Abstract
Transformative learning theory is founded on Habermas’s three kinds of knowledge: instrumental, communicative, and emancipatory. Adult and vocational education emphasizes instrumental knowledge in meeting its goals of transmitting technical knowledge and developing specific skill sets and competencies. Yet when individuals acquire new technical skills this knowledge easily spirals into the communicative and emancipatory domains. In this chapter, I explore five approaches to transformative learning and examine the implications of each for promoting social sustainability. (1) The traditional cognitive approach is centered on critical reflection, which leads to revised habits of mind about the self and the world. (2) The extrarational perspective on transformation is concerned with imaginal and emotional learning. (3) Those theorists who favor connected knowing over autonomous knowing pay attention to the role of relationships in learning and understanding others’ points of view. (4) Critics of the individualistic understanding of transformation advise us to pay attention to the role of social change, both as a precursor to and a product of transformation. (5) Finally, some writers propose a global, holistic, and ecological understanding of transformation.
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Cranton, P. (2009). Transformative Learning and AVE for Social Sustainability. In: Willis, P., Mckenzie, S., Harris, R. (eds) Rethinking Work and Learning. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8964-0_7
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