalization process.