The article discusses the experience of forming the foundations for professional creative activity of students, given the example of training specialists in educational institutions of secondary vocational education. The relevance of the issue is closely related to the introduction of foreign production technologies at domestic enterprises. The influence of the experience of participation of students in professional competitions on the formation of a creative personality is considered. A number of theoretical provisions are proposed to form the creative activity of students in terms of the competence approach. The analysis of production requirements and educational standards made it possible to single out such components as technological, rationalization, modernization, organizational and management activities in the future graduate's activities. The potential of optimizing the system of secondary vocational education is analyzed. The results include the dissemination of experience in the formation of the foundations of the professional creative activity of students and the organization of educational activities of professional educational institutions within the Siberian region, contributing to the creation of a situation of success in the system of secondary vocational education and allowing to increase the efficiency of the educational process. The importance of the formation of skills of professional creative activity among students is noted as an effective resource which has an impact on the social development. The study defines the peculiarities of the work of educational institutions in the formation of professional skills. The research focuses on the criteria that determine the promising areas of activity and efforts of employers and educational institutions in the aspect of the development of professional creative activity. The work is an analysis of the potential for improving the quality of training students of secondary vocational education as a priority for modern society.

Keywords: professional creative activity; skills; optimization of the educational process; secondary vocational education; changes in the vocational training system.