Transformative Learning re-defined: as changes in elements of the identity

Abstract

We live in a time of constant change—in liquid modernity—and this has created a rapidly growing need for Transformative Learning (TL): we must be able to constantly change and develop ourselves in order to keep pace with the changes in our environment and life situation. However, the need for change has grown so fast and in so many directions that the term of TL has itself become uncertain or even confused. In 2000, Robert Kegan posed the question ‘What “Form” Transforms’? He advocated a new approach to TL but did not propose any new definition; this situation still remains: among several proposals for new approaches to TL, there is a general agreement that the traditional definition of the term as changes in the learner’s ‘meaning perspectives’, etc. is too narrow and too cognitively oriented. In this article, it is argued that TL should be re-defined as ‘changes in the learner’s identity’. The article explains why this definition is better and more up to date. Through discussion of range of issues, the article shows that the linking of the concepts of TL and identity open the way for new understandings and possibilities.

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