Transformative Education: Content, Context, and Challenges

 By:
Agnes S. Apostol

In education lies the transformation of learners and society.  It is the tool that will bring about change.

Individual and social transformation is among the most important goals of education. According to Fr. Roderick Salazar, SVD (2004), all education and any education really is and should be transformative.

Transformative education, which is sometimes called global education or transformative learning (and is usually associated with adult education and development), is considered a methodology, a phenomenon, and an approach to education.  It involves a shift in consciousness that begins with teaching and learning and results in healing and transforming persons, institutions, economies, and political systems locally and globally (Garcia 1998).  Thus, transformative education is seen as a process and product of education (Salazar 2004).

As an approach, it is directed toward learners who must be imbued with values and skills that will develop their worldviews and encourage them to act individually or collectively so that they can improve social conditions and eventually eradicate the ills of society. 

There is an overwhelming breadth of literature that expounds on and critiques transformative education. Thus, it is difficult to come up with a solid definition of transformative learning because “it bleeds into the boundaries of concepts such as meaning making or critical thinking.”  But as researchers continued to study these concepts, these terms became interrelated i.e., critical thinking is necessary but not a sufficient condition for transformative learning.” (O’Sullivan 2003).

Proponents
Jack Mezirow is considered as the major developer of transformative learning theory.  He first introduced the concept of rational transformation in 1978 (Imel 1998) by combining various educational theories, models, and ideas about contructivism and social transformation.  Mezirow suggested that transformative learning is a primary goal of all adult education. 
Mezirow’s theory proposed that

Cranton (2002) offered a simplified version of Mezirow’s theory.  According to her, individuals change when they start to question their long-cherished beliefs after encountering ordinary or dramatic changes in their lives i.e., losing a job, death in the family, or an unexpected question.  However, transformation is not changing one’s viewpoint to another but it is becoming aware of alternative perspectives.

Over the last 20 years, many educators generated controversial interpretations and alternative perspectives about Mezirow’s theory.  Among these educators are Robert Boyd who advanced the theory of individuation and psychoanalytic theory and Paulo Freire who promoted emancipatory transformation or social transformation (Taylor 1998).
Mezirow’s theory continues to evolve through the inclusion of new perspectives on adult learning and development (about.com).

Purpose

Transformative education is needed today because our society needs to change. 

At present, local and global societies are characterized by rampant poverty, social injustice, bigotry, terrorism, environmental degradation, economic disparity between the rich and the poor, women and child abuse, graft and corruption, and unethical use of science and technology.  To improve human condition and to foster social change, individuals must work together to increase accountability and responsiveness toward these issues (Participation.net 2005).

Elements
The vital elements of transformative education are people and a reformed curriculum.  To effect positive individual and social change, school administrators, teachers, learners, parents, families, and providers of instructional materials must work together to craft and follow an integrative, interactive, and holistic curriculum.  When education stakeholders and curriculum work in synergy, learning becomes transformational. 

Although schools as individual entities do not have the power to change learners and societies by themselves, they have the power to influence and encourage learners to realize their fullest potentials.  Through the teachers, in cooperation with parents and other sectors, schools can develop the critical and reflective thinking (higher-order thinking) of learners so that they will understand complex social problems and later on, care about the world around them enough to become empowered change agents (Ibon Foundation, Inc. 2004).

However, the initiative to change must come from the top.  Tranformative learning needs the support of enlightened educational leaders and school managers to initiate, foster, and maintain change in learners and institutions (Peck 1994).

The Superintendents Commission of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) strongly recommends the integration of the four major thrusts of transformative education in the curriculum:

To effectively integrate the above thrusts in the curriculum, educators must understand their roles as transformative learning educators.  They also need to master subject area content, appropriate teaching strategies, and the process of transformative learning.

Process
Reforming the educational system starts with strengthening curricular programs.  This means developing educational objectives and strategies that will create a learning environment that allows educators and teachers to promote change.  Cranton (2002) suggested that the transformative learning is a progressive, spiral-like process, and not a linear one.  She proposes the following rough guide to promote transformation.

Challenges
Transformation is work—hard work.  It is not easy and there are no quick fixes.  It takes courage, discipline, and commitment.  In fact, there are no particular teaching methods that guarantee transformative learning (Cranton 2002).  Because to change is a choice, teachers cannot teach and impose the will to change on students and learners.  But they can influence them by modeling and creating a safe and supportive environment that will hopefully make them desire to change individually and collectively.  The results, if blessed by divine intervention, can be meaningful, healing, and worthwhile for all concerned.

References
Cranton, Patricia, “Teaching for Transformation.”  New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education 93 (2002): 63-71.

Dover, Kimeiko Hotta, “Theory of Transformative Learning,” about.com <http://adulted.about.com/cs/learning theory/a/mezirow.htm (10 February 2005)

Garcia, Lilia, “The Role of Transformational Education in a Democracy.”  Paper presented at St. Michael’s College of Laguna, 1998.

Holistic Education Network of Tasmania (HENT News), “Transformative Learning,” 18 October 2004 <www.hent.org/hent/hentnews/hentnews12.htm> (1 March 2005)

IBON Foundation, Inc. “IBON Partnership in Education for Development,” 2005 <http://www.ibon.org/about/iped.htm> (2 February 2005)

Imel, Susan, “Transformative Learning in Adulthood, ERIC Digest, no. 200 (1998). <www.ericdigest.org/1991-2/adulthood.htm> (2 February 2005)

Mijares, OSA, Ma. Luz.  2004. Message in Rex Bookstore, Inc. Catalog of Transformative Education Based Instructional Materials.

O’Sullivan, Edmund. 2003.  Bringing a perspective of transformative learning to globalized consumption.” International Journal of Consumer Studies 27 (4): 326-330. <http.//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_Learning> (2 February 2005)

Participation.net, “Learning and Teaching for Transformation,” 2005 <www.eldis.org/rights/guides/ltt.index/htm> (2 February 2005)

Peck, M. Scott. 1994.  A World Waiting to be Born: The Search for Civility.  London: Arrow Books.

Salazar, Roderick, SVD. 2004.  Message in Rex Bookstore, Inc. Catalog of Transformative Education Based Instructional Materials.

Taylor, Edward N.  “The Theory and Practice of Transformative Learning: A Critical Review,” ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education (ACVE) Center on Education and Training for Employment, no. 374 (1998). (http://www.ceter.org/acve/mo_taylor_01ap.htm>(8 February 2005)

World Trust Educational Services, “Transformative Learning Model,” 2004 <www.worldtrust.org/about/transformative.htm> (2 February 2005)