Goal-setting and cognitive dissonance in students during an education crisis

Abstract

The article discusses the students’ goalsetting in the context of the current education crisis. In modern conditions, students solve a large number of life tasks, not all of which are directly related to the educational process, which reduces the range of their professional, personal and general cultural interests. The study emphasizes that students face difficulties in understanding and accepting the goals of education. Consequently, the following cognitive dissonances (understood as contradictions, which are very common and important for students) are characteristic of this social group today: (1) between the already formulated main goal of education and the goal of individual character education of a particular student; (2) between personal expectations and real life; (3) between the individual style of education and the proposed mandatory forms of mass education; and (4) between the forms operating in the university system and other forms of individual education. The results of the students’ survey show that they are not too satisfied with the extent to which their education is related to their well-being and meets their expectations and also do not fully understand the goals of education formulated in various regulatory documents and poorly correlate them with their own life goals. We connect this with the fact that support of students’ personal development, which would allow them to integrate the goals of education with their own life goals, remains out of focus in modern education. We assume that such support should be regulated and focused on the study of the professional and personal dynamics of each student during the transition from course to course. This will provide conditions for the formation of not only a professional, but also a mature personality who is ready for successful goal-setting.