A Sociological Imagination: The Neglected Concept in Transformation Theory


Ted Fleming
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5996-6174
Abstract



Malcolm Knowles visited Teachers College as I commenced studying there in 1978. But Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed opened the possibility that adult education could be radical and transformative. In the same year Jack Mezirow (1978) published his theory of perspective transformation. Andragogy was useful but a paradigm shift in the field of adult education had occurred and through multiple iterations over the following decades we are the inheritors of these exciting developments. Mezirow borrowed from Jürgen Habermas whose theory of communicative action he creatively integrated with the theory of transformative learning (TL). Adult education, that traditionally linked itself with the project of democracy, had a new critical theory inspired understanding of adult learning that works towards democracy. It is this connection that makes TL important in a world facing multiple (connected) crises – climate change, radicalizations, the rise of the far right and wars.




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Autor/innen-Biografie
Ted Fleming, Teachers College Columbia University

Ted Fleming is emeritus professor at Maynooth University. His M.A. and Ed.D. are from Teachers College Columbia University, New York where he is currently adjunct professor. He is the first recipient of the Jack Mezirow Theory of Transformative Learning Award for 'original contribution to the theory of learning' writing on Axel Honneth and transformative learning. He is also the External Advisor to Greek Municipality of Larissa UNESCO funded Learning City project. He is also a member of the Aontas International Expert Panel which advises the Irish Government’s Further Education and Training Authority (SOLAS) on including student voice in Irish adult education. Research interests include access for adults to higher education and critical theory. Publications are available at www.tedfleming.net

ORCID: 0000-0001-5996-6174

 

 

Literaturhinweise
Rocco, T.S., Smith, M.C., Mizzi, R.C. Merriweather, L.R., & Hawley, J.D. (2021). The Handbook of Adult and Continuing Education: 2020 Edition. Stylus/AAACE.
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