Abstract
When I read through the articles in this issue, I was struck by how many questions were raised in my mind. I was not sure what to do with this reaction, so I suggested to John Dirkx that I use my questions as a focus for my Editor’s Notes. John was happy with this, so I went on to outline questions that could be posed to readers of the journal as well as those considering the journal as a publication outlet for their work.
Critical questioning, developing an openness to new perspectives, and considering alternatives are at the center of transformative learning theory. I decided to turn transformative learning theory onto itself and use the same strategies to encourage readers and potential authors to question and challenge what they read, including what they read in Journal of Transformative Education (JTED).
Questions Related to Finding Peace and Stillness
Why is everyone writing about mindfulness, meditation, contemplation, and collaboration these days? Does this have to do with our current culture or with the tremendous amount of information and communication in our lives? Does it have to do with the invasion of technology and social media into our daily routines or with the “busyness” of our lives? I often hear friends and colleagues complain that they do not have enough time for meditation or yoga or walking in nature or playing with the dog. They can barely cope with what they have to do without adding more activities into their days. At times, it seems like these complaints sound like bragging, or it seems like a contest about who is the most busy.
Behind all this searching stirs something deeper. Why are we looking to transformative learning theory as a way of simplifying our lives? Do we yearn for a peaceful life? Could we create a lifestyle that is peaceful rather than to try to arrange our schedules to have a few peaceful moments? Is a peaceful life more a matter of worldview than time management?
In this issue, the first three articles are about meditation, mindfulness, and collaboration. In the first, Michele Irwin and John Miller report the results of a study of the effect of meditation practices on the reduction of stress, increased self-awareness, and interpersonal communication. My question is, in this culture that values being busy, will people engage in meditative practices? In the second article, Oren Ergas writes about mindfulness and proposes that “mind wandering” (the opposite of mindfulness) has negative effects on well-being and performance. My question here is, is mind wandering the foundation of imagination and creativity? In the third article, Leanne Dzubinski and Aliki Nicolaides describe life in the 21st century as being complex, paradoxical, and ambiguous. They see collaborative action inquiry as a way of creating the conditions for transformative learning to occur. My question is whether collaboration is necessarily positive, productive, and conducive for transformative learning. What is it about collaborative learning that would suggest it is, at its core, a transformative process?
Questions Related to Transformative Learning and Transformative Education
These first three articles also led me to contemplate the difference between transformative learning and transformative education. The title of our journal is JTED, and yet the majority of the articles are about transformative learning. In the submission guidelines for the journal, “transformative learning” is the last in a list of areas that are covered by journal.
“Education” is associated with formal learning taking place in institutions. It is planned and prepared by educators and has, as one goal, the fostering of transformative learning. On the other hand, transformative learning is a learning theory. It describes the process of transformation in any context. The majority of transformative learning occurs outside formal contexts (Taylor & Snyder, 2012).
It seems to me that the authors of the first three articles in this issue are referring to transformative education, though this not quite so clear for the article by Leanne Dzubinski and Aliki Nicolaides. However, they do refer to the collaborative action inquiry as a program.
My question here is, “do we need to clarify the meanings of transformative education and transformative learning in order to advance theoretical development, practice, and research?” Is it important that we know what we are doing?
Questions Related to Cognition and an Integrated Theory
This is an old saw. From the minute that Mezirow published Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning in 1991, the critics came out from behind the bushes. Most of the critics did not seem to have read Mezirow’s original report on his research from 1978 or even to have read carefully his 1991 book. Meta-cognition and rationality are the foundation of Mezirow’s work as is clear in his 2000 “Learning to Think Like an Adult” chapter. Mezirow includes depth psychology (Boyd, 1989; Boyd & Myers, 1988; Gould, 1989) in his theory development. My question here is, “how can we view critiques of a theory in a constructive and helpful way?” How can we keep an open mind when we read critiques of a theory? What questions should we be asking?
The fourth article in this issue challenges us to ask those important questions. Michael Dix gives us several ways to think about how we might critique transformative learning theory.
Summary
Asking questions about what we read is central to transformative learning. Reading and commenting on the articles in this issue gave me the opportunity to pose questions that seem important to me. I hope that my comments will encourage readers to contemplate these, and other, questions in response to this issue.