Towards axiological maturity – the implementation and fulfilment of values by academic youth from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine

Abstract

The outlining of the values appreciated by academic youth and their perception of the possibilities of implementing and fulfilling them was based on the international comparative research conducted in 2019–2021 in the PolishCzech-Slovak-Ukrainian borderland. In the pedagogical analysis undertaken in the study of this subject matter, some theoretical and methodological conceptualizations were applied, which referred to: (1) Ronald F. Inglehart’s concept of changes of values, (2) the objectivistic approach to values and axiological maturity according to Adam Węgrzecki and (3) comparative analysis in international studies. Comparing the declarations of student groups in the investigated environments reveals significant differences in all value assessments, except for the implementation of moral values and a respectable life. The analysis and interpretation of the collected empirical material also indicate that the image of university students’ axiological preferences is characterized – in the context of Inglehart’s theory – mainly by secular-rational authority and post-materialism aimed at achieving a particular quality of life.