‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional
Abstract This article aims to explore the moral ideas and experiences that students at Dutch universities of applied sciences (UAS) have of being a professional with an ‘ethical compass.’ Semi-structured interviews were held with 36 fourth-year Bachelor students divided over four institutions and th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2020-10-01
|
| Series: | Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40461-020-00097-6 |
| _version_ | 1818454910830641152 |
|---|---|
| author | Lieke H. Van Stekelenburg Chris Smerecnik Wouter Sanderse Doret J. De Ruyter |
| author_facet | Lieke H. Van Stekelenburg Chris Smerecnik Wouter Sanderse Doret J. De Ruyter |
| author_sort | Lieke H. Van Stekelenburg |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract This article aims to explore the moral ideas and experiences that students at Dutch universities of applied sciences (UAS) have of being a professional with an ‘ethical compass.’ Semi-structured interviews were held with 36 fourth-year Bachelor students divided over four institutions and three different programmes: Initial Teacher Education, Business Services and Information and Communication Technology. Findings show that students say they strive to be(come) moral professionals, but that they have difficulties recognising and articulating the moral aspects of their professional roles. They seem to lack a moral vocabulary and the moral knowledge to verbalise their aspirations and to provide arguments to explicate or legitimise their moral behaviour. While most students were critical of the support they received from their universities, they indicated that various other role models and (work) experiences did have a strong and positive influence on their moral development. In this article, we reflect on the findings in relation to international empirical research on students’ moral development and highlight the characteristics of UAS students. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:02:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8850e6a865514bcab944731c0430edef |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1877-6345 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T22:02:23Z |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | SpringerOpen |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training |
| spelling | doaj.art-8850e6a865514bcab944731c0430edef2022-12-21T22:45:57ZengSpringerOpenEmpirical Research in Vocational Education and Training1877-63452020-10-0112112010.1186/s40461-020-00097-6‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professionalLieke H. Van Stekelenburg0Chris Smerecnik1Wouter Sanderse2Doret J. De Ruyter3VU University AmsterdamHuman Resource Management and Psychology, Fontys University of Applied SciencesUniversity of Humanistic StudiesUniversity of Humanistic StudiesAbstract This article aims to explore the moral ideas and experiences that students at Dutch universities of applied sciences (UAS) have of being a professional with an ‘ethical compass.’ Semi-structured interviews were held with 36 fourth-year Bachelor students divided over four institutions and three different programmes: Initial Teacher Education, Business Services and Information and Communication Technology. Findings show that students say they strive to be(come) moral professionals, but that they have difficulties recognising and articulating the moral aspects of their professional roles. They seem to lack a moral vocabulary and the moral knowledge to verbalise their aspirations and to provide arguments to explicate or legitimise their moral behaviour. While most students were critical of the support they received from their universities, they indicated that various other role models and (work) experiences did have a strong and positive influence on their moral development. In this article, we reflect on the findings in relation to international empirical research on students’ moral development and highlight the characteristics of UAS students.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40461-020-00097-6Higher educationUniversity of applied sciencesMoral developmentMoral professionalismEthical compass |
| spellingShingle | Lieke H. Van Stekelenburg Chris Smerecnik Wouter Sanderse Doret J. De Ruyter ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training Higher education University of applied sciences Moral development Moral professionalism Ethical compass |
| title | ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional |
| title_full | ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional |
| title_fullStr | ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional |
| title_short | ‘What do you mean by ethical compass?’ Bachelor students’ ideas about being a moral professional |
| title_sort | what do you mean by ethical compass bachelor students ideas about being a moral professional |
| topic | Higher education University of applied sciences Moral development Moral professionalism Ethical compass |
| url | http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40461-020-00097-6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT liekehvanstekelenburg whatdoyoumeanbyethicalcompassbachelorstudentsideasaboutbeingamoralprofessional AT chrissmerecnik whatdoyoumeanbyethicalcompassbachelorstudentsideasaboutbeingamoralprofessional AT woutersanderse whatdoyoumeanbyethicalcompassbachelorstudentsideasaboutbeingamoralprofessional AT doretjderuyter whatdoyoumeanbyethicalcompassbachelorstudentsideasaboutbeingamoralprofessional |