0.5 Mirci, p., & Hensley, p. (april 2011). transformational adult  (Page 9/9)

Discerning the degree in shifts of meaning perspectives is difficult (Taylor, 2007). The possibility exists that even the most obstructionist students may have engaged in some degree of transformative learning. The possibility also exists that their continued aggression and reactivity may have fostered transformative learning, expanded worldviews, and enhanced knowledge of social justice for the other participants.

Conclusions

The results of this study reveal alignment of Mezirow’s (2009) phases of adult learning with the transformative learning experiences of participants. Students experienced disequilibrium as they encountered social justice theories, examined the different forms of oppression that groups of students encounter in their schooling, and reflected on the institutions that shaped their own lives. Through self-examination they assessed their presuppositions and embraced new meaning perspectives. They were in the process of reintegrating their lives based on the new meaning perspectives. They may encounter other phases of the theory as they complete their dissertations and implement actions in leadership positions.

Transformative learning and educational justice leaders are consistent with the tenets of cultural proficiency. Culturally proficient leaders are people who seriously examine and transform their assumptions, behaviors, and beliefs about those who are different from them so they can act as change agents against injustice. Such work includes critically analyzing organizational practices and policies within societal institutions that are barriers to human freedom.

Transformative adult learning is central to educational justice leadership. It answers the following question posed in 1926: “How can people who wish to improve the world do so without being conscious of the need for improvement within themselves?” (Lindemann, 1989, p. 65). Freire’s (1970) model of problem-posing education is conducive to transformative learning. This study illustrates the need to understand transformative learning, the conditions that promote it, and the use of a problem-posing model of teaching.

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