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Article
Publication date: 11 July 2007

Srabani Maitra and Hongxia Shan

The paper seeks to explore workers' learning in relation to the racialized and gendered organization of contingent work.

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper seeks to explore workers' learning in relation to the racialized and gendered organization of contingent work.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is informed by Marxist theorization of labour power and learning. It draws on the interview data of 24 highly educated immigrant women from the research project “Skilled In Vulnerability: Work‐related Learning Amongst Contingent Workers”.

Findings

The two types of learning that we have identified include conformative and transgressive learning. Conformative learning refers to the learning that workers engage in to conform to the workplace expectations. The workers are not rewarded or acknowledged for their learning endeavors, and their efforts end up being appropriated by employers to maximize surplus value. Transgressive learning refers to the learning initiatives undertaken by workers to challenge and transcend the depressing work environment and life conditions.

Research limitations/implications

This research was not able to capture what conditions facilitate transgressive learning versus conformative learning.

Practical implications

The study first calls on the state to deal with the systemic negation of professional immigrants' previous skills and learning experiences. Second, it encourages employers to provide appropriate training and reward the workers for their learning endeavor. Third, drawing on the research findings, work educators could help foster the forms of learning that are conducive to workers' better control of work and life. The authors also suggest that to optimize their work and life opportunities in general, immigrant women workers need to come together, exchange information and knowledge, learn from each other, and form collective actions amongst themselves.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the literature on workplace learning from a learning perspective. It is one of the first endeavors to look at how highly educated immigrant women learn to exercise agency to challenge contingent work structures.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 19 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 March 2022

Frans Lenglet

It is argued that social learning, transformative learning, collaborative learning and transgressive learning are branches and offshoots of the same ‘learning tree’. This chapter…

Abstract

It is argued that social learning, transformative learning, collaborative learning and transgressive learning are branches and offshoots of the same ‘learning tree’. This chapter examines the sources and evolution of theories of education and learning focused on transforming the learners' self-understanding and transforming the structures and social arrangements in which they and their educational and learning processes are embedded. The ‘transformative learning’ theories reviewed here span the last 50 years. They critique and go beyond the functionalist understanding that education and learning are meant to socialize learners within existing or dominant cultural and societal structures and/or in function of the transmission of knowledge, skills and attitudes from generation to generation. The first part of this article covers transformative learning and learning for transformation in the tradition of Freire, Habermas, Mezirow, and others. The second part concentrates on more recent ideas of collaborative learning, social learning and deliberative social learning evolving into transformative, and transgressive learning. By highlighting the warp and weft of the conceptual traditions and pedagogical practice within a variety of contexts and conditions, a colourful tapestry of transformative education and learning emerges. It is shown that, over time, the pertinence of transformative learning has only increased. The evolution of transformative learning presents itself as a virtual cycle, starting from marginalized and excluded people and communities via individual persons engaged in adult education and environmental education, to (groups of) people participating in collaborative and transgressive social learning, thereby becoming capable and empowered actors in processes of societal change and transformation.

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 8 March 2022

Abstract

Details

Transformative Research and Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-695-8

Article
Publication date: 30 January 2009

Yasmin B. Kafai and Deborah A. Fields

This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated with Whyville.net, a virtual world with over 1.7 million registered players aged eight to 16

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present and discuss cheat sites and cheating practices associated with Whyville.net, a virtual world with over 1.7 million registered players aged eight to 16 that includes game and science activities. The goal is to examine how the development of cheats can present learning opportunities for players and designers alike.

Design/methodology/approach

The types of cheats were categorized and science content examined in hundreds of cheat sites created for Whyville. The work of a cheat site designer in developing a cheat together with other Whyville players was observed.

Findings

It was found that a great variety of cheats are available in educational worlds and that science games that require more than one simple answer also require the development of more sophisticated cheats.

Originality/value

Cheating is a transgressive practice widely accepted in gaming but mostly condemned in schooling. The features of cheating and its associated practices allow us to consider transgressive designs for learning in virtual worlds that offer opportunities for youth to participate in creative and critical media production, to engage in science inquiry, and to raise ethical issues.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 17 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 21 November 2022

Maria Vamvalis

De/uncolonizing educational visions in the context of insistent and persistent ecological violence is an urgent task, one requiring profound shifts in thinking, being and knowing…

Abstract

De/uncolonizing educational visions in the context of insistent and persistent ecological violence is an urgent task, one requiring profound shifts in thinking, being and knowing. Meraki is a Greek word denoting something done or undertaken with all of one's soul. Metanoia is also a Greek word signifying a deep shift in one's way of life resulting from a profound change of heart and worldview. Metis is a figure in Greek mythology known for wisdom and deep thought, but the word has also been used to mean a deeper spiritual awareness or consciousness. This chapter, written by a Greek educator on Turtle Island, explores the imaginaries of ancient Greek ways of knowing with her responsibilities to support decolonizing processes in the place in which she now lives. The author identifies the process of regeneration, of replacing or restoring damaged or missing dimensions of life as a call to which our educational systems must respond. Regeneration is synonymous with rebuilding, restoration, rehabilitation, revival, rebirth, redemption, renewal, recovery, and reconstruction. Her recognition that metanoia (a profound transformative shift) resulting in regeneration done with meraki (soul) and grounded in metis (wisdom and spiritual knowing) forms the basis of her revisioning of schooling and community. In reclaiming hidden structures of Greek wisdom, the author dives below the often incomplete frames of “western” ways of knowing and discourses to redeem deeper ontological frequencies hidden beneath the surface, joining these in constellation with other de/uncolonizing discourses and movements to redeem a “wholeness of being” that must be regenerated for planetary survival. This chapter traces a vision for leadership that reclaims the depth of Spirit and soul that are the basis upon which we can heal the traumas of the legacies of fragmentation, division and violence and remake/regenerate our educational systems.

