Introduction. Creation of the State labour reserves in the 1940s was accompanied by the formation of an “official portrait” of its student. The deviations from it (the “informal portrait”) did not just turn into private deviations, but became a socio-political phenomenon that threatened the most important technologies of social management.
The aim of the research is to characterise the mechanisms of implementation and limitations of the potential for renewal of the State labour reserves system in the 1940- 1950s, based on the manifestations of the “informal portrait” of students.
Methods. The theory of modernisation and the actor-based approach associated with the activities of the educational bureaucracy in the formation of new social practices and relations were used as a methodology. In characterising the interaction of the educational bureaucracy with students of the labour reserves, O. Leibovich’s concept of social conventions that ensure the coexistence in a group of people oriented toward different values was used.
Results. The main types of deviations and manifestations of the “informal” behavior of students that are considered are: runaways, criminal behavior, students’ appeals inside and outside the State labour reserves system. The following conclusions are substantiated: that the renewal took place mainly at the lower and regional levels of the state labour reserve system and was forced and «reactive» in nature and, ultimately, contributed to the humanisation of the system, its slow transformation from a mobilisation and order system into a training and production one.
Scientific novelty. For the first time, the influence of the “informal portrait” of students on the potential for updating the system of State labour reserves was posed as a research problem.
Theoretical significance. The results of the study can be applied in the study of the evolution of the system of vocational education.