Introduction
Transformative learning, unlike traditional learning, empowers students to re-define the meaning of their experiences. It sets aside meandering assumptions and voodoo rules to explore one's capabilities, new roles, and responsibilities. While critical self-reflection is the essence of transformational learning, rational discourse is the method that empowers the learner to go through the required transformation.
This paper is an exercise to reflect on a personal learning experience through the lenses of various tenets, principles, and practices of transformative learning. While I narrate my experience in detail, viewing and reflecting it through the concepts of transformative theory strengthens my knowledge about the subject.
My Personal Learning Experience
I have been a child whose formal education has been varied. Both of my parents being teachers by profession, I received informal education at home for many years and finally started receiving formal education at the age of ten. Fortunately, I was a student of inquisitive mind and could not just assume and believe things/statements at the school, and obviously not fulfilled the expectations of my teachers. I always groped for sound proofs for small explanations in science as to why things look bent under water, the reasons for blobs in the bottle, and the like.
The bookish answers never satisfied me, and it was the point when my mind went in contrast to the education provided at schools. For me, education was not an affair from 8 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.; it was rather a continuous process of the development of thoughts and mental processes.
I remember a small instance when the refraction explanation given by my father could not satisfy my maturing brain. I switched-off all lights, closed the curtains, filled a container with water, and lit the cigar to get things clearly visible. It was the day when I actually saw how things look when they are immersed in the water. That day transformed my way of thinking; I started looking immersed objects though different perception, as I also shun looking my teachers in the same way either. I, now, could clearly discern between two categories of teachers. While some were only happy with their students mugging up the information and reproducing that in exams, some motivating ones encouraged students to discover the information on their own.
As the education system did not allow me to excel in science and arts simultaneously, I opted for humanities. That, gradually, led me to question my ability to grasp exact sciences. Humanities was also problematic for me because of the statistics section. In sync with that, I switched to the study of French as statistics was a hard haul for me. Having done a two-year course in French, I decided to join a two-year course in statistics just to prove my point. By that time, I had discovered that the conventional and formal education system does not encourage students to try out-of-the-box, it rather pushes them to opt for shorter and proven routes to success. In the pursuit of success, most of us tend to limit their thinking capabilities.
Similar was the saga with me. Most of the employment that time was 'reserved' for science graduates and during my ordeal of sending job applications to taking up interviews, I joined a gym. Gradually, I rediscovered the benefits of sports for mental well-being as well as physical fitness. As I started enjoying my individualized weight reduction programs, I secretly questioned to myself about how would be like a gym instructor.
I never uttered it loud as I was too shy and insecure about that. My parents supported my thought that imparted my additional wings. I spent hours in the aerobics room to discover the limits of my physical strength, inner power, flexibility, and several other things that a proficient gym instructor would require. As I was shy by nature, instructing a group was also a milestone for me. It was probably the reason that I had joined the individualized program there, not any group classes.
I worked quite hard for a year and expanded on my capabilities to join the first aerobics class, that too as a group teacher. I felt myself empowered, on top of the world. After all, I had come victorious in fighting with my own limitations. I had succeeded in the area that was sort of impossible for me at the school. Now, I am a nutritional guide as well as an instructor in four areas of sports.
My success as a gym instructor reaffirmed my old belief that we can be our own teacher and motivator. I am a confident adult now who can do anything by learning. If anyone comes to me asking, " Can I lose 10 Kg in a month?" all I ask, how much hard work you are willing to out into?"
My educational experience since school makes me feel that thinking in some set directions limits our minds. If we reject the grounded rules and dare to discover inner capabilities, we can literally do anything.
Transformative Learning: Conceptual Discussion and Reflection on Learning Experience
Transformative learning refers to a radical, structural, and deep shift in basic premises of thoughts, feelings, and actions. The theory has emerged 20 years back from the works of Mezirow and has been critically discussed by several authors later on. This approach views learning as a revised interpretation of one's own experiences in an attempt to guide the future course of action.
Transformative learning offers an explanation of the change in meaning via instrumental learning and communicative learning. Instrumental learning emphasizes task-orientation, problem-solving approach, and determining causal relationships to acquire knowledge. It involves learning to control the external environment, people, and events to make informed judgments regarding the circumstances. Communicative learning is the learning experiences gained when others communicate their values, ideals, moral decisions, and other concepts as democracy, commitment, autonomy, justice, and love.
Transformative learning explains how our presuppositions, cultural affiliations, and expectations influence the meaning we derive from our experiences. As per Mezirow, the aim of transformative learning is to assist adult learners become critically self-reflective, and participate in rational discourse. In recent years, this method of learning has become dominant in various disciplines including professional education, higher education, and community education.
Mezirow has further explained that transformative learners are open to others' viewpoints and move towards an inclusive approach. The process begins with a disoriented dilemma and ends with a change in self-concept (Mejirow, 2000). He identified phases of learning as:
Experiencing a dilemma
Self-examination
Critically assessing the assumptions
Exploring new roles and actions
Revising the course of action
Acquiring knowledge to implement the decided plan
Trying new roles
Building aplomb in new roles
Imbibe the change
This small discussion on the conceptual tenets of transformative learning duly reveals that my personal experience fits, to an extent, into its principles and procedures.
