Kaisu Mälkki

Building on Mezirow’s Theory of Transformative Learning: Theorizing the Challenges to Reflection:

The prevailing theoretical discussion on reflection within adult and higher education focuses on the cognitive and rational dimensions of reflection, at the expense of the emotional and social dimensions. Consequently, the theories deal with the ideals, but leave issues pertaining to the understanding of the prerequisites, challenges, and obstacles of reflection largely unaddressed. This article proposes a theory which sheds light on the nature and the prerequisites of the process of reflection. The theory development was based on analyzing Jack Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning. In order to deepen the understanding of the emotional dimension which was fruitfully yet insufficiently conceptualized within Mezirow’s theory, Antonio Damasio’s neurobiological theory of emotions and consciousness was utilized as a complementary theory. Based on these differing theories, it was possible to construct a theory which conceptualizes the challenges to reflection and opens new directions for further research concerning integrating the cognitive and emotional perspectives.

From reflection to action? Barriers and bridges between higher education teachers’ thoughts and actions

Within higher education, reflection has been seen as a prerequisite to quality teaching and developing as a teacher. However, little empirical research exists concerning the link between teacher reflection and action, which defines the extent to which the teacher’s reflection-based views are channelled to the benefit of the students. This article focuses on this link, as manifested through interviews with 76 university teachers. The findings shed light on practical challenges and obstacles along higher education teachers’ path from reflection to practice, and indicate that, despite the strong emphasis on reflection, it is far from being a self-evident tool for developing a teacher’s practice. Besides the pedagogical perspective, this link also appears essential from the viewpoint of the teacher experiencing teaching as rewarding. Issues that arise when theories of learning and reflection are applied to the context of the development of university teacher are considered.

Rethinking Disorienting Dilemmas within Real-Life Crises: The Role of Reflection in Negotiating Emotionally Chaotic Experiences.

This study elaborates on how a disorienting dilemma, a life-event crisis, may trigger reflection. The study comprised an analysis of interviews with involuntarily childless women, who were in the process of negotiating emotionally chaotic experiences. The implications for Jack Mezirow’s theory of transformative learning are explored. Compared with the more often discussed role of reflection in facilitated contexts, the analysis shows differences in the role of reflection in this nonfacilitated context, where it appears to enable meaning making in a chaotic situation that was not understandable from within existing meaning frameworks. Furthermore, disorienting dilemmas are manifested in various emotional experiences, indicating that one’s relation to these emotions—as opposed to the nature of the emotion—becomes essential with regard to triggering reflection. Last, the social dimension appears as a second-wave trigger of reflection, as one’s changed assumptions are found to collide with views of significant others.

Navigational Aids: The Phenomenology of Transformative Learning.

Although the notion of transformative learning points to a desirable destination for educational endeavors, the difficulty in the journey is often neglected. Our intention is to map the experiential micro-processes involved in transformative learning such that the phenomenon is illuminated from a first-person rather than third-person point of view. Employing that point of view, we believe, provides a common frame of reference for both the mentor and the protégé. We employ the notions of liminality, comfort zone, and edge emotions to elucidate the transformative process. The more intimate understandings that result should assist educators to support students who are undergoing such a metamorphosis. In addition, the article will consider some of the challenges encountered by the educator who wishes to support students through this process.

Developing the Theory of Perspective Transformation.

Mezirow’s theory of perspective transformation has proved to be a great asset to the scholarship of adult education and has provided a solid theoretical base for understanding complex learning phenomena. However, in the discussions surrounding Mezirow’s work, a certain “stuckness” appears which we think is unproductive. Critiques of Mezirow are often repeated, secondhand or thirdhand, causing important issues and tensions to become simplified and dichotomized, which causes complex aspects of the theory to lose the nuance that a good theory provides. This article draws on recent contributions to the literature in order to elaborate on the theory of perspective transformation in light of these recurring critiques. In so doing, we introduce three key concepts to the lexicon of perspective transformation: continuity, intersubjectivity, and emancipatory praxis. For each, we address the underlying omission or weakness in Mezirow’s theory and offer revised conceptualizations of the theory.

Student Transformation and the Interaction Between the Epistemological and Ontological Tracks

Higher education has long been seen as the heart of knowledge and epistemological development. However, recent advances in the sphere of research on learning challenge higher education to take a broader and more integrative perspective, so that the ontological self of the student can be “brought into view and engaged with” (Barnett 2007, 9).