ABSTRACT
A person was metaphorically described as steering his or her life through various domains by means of an engine that receives energy from the person's characteristics, goals and values, and mental well-being. Furthermore, individual differences in social and psychological functioning were described in a series of schematic models. Ontological commitments refer to conceptions about the nature of existence, for instance, the relationship between mind and body. In my own work, the longitudinal study grew from the idea that human beings are not only animals or bodies who react to external events in instinctual ways. In the path from childhood to adulthood, there are different parallel and complementary processes in human development in the physical, mental, and spiritual realms. This chapter presents the view of the child in the reformed national core curriculum for the Finnish comprehensive basic school, which was in force from the autumn term of 2016.
