A brief look at John Mezirow's Transformational Learning Theory.

1. Presented by:
April L. Turner
Walden University
Richard W. Riley School of Education and Leadership
EdD Student
EDUC 8101

3. o John Mezirow was interested in how adults
viewed learning after returning to college
after an extended hiatus during the 1970’s.

5. o Mezirow defined Transformative Learning as
“the process of using prior interpretation to
construe new or a revised interpretation of the
meaning of one’s experience in order to guide
future action”

6. o First National Conference on Transformative
Learning was held in 1998
o Continues to be a topic of discussion during
this bi-annual event

7. o A disorienting dilemma
o Sudden death, loss of job, going back to
school, moving or illness.

8. o A self examination with feelings of
guilt or shame
o Dealing with feelings of fear, guilt
and/or anger.

9. o A critical assessment of assumptions
o Critical reflections on prior experiences
within society and family after disorientating
dilemma.

10. o Recognition that one’s discontent
and the process of transformation
are shared.

11. o Exploration of options for new roles,
relationships, and actions
o Looking at how you can fit new
experiences and ways of thinking into
life.

12. o Planning a course of action

13. o Acquiring knowledge and skills for
implementing one’s plan
o Gaining skills to begin developing a plan

14. o Provisionally trying new roles

15. o Building competence and self-
confidence in new roles and
relationships

16. o A reintegration into one's life on the
basis of conditions dictated by one's
new perspective

17. o Transformation occurs during life experiences
or journey
o It is more holistic and intuitive
o Life long personal develompent

18. o The teacher is the mentor
o The mentor may or may not teach a class but is
more engage in a one on one relationship with
the student.

19. o The role of the mentor is to teach, guide,
challenge, support and encourage the
student through their journey or trip through
personal development.

20. o A journey or trip occurs throughout his or her
life. It can be educational, social, mental,
spiritual or physical.
o The journey does not take away our old
experiences, as often feared before embarking,
but give new meaning to the experiences.

21. o Story telling is a good tool because it
transform our vision of the possible, provides
us with a map for the journey ahead, and
can reconnect things when there is a loss of
sense of meaning in the world

22. o Focused on social change
o Illiteracy, oppression, and poverty
o Two different types of education
o Banking
o Problem Posing

23. o Banking education - served the oppressor
because it domesticates the oppressed
o Banking education was teacher-centered and the
teacher is “all-knowing” and deposits knowledge
into passive students who are considered
receptacles for this knowledge.
o The goal was to change their consciousness but not the
situation. This is how they were able to remain
dominated.

24. o Problem posing education
o Problem posing education allowed people to develop
their power to perceive critically the way they exist
in the world with which and in which they find
themselves.

25. o Experience
o Critical Reflection
o Development

26.  Conscientization
o Knowing oppressive forces that are in your life
and becomes a part of social change process.

27. o Defined as the process of doing and seeing
things and having things happen to you.
o Experience is very important when it comes
to learning.
o Comes in different dimensions that helps link
learning activities with prior knowledge
o Can be used as a resource for his or her
learning.

29. o Examining the underlying beliefs and
assumptions that affect how he or she
makes sense of the experience.

31. o Brookfield’s Phases of critical reflection
o Trigger event – something unexpected happens
o Appraisal – self-evaluation of the experience,
finding others with similar experiences
o Exploration – examining new an d different ways
of explaining or accommodating the experience
o Alternative Perspective – attempting new ways of
thinking and behaving about the experience
o Integration – putting the new ways of thinking
and behaving into the fabric of his or her life.

32. o Mezirow’s Three types of critical reflection.
o Content reflection – thinking about the actual
experience
o Process reflection – thinking about ways to deal
with the experience
o Premise reflection – examining long held and
socially construed assumptions, beliefs, and
values about the experience or problem.

33. o The outcome of transformative learning
o A process of expansion of the real freedoms
that individuals enjoy
o Implies a sense of direction.
o Occurs in different dimensions

34. o Spiritual and Emotional
o The learner experiences an intrapersonal
conversation with the spirit.
o Emotional connection to what is being learned.,
i.e. rage, anger, sadness, happiness, joy, fear,
anxiety.

35. o Technology
o Provides access to an online dialogue to learn
different perspectives of transformative learning

36. o Formal Setting
o Journaling – writing learning experiences and
ways thinking changed as a result of the
experience
o Creating activities , such as simulations or role
plays, that can lead to critical reflections of the
experience

37. o Non-formal setting
o Story telling – using a story to tell of a journey or
trip that changed his or her way of thinking
o Develop mentor/student relationship – a more
one on one relationship occurs and the individual
learning needs and styles of the students are
met.

38. o The use of community centers and examples of
classes that can be offered.
 Empowerment
 Parenting
 Nutrition

39. o Transformative learning is a continuous cycle
o The learner always have experiences throughout
life
o After the experience, critical reflection does
occur
o Development is a result of the critical reflection
and the change in thinking and doing occurs
o Things to consider
o After each new experience, does your way of
thinking and doing change?
o Ways that you can apply this learning theory in
your teaching practices

40. o Daloz, L.A. (2012). Mentor: Guiding the journey
of adult learners (2nd ed.) (pp. 17-42). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
o Cranton, P. (2011). A theory in progress. In S.B.
Merriam & A.P. Grace (Eds), The Jossey-Bass
reader on contemporary issues in adult
education (pp. 321-339). San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
o Freire, P. (2011). Pedagogy of the oppressed. In
S.B. Merriam & A.P. Gace (Eds), The Jossey-Bass
reader on contemporary issues in adult
education (pp.20-32). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-
Bass.

41. o Merriam, S.D., Caffarella, R.S., &
Baumgartner, L.M. (2007). Learning in
adulthood: A comprehensive guide (3rd ed.)
(p. 130-158). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
o O'Sullivan, E. (1999). Transformative
Learning: Educational Vision for the Twenty-
First Century. London and New York: Zed
Books