This article discusses the challenges of educating teachers in Finland. As a goal in teacher education for the 21st century we propose the purposeful teacher, referring to a teacher who has a long-term moral commitment to serve students, the school community and society. Our data collected from student (N = 912) and practising (N = 77) teachers…

This exploratory mixed methods case study examines the life goals of Finnish social services students (N = 151) and whether they justify their goals with self- or other-focused reasoning. Purpose is understood as reflecting the students' life goals that benefit not only oneself but also others. On the basis of this study, close relationships,…

This article examines Iranian secondary students' (N = 336) life purposes. Economic and hedonistic life goals were the most valued. Relationships in terms of having a family and children were also appreciated. In the students' views, religiousness was associated with social goals such as helping others in need and volunteering in the community.…

This study investigated the role of spirituality and religion in supporting purpose during adolescence. Two case studies of adolescents who were coded as purposeful in the religious and/or spiritual domain as part of a larger study at the Stanford Centre on Adolescence were analysed and discussed. The results showed religion and spirituality as…

With the growing interest in the development of purpose in youth, one important role that requires attention is the school teacher. The current article explores student perceptions of the role teachers can play in fostering purpose in their students in the mid- and late adolescent years, and the teacher competencies that facilitate purpose…

In this paper we investigate whether the level of motivation among mathematically gifted adolescents is related to their moral and religious judgment. The sample consists of first-year students (N = 20) at a Finnish private and independent boarding school specializing in mathematics. We formulated the following research questions: (RQ1) Is the…