Life goals of Finnish social services students

Manninen, Niina; Kuusisto, Elina; Tirri, Kirsi

doi:10.1080/03057240.2017.1415871

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The majority of students in all profiles indicated that they wanted to lead a happy and pleasurable life. This finding is in line with the previous study, which found that Finnish students in social services rate hedonistic goals, such as leading an exciting life, rather highly (Manninen et al, 2018a). Also in all profiles, approximately a half of the students desired to be a good person or lead a good life.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In practice this means that they do not know why they are engaged in prosocial activities such as pursuing a helping profession; neither can they identify what are the implications of these activities for oneself or others. Purposeful individuals on the other hand have identified their personally meaningful higher-order long-term life goals, which they justify with reference to personal and prosocial benefits (Moran, 2009; see also Manninen et al, 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Finnish social services students’ perceptions of purpose and helping unknown others

Manninen

Kuusisto

Tirri

2019

International Journal of Social Pedagogy

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This mixed methods study introduces the concept of purpose in the social pedagogical education of Finnish social services students ( N = 151). The aim of this study is to specify the purpose profiles of the students and to investigate how students with different profiles define the intended outcome of having a purpose in life and why they want to help unknown others. Three purpose profiles are identified: dabbler, purposeful and dreamer. Most of the social services students appear to be dabblers, who differ from the purposeful group in that they keep searching for new purposes in life. Purposeful students were the most able to address values as their guiding principles in life, although what was most important for students in all profiles was to pursue a pleasant life rather than a value-driven or some form of good life. Purposeful students also specified value-based helping goals more than others and felt that their own well-being was the key to helping others. The study points out that students’ awareness of their values and purposes should be promoted during their social pedagogical education. Most students might not be aware why they are pursuing a helping profession. Students could be supported in identifying helping unknown others as their life purpose in order to promote their wellbeing, satisfaction at work and wider understanding of the personal level and social level impacts of helping.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finnish social services students’ perceptions of purpose and helping unknown others

Manninen

Kuusisto

Tirri

2019

International Journal of Social Pedagogy

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“…Social and religious goals did not seem as important for Iranian students as economic and hedonistic goals, a finding that contrasts with the ultimate goal of the Iranian educational system. This finding accords with research in Western countries where helping others is related more to personal well-being and career aspirations than to religious life goals (Manninen, Kuusisto, & Tirri, 2017). However, the association between helping others in need with religiousness and community volunteer work reflects one of the five pillars Muslims should follow in their daily lives (Rasool, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Life purposes of Iranian secondary school students

Hedayati

Kuusisto

Gholami

et al. 2017

Journal of Moral Education

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Nasibeh Hedayati is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, the University of Helsinki, Finland. She is currently working on the subject of "moral dilemmas in Iranian schools." Dr. Elina Kuusisto works as a University Lecturer and is a Docent of Education at the Faculty of Educational Sciences, the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her academic writings deal with moral education, religious education and teacher education, with special interest in the education of moral sensitivity, purpose in life and growth mindset.

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“…were analysed deductively by utilizing Robert andRobins's (2000, Hedayati et al, 2017b;Manninen et al, 2018) categories and inductively by creating subcategories based on the data. whereas 'Emotional support' appeared only 3 times (Table 5.6).…”

Section: Contents Of the Purposesmentioning

confidence: 99%