Adult Education Quarterly

The catalyst for learning and change in transformative learning theory has mostly been explained in terms of a disorientation in a relatively stable life. This article explores a South African, nonformal adult learning program, as a source of orienting dilemmas, which catalyze learning and change in lives that are regularly and repeatedly disrupted, such that disorientation has become normalized. The article opens a conversation about transformative learning theory in a postapartheid South African context, marked by high levels of violence, poverty, and inequality. It thus responds to critiques of the dominance of Western cultural values and lives in transformative learning theory literature and contributes to the theory in Southern, developing contexts, with greater recognition of the significance of context. The article shows how an early life of repeated disruption and difficulty can be transformed through emancipatory education initiatives. Such programs can introduce orienting dilemmas, which catalyze transformative learning.

This case study examines, Al Bawsala, a nongovernmental organization and a female cyber social activist, Amira Yahyaoui, in the aftermath of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution through the lens of adult education. The theoretical frameworks of conscientization and third space are employed to describe Yahyaoui’s development of the watchdog political organization, Al Bawsala, for the purpose of democratic learning and popular education in Tunisia. Through interviews with Yahyaoui as well as content analysis of social media platforms used by Al Bawsala, the findings suggest popular education praxis of conscientization and third space are operative and central to Tunisia’s relatively nonviolent path toward democratization after the Arab Spring. The authors further suggest that Al Bawsala’s work is one approach for moving forward in a postrevolution context, and that adult education is central to that process.

Two core adult education outcomes for advanced adult learners in U.S. states under the National Reporting System are learning gains in adult secondary education and entry into postsecondary education (PSE). Advanced learner outcomes are associated with key functions in an adult education programming framework, as well as with adequate instructional staff time, location, or exposure to quality services. In this article, the trend in the relationship of instructional staffing patterns with both outcomes from 2006-2007 to 2011-2012 is examined. With fewer adult secondary learners and rising exposure, outcomes fluctuated. Profile analysis revealed that states with more full-time instructional staff had increasing amounts of PSE enrollment during the 6-year period. Moreover, the positive relationship of full-time instructional staffing with PSE entry appears to have gained strength from 2009-2010 onward. Implications of findings for adult educators and recommendations for future research are discussed.