Theoretical Foundations of Transformative Learning
By Meagan Troop and Anne-Liisa Longmore
In this chapter, we will outline the foundational dimensions of the theory to inform our integration of transformative learning in practice.
Transformative Learning at PSB
Transformative learning is a prominent educational theory within the broader field of adult learning and development and has become ubiquitous in higher education contexts since Jack Mezirow first introduced the term in the mid-1970s. Over the last several decades, scholarly practitioners have examined and further developed the concept, in both theory and practice, exploring its diverse applications and extensions to a variety of contexts, including higher education, workplace, and community-based settings.
The theory serves “’many houses,’ based on different purposes, disciplines, and foci on process and/or outcomes” (Anand et al. 2020, p. 732) and is being applied in PSB contexts and situations as a powerful way to honour a diversity of individuals and ideas as we co-create a shared language and vision. There are many complimentary educational theories, models, and frameworks that PSB educators may choose to integrate in tandem with transformative learning theory, such as social constructivism, complexity and critical theories, and practical models and frameworks like the ICE model (Fostaty Young, 2005; Fostaty Young & Troop; 2022), to name a few. The theory offers a contemporary, flexible, and grounded approach to business education and holds the potential and promise to empower educators in making sound and purposeful educational decisions that align with our value proposition and the needs and interests of the contemporary business graduate.
We invite you to explore the space of what might be possible with transformative learning in action—discover ways that the theory resonates and/or disrupts your current methods, approaches, and philosophies as an educator and to (re)consider the principles as you explore and experiment with new tools, strategies, perspectives, and approaches moving forward.
Transformative learning requires further delimiting, as the term has “increasingly been used to refer to almost any instance of learning” (Hoggan, 2016, p. 57). According to Anand et al. (2020), there are three primary concepts of transformative learning that provide enabling constraints for transformative learning theory, namely, “the transformation of one’s worldview, the learning process of a person involved in a transformative experience, and as a series of practices that evoke or support transformation” (p. 732).
Foundational Concepts of Transformative Learning
TRANSFORMATION OF ONE’S VIEW:
The work of Illeris and Dirkx highlights the importance of inner work and identity as critical to transformative learning (Baldwin, 2019). Both scholars conceptualize transformative learning as “a deep type of learning characterized by a shift in consciousness and self-understanding.” (Baldwin, 2019, p. 2). According to Holdo (2023), “change happens when people come to see the world differently” (p. 12). Changing our perspectives and by extension contributing to change in the world requires a deep, critical awareness of self, arrived at through reflection and practical experience. Clyde, Hyde, and Drennan (2013) and Illeris (2014) suggest that when we connect to our personalities, preferences, and to the inner core of self, we begin to make sense of the complexity and multi-faceted nature of our identities, our roles, and our relationships with others in terms of “behaviour patterns, values, meanings, and social conventions, such as habits of communication, patterns of collaboration, empathy, social distancing, and belonging” (Baldwin, 2019, p. 2). As educators, we hold the potential to transform ourselves and others by reframing experiences that model inclusive, discriminating, reflective, open, and emotionally agile ways of being and becoming (Mezirow, 2009; Longmore et al., 2018).
Why Transformative Learning?
As educators: How might you/we see ourselves and our learners in these principles of transformative learning theory? In what ways, if any, do you/we integrate and apply these principles in our teaching and learning contexts? Emily Style’s (1988) metaphor for curriculum as window and mirror points to the importance of creating learning environments and experiences that reflect, resonate, and relate in human-centered ways (Mayparan, 2018). In PSB, there are multiple learning opportunities that leverage problem-based learning approaches, reflective writing, critical dialogue, and artifact creation as conduits for learning; these are some of the ways that educators and learners have felt seen and heard by virtue of having their voices and stories included. As an extension, transformative learning theory is a window and mirror for educators and learners alike as it provides a shared language for naming and framing both unique and common lived experiences, processes, and practices and invites everyone into the conversational exchange about teaching and learning in PSB through an accessible, inclusive, living theory of transformation (Anand et al., 2020).
Timmermans (2010) explores the notion of a threshold concept as a catalyst in the transformation of one’s mindset or perspectives. When learners encounter threshold concepts as they cross new conceptual boundaries in discipline and/or domain, they often find themselves in a liminal space, which may cause discomfort and uncertainty. Liminal spaces emerge as individuals find themselves betwixt and between two ways of being and/or seeing the world. It is in a liminal space that learners discover and experiment with new mindsets and/or perspectives, challenging norms and current frames of reference. This developmental experience is transformative in nature, offering learners both difficulty and disorientation as they adopt and adapt fresh and/or different worldviews and perspectives in the process (Meyer & Land, 2006; Pace, 2017; Timmermans, 2010).
A (W)holistic View of Learning
The development of competencies complements the basic premises and principles of transformative learning, such that a more inclusive, integrated, and holistic perspective is a fundamental part of a process of learning and identity development (Illeris, 2014; Baldwin, 2019). The pedagogical conditions required to support and evoke transformative learning require that educators intentionally create time and space to pause and reflect on the human dimensions and interactions involved in our lived experience(s); these same conditions apply to the learning and development of competencies. By extension, competency development in PSB focuses on a process aimed at uncovering inner knowledge, with a heightened awareness about what competencies (skills, knowledge, and values) have been/are being discovered and shaped through interactions with self, other, and in the community (Gardner & Kelly, 2008; Longmore et al., 2018).