Though I did not experience any severe dilemma apparently, my disenchantment with the standard learning processes served the purpose. My inquisitive mind kept me engaged in self-reflection, one of the most important tenets of transformative learning theory. While I denied to accept the assumptions set by traditional teachers and education system, I exhibited the required courage to challenge those assumptions and gather information on my own.
For instance, I could have believed my father's explanation of refraction when I asked him as to why things look different in the water. However, instead of just accepting and cramming it, I preferred to conduct these small experiments myself that helped me towards a new understanding. I sincerely thought about the well-designed questions that provided me to learn and see things in a different manner.
Furthermore, self-reflection was not temporary; it permeated throughout my experience. Instead of going with the flow and opting for the Science Education, I reflected on my abilities and completed my graduation in French. I must say that selecting a stream is tough for students and many prefer to walk on the tested and short paths to success. Fortunately, I did not belong to that genre. As I experienced these minor dilemmas, self-examination and a critical-reflection on my capabilities energized me with new roles and responsibilities. Thinking beyond the standards enabled and empowered me to explore my strengths and decide the future course of actions time to time.
It is obvious that I have always denied stereotypes and exuded the confidence to listen to my heart and mind. It is the reason that a child who was too lazy in sports during school finally became a gym instructor professionally. I groped for my strengths and weaknesses, took time to improve on demerits, and reflected on different ways of doing that. While the shyness even obstructed me to take group classes at the gym, becoming a group teacher well exemplifies my aplomb in overpowering my shortcomings. I redefined my life in my own terms and got extreme satisfaction in that.
Unlike traditional learning, transformative learning heightens the role of the student. I, as a student, was an active participant here who understood my responsibilities to know and explore things. Cranton(2006) suggested that questioning serves an important purpose in the transformative process. Teachers, as such, should be conversational, specific, ask open-ended questions that can galvanize students' interest in a particular topic (Mezirow, , 2002). While my parents have been good motivators throughout, I have always put on an active role in self-questioning. I have questioned my interests time to time, re-defined them, and explored them further to take on fresh tasks. My discontinuation with the Statistics course and joining French well exemplifies that. If I had not done that, I would have been like many others pursuing a course in Sciences or become a Language professional. Contrary to that, my expedition till a successful group instructor at gym reveals my readiness to embrace novel ideas and to respond to them judiciously.
My experience also highlights an iota of instrumental and communicative learning. I challenged the validity of what was communicated to me generally and asked for sound proofs and scientific explanations for the same. Using a rational discourse, I found that the traditional education system and set courses were not suited for me and identified my satisfaction in something out-of-the-stereotypes, i.e. the gym instructor. That is, I well comprehended how my situation was different from others and critically reviewed it to make the most. My educational experience enriched me not only in cognitive dimensions but also in affective aspects.
Critical self-reflection, the most important principle of the transformative theory, was present significantly in my case as I reassessed my situation time to time and applied a problem-solving approach to excel in my career. Obviously, I never relied on pre-suppositions, rather interpreted meanings of certain circumstances afresh. For instance, there was a pre-supposition that Science graduates could find the job easily, still I opted for Humanities and left that also to find my contentment in learning French. I feel that I was motivated enough to integrate, assimilate and discriminate various facets of my life. While I was open to others' views, I always made it a point to prove myself.
Succinctly, what I am today is because of the transformative learning aspects that I undertook knowingly or unknowingly. My transformative aspects involved all three dimensions, i.e., psychological, convictional, and behavioral. While it helped understand myself better, it also assisted me in accommodating healthy changes in the lifestyle. I had just joined the gym to pass my time constructively while I was looking for a job, I unearthed this new passion in me and optimized it well in the given situation.
I realized convictional transformation in the sense of questioning prevailing beliefs about the traditional education system. I could well identify the differences between traditional and transformative learning approaches. Emotionally, I felt myself more stronger and confident to face odds of life.
Conclusion
My educational experience justifies most of the principles of transformative learning. While I did not experience any distorting dilemma apparently, some minor confusions paved the way to transformation. The inquisitive mind denied to accept pre-suppositions and pushed to discover new roles and meanings in my life.
Having self-reflected on my strengths and weaknesses, I could take judicious and fruitful decisions rather than succumb to prevailing norms and standards. Most importantly, I exuded enough confidence in my new roles and felt extreme satisfaction and self-gratification.
What I am today, i.e., the gym instructor, is the result of my inquiring habit, never-ending zeal, active participation in events, and of course, the persistent parental support and motivation. The experience has not only matured my mind to think rationally but also empowered me to take right decisions at the right time.
References
Cranton, P. (2006). Understanding and Promoting Transformative Learning: A Guide For Educators of Adults. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Gabriel, P. (2008). Personal Transformation: The Relationship of Transformative Learning Experiences and Transformative Leadership. ProQuest.
Gardner, M., & Kelly, U. (2008). Narrating Transformative Learning in Education. New York: Springer.
Mezirow, J. (1996). Contemporary Paradigms of Learning. Adult Education Quarterly , 525-537.
Mezirow, J. (2002). How Critical Reflection Triggers Transformative Learning.
Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning to Think Like an Adult. In J. Mejirow, Learning as a Transformation: Critical Perspectives on a Theory in Progress (pp. 3-35). San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow, J., & Taylor, E. W. (2011). Transformative Learning in Practice: Insights From Community, Workplace, and Higher Education. John Wiley & Sons.
Sullivan, E. O. (1999). Transformative Learning: Educational Vision for 21st Century. Zed Books.
