Wisdom in Practice : Conceptions, Perspectives and Development

This open access book presents the findings of a research project conducted through the auspices of the Wisdom in Practice (WiP) programme funded by the Research Council of Finland. The WiP programme involved researchers from a range of academic fields, including education, philosophy, and psychology, internationally, and comprises a multi-year project with three distinct but interrelated programmes of inquiry. The first is a theoretical review of what constitutes wisdom in practice, the second is an empirically driven investigation into what constitutes wisdom in practice in the contemporary era, and the third concerns educational perspectives into wisdom development, informed by previous and current empirical research and aimed at rethinking the purposes and processes of educational practice. 

This book comprises four sections structured after the elements of the research programme: i) Wisdom in practice: the contemporary imperative, current conceptions and suggestions for its development; ii) Wisdom in practice: historical perspectives and contemporary conceptions; iii) Empirically driven perspectives of wisdom in practice; and iv) Developing wise practice through tertiary education.

Dr. Stephen Billett is Professor of Adult and Vocational Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Following an earlier work life in garment manufacturing, he has subsequently worked as a vocational educator, educational administrator, teacher educator, professional development practitioner, and policy developer in the Australian vocational education system, and as a teacher and researcher at Griffith University. He is a Fulbright scholar, national teaching fellow, a recipient of honorary doctorates from Jyväskylä University (Finland), University of Geneva (Switzerland) and University West (Sweden), and is elected Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia. He is the founding editor of the journal Vocations and Learning: Studies in professional and vocational education, and the 'Professional and Practice based Learning' book series.

Hannu L. T. Heikkinen is a Professor of Education in the Finnish Institute for Educational Research (FIER) at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. He is an expert in educational action research and narrative inquiry, and his work on mentoring and professional development has been widely cited. Heikkinen's recent work has involved collaborative philosophical studies on wisdom - often from the perspective of ‘educational praxis’ - as well as ecosystems for learning, including in higher education, learning for work and at work, and the professional development of teachers. Hannu Heikkinen is leading the research team Eco social Sustainability and Education of FIER. The aim is to develop education to forestall the ecological risks of our time, the biggest of which are climate change and the sixth massive wave of extinction. One of the main projects is the Wisdom in Practice project, funded by the Research Council of Finland, which integrates philosophical and psychological traditions of research on wisdom with empirical research on professionals. The project investigates how professionals face wicked problems and, on that basis, develops higher education to prepare graduates capable of addressing sustainability problems and promoting planetary well-being in the everyday work.

Päivi Tynjälä is professor emerita at Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her main research field is in teaching and learning in higher education, and she has led several projects in this area. Her research has focused, for example, on work-integrated learning, project-based learning, development of generic skills and attributes related to wisdom in university students, teacher education and teachers’ professional development, university teachers’ pedagogical training, and teachers’ experiences of curriculum development. She has published widely both internationally and nationally, and served in several national and international positions of trust, such as a member of the Finnish Education Evaluation Council and as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Educational Research Review (2010-2014).

Maarit H. Virolainen (PhD, Adult Education) is a Senior Researcher at the Finnish Institute of Educational Research (FIER), University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Her research interests focus on the development of vocational education and training (VET) and higher vocational education and training (HE), cooperation between educational institutions and the labour market, work-based and work-related learning, transitions from post-compulsory education to the world of work, and reforms of VET systems. She has published internationally on these topics and has been active in both national and international research networks on VET, such as the Nordic research network, NordYrk.