Exploring the Spiritual Dimension of Wisdom Pedagogy

Abstract: This chapter seeks to address the question of how human development can be shaped with wisdom pedagogy in higher education. Higher education is in the knowl-edge business. As leading social institutions of higher education, universities share existing knowledge, do research with knowledge, innovate by combining knowledge, and create new knowledge. Moreover, most importantly, universities focus on devel-oping human beings, human capital that is a vital part of intellectual capital. However, research on intellectual capital has highly ignored the role of the spiritual wealth that gives meaning to human actions. Spiritual capital is difficult to define, and it needs more understanding. It includes the value system of core values, such as a person’s responsible attitude, meaningful purpose, motivation, and passion. This chapter argues that the spiritual dimension of wisdom pedagogy needs more understanding. This qual-itative research is based on educational literature and empirical data from fourteen Finnish Universities of Sciences. The findings underline the need for evolutionary ped-agogies and wisdom pedagogy. The theoretical framework presented here shows the central role of the spiritual dimension of wisdom pedagogy in shaping values, attitudes, authenticity, and responsibility. This chapter contributes to the discourses about the role of universities in the postmodern society. However, since the chapter builds on a limited number of references and quantitative and qualitative data only from one country, it highlights the need for an international perspective and a deeper focus on wisdom pedagogy. The chapter outlines practical implications for university educators, management, and curriculum developers.

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Jakubik, M. (2024). Chapter 8 Exploring the Spiritual Dimension of Wisdom Pedagogy. In R. Geaquinto Rocha, P. Pinheiro, M. d’Angelo & C. Bratianu (Ed.), Spirituality and Knowledge Dynamics: New Perspectives for Knowledge Management and Knowledge Strategies (pp. 185-212). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111010410-009