Here are some evidence-informed teaching and learning principles that support transformative learning:
Teaching & Learning Principles to Support Transformative Learning:
- Transformative learning is active, experiential, and reflective in nature.
- Risk taking is valued and important; feedback and failure are part of a process of taking risks and moving outside of one’s comfort zone in courageous and accountable spaces.
- Time and space are afforded for both learner and educator as they move in and out of a dialectical dynamic and/or relationship.
- Guided reflection questions and prompts are used to uncover, unpack, and unearth our assumptions, beliefs, intentions, values, habits of mind, dispositions, and actions.
- Openness, compassion, and perspective taking are modelled; learners “try on” new and different perspectives or lens(es) to make sense of multiple, diverse worldviews, ideologies, and “troublesome” knowledge.
- Emotion is an integrated part of the learning experience.
- A diversity of individuals, ideas, and ways of being are both welcomed and celebrated.
- Facilitator serves as provocateur, guide, companion—multiple identities and roles are embodied in the dialectic exchanges and interactions with learners.
- Critical reflection, conscious-raising activities, and dialogue are embedded throughout the curriculum.
(Brookfield, 2002; 2017; Cranton, 2016; Davis, 2004; DeAngelis, 2022; Eyler, J. R., 2018; Fowler, 2006; Kenny, 2013; Longmore et al., 2018; Orstoga, 2006; Swartz & Triscari, 2016; Timmermans, 2010; Troop, 2017).
THE LEARNING PROCESS INVOLVED IN TRANSFORMATION:
As a process, King (2009) defines transformative learning as experiences that adult learners have as they make sense of ideas, feelings, concepts, and opinions they have not yet considered. This sensemaking process is often initiated by a disorienting dilemma and/or with disjuncture (DeAngelis, 2022; Mezirow, 2009; Longmore et al., 2018), with engagement consciously and/or subconsciously, at various levels—individually, collectively, structurally, institutionally, locally, and globally—and in and across domains, such as, social, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (Holdo, 2023; Illeris, 2014; O’Sullivan, Morrell, & O’Connor, 2002). Transformative learning holds the potential for shifts and patterns of change that range from “subtle to seismic” (DeAngelis, 2022, p. 586) and involves processes, according to Hoggan (2006), that lead to “significant and irreversible changes in the way a person experiences, conceptualizes, and interacts with the world (p. 71).”
In a learning process that is connected to transformative learning, educators intentionally design and facilitate learning experiences that invite learners to critically question what might be taken for granted or already known, support risk-taking and stretching beyond one’s comfort zone, encourage multiple perspectives and fresh insights on a variety of issues and topics, and purposefully integrate threshold and bottleneck concepts inherent in relearning and unlearning (Baumgartner, 2012; Holdo; 2023; King, 2009).
STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT OR EVOKE TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING:
How might we/do we integrate transformative learning into the fabric of our curricula in PSB?
Transformative learning theory already underpins much of the work we do in our PSB teaching and learning community. The transformative learning principles outlined by Longmore, Grant, & Golnaraghi (2018) provide an evidence-informed approach to guide our design and facilitation practices both now and into the future:
- The Whole Learner Learns
- Experiences, disjuncture, and critical reflection as conduits for learning
- Learning is emergent and socially constructed
- Instructor as learning facilitator and companion
(Longmore et al., 2018)
The Triple Helix Model
The triple helix is a model proposed by Longmore, Grant, and Golnaraghi (2018) that aims to capture the dynamism of transformative learning experiences for business education in the 21st century. The model characterizes the various interconnected and interrelated parts involved in both the process and outcomes of transformation and highlights the socially constructed and emergent nature of the teaching and learning experience, emphasizing the critical importance of human interaction at the heart of experience. Three primary dimensions of the model are: the whole learner—hence the coinage of (w)holism—content and knowledge, and the other learning agents and actors. With each new learning cycle, time, space, and the environment (including situational and contextual factors) inform and influence the nature of the interactions and the co-creation of knowledge in relation to self, other, and community.
CONNECTING TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING TO COMPETENCIES:
Our approach to transformative learning in PSB is based on the premise that teaching, learning, and curriculum- making are dynamic and recursive in nature. The learners, facilitators, subject matter, and context or milieu are all part of an interconnected, interrelated, and emergent ecological view of the higher education system in which we operate (Davis et al., 2008; Longmore et al., 2018). In PSB, we build on these ideas to cultivate our PSB ecosystem in support of the design and development of spaces, places, technologies, and pedagogies that focus on the whole learner experience.
The competencies and the development of our “Business Sense” competency framework is a critical part of designing and facilitating transformative-focused experiences in PSB. The competencies are intentionally framed as learner-centered and holistic in nature, tying to principles of transformative learning at each orbiting circular component of the competency framework. Each of the competencies and their attributes communicate a (w)holistic view of learning with a direct link to the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, mindsets, and values (in alignment with cognitive, social-emotional, and psychomotor domains). The next chapter will explore the development of our competency framework as part of the Transformative Learning Initiative.
