Browsing by Subject "upseerikoulutus"

The aim of this Master’s Thesis is to examine the ways officer students comprehend their career choice, motivation to study and military discipline as part of their studying environment. The purpose is to analyse why students have chosen the National Defence University and their approaches to studying. The theoretical framework of this issue consists of theoretical ideas of general studying orientations and other aspects such as questions of calling and societal factors. I am also interested in officer students’ thoughts of what it requires to be an officer. In previous studies officer students have considered ideal officers in quite traditional way. The aim is to examine the demands of being an officer from students’ point of view in changing society. The third theme of this study is military discipline as part of the environment in which officer education takes place. Discipline is essentially linked to military environment, so the interest is to find out how officer students understand it as part of their studying. For this study I have interviewed five first year officer students. The analysis was based on connecting the data into different kinds of theoretical ideas and perspectives. In this process I have used categorizing as the tool of the analysis. By categorizing the data into themes, it was possible to analyse it from different angles and make interpretations about the issues. As a result, in this study officer students comprehended their studying in different ways. The motivation to study was originated from the will to do something meaningful or it was understood in more practical way. The interviewed students’ considerations of being a good officer were linked to traditional aspects such as patriotism but also social skills and creative thinking. Military discipline was understood as neutral element of the military environment. One must understand the idea of discipline so that the military action works the best way possible. The meaning of self-discipline was considered to be emphasized in military training.