Details

Decolonizing and Indigenizing Visions of Educational Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-468-5

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 June 2023

Jayne Bryant, James Ayers and Merlina Missimer

Transformative learning and leadership are key leverage points for supporting society’s transition towards sustainability. The purpose of this study was to identify the outcomes…

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Abstract

Purpose

Transformative learning and leadership are key leverage points for supporting society’s transition towards sustainability. The purpose of this study was to identify the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program in Sweden. The study also prototypes a typology for transformative learning (TTL) in the context of sustainability leadership education.

Design/methodology/approach

Alumni spanning 15 cohorts provided answers to a survey, and the responses were used to identify the outcomes of the program. Graduates were asked to describe what transformed for them through the program. Empirical data was coded prototyping the use of the TTL in sustainability education context.

Findings

Graduates of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability program, described transformation with regards to their Self-in-relation to Others and the World, their Self-knowledge, sense of Empowerment/Responsibility; their Worldview became More Comprehensive or Complex, and they gained New Awareness/New Understandings which transformed their Worldview. Many described transformations in their general Ways of Being in the world. Findings suggest the TTL learning as a good basis for analysis in the education for sustainable development (ESD) context. Suggestions for the TTL include further development of the process that articulates the relational, interdependent and perhaps a priori relationships between elements that transform.

Research limitations/implications

This study presents the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program. It prototypes the use of a TTL within the ESD context using empirical data. This combination provides practical insights to a dynamic, often theoretical and hard to articulate process.

Originality/value

This study presents the outcomes of transformational learning within an international sustainability leadership master’s program. It prototypes the use of a TTL in the ESD context and assesses the outcomes of a sustainability leadership program using empirical data. This combination provides practical insights to a dynamic, often theoretical and hard to articulate process.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 24 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Transformative Research and Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80117-695-8

Book part
Publication date: 13 July 2020

Abeer Salem

This chapter suggests a perspective on dealing with the future as dealing with uncertainty, which necessitates an alteration of the current learning paradigm and the adoption of a…

Abstract

This chapter suggests a perspective on dealing with the future as dealing with uncertainty, which necessitates an alteration of the current learning paradigm and the adoption of a model that, not only accommodates, but also anticipates and embraces diversity, variety, and differences in knowledge. It calls for a model that moves beyond pre-determined content and learned solutions to seeding creativity and cultivating improvization. It approaches education as lifelong learning, as necessarily transformative, creative and authentic. It posits that dealing with the uncertainties of the future requires the acquisition of skills of mitigation and improvization that anticipate, not only mitigate; but to acquire the ability to see and create opportunities out of uncertainty. It endeavors to explore the ways by which higher education can address the need for facing the uncertainties of the future and the complexity of the sustainability challenges.

Details

Introduction to Sustainable Development Leadership and Strategies in Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-648-9

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 29 March 2022

Marian Konstantin Gatzweiler, Corinna Frey-Heger and Matteo Ronzani

In this article, we explore some of the barriers that prevent learning about grand challenges. By grand challenges, we refer to transformational social and environmental issues

Abstract

In this article, we explore some of the barriers that prevent learning about grand challenges. By grand challenges, we refer to transformational social and environmental issues and the critical barriers toward addressing them. Despite recent research contributions, initiatives, and calls for action to focus on such concerns, relatively little is known about the different barriers that hinder learning about grand challenges. To explore these issues, we draw from Rayner’s (2012) concept of uncomfortable knowledge, defined as knowledge that is disagreeable to organizations because it may challenge their value base, self-perception, organizing principles, or sources of legitimacy. Focusing on the example of recent programmatic attempts to advance “responsible education” in business schools, we identify three barriers to learning about grand challenges: Cognitive overload, emotional detachment, and organizational obliviousness. We conclude by outlining several implications on how to overcome these barriers, adding to recent academic and policy debates on how to make business school education more attuned to the transformational and social challenges of our time.

Details

Organizing for Societal Grand Challenges
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83909-829-1

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 March 2022

Lise Janssens, Tom Kuppens, Ingrid Mulà, Egle Staniskiene and Anne B. Zimmermann

A transition toward sustainable development requires engagement of university students in transformative learning. Therefore, quality frameworks and processes should support deep…

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Abstract

Purpose

A transition toward sustainable development requires engagement of university students in transformative learning. Therefore, quality frameworks and processes should support deep approaches to sustainable development in higher education. Research and initiatives that connect sustainable development, higher education and quality assurance (QA) are lacking. This study aims to explore to what extent quality assurance agencies in Europe support transformative learning for sustainable development in their frameworks.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a qualitative analysis of national QA frameworks in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) to assess whether they support transformative learning for sustainable development. First, frequency analysis was undertaken; second, a blended coding approach was used to investigate whether and how transformative learning for sustainable development is addressed.

Findings

Overall, the authors found little support for transformative learning for sustainable development in most QA frameworks. One exception is the framework of the United Kingdom, which includes a specific guide on education for sustainable development wherein transformative learning is prominently mentioned. To a lesser extent, some support exists in the frameworks of Estonia, Holy See, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine. Although the transformative learning for sustainable development approach is not explicitly mentioned in most QA frameworks, many of them contain opportunities to highlight it. France and The Netherlands offer guidelines and criteria for acquiring a sustainable development label, while Andorra suggests including the sustainable development goals in institutional quality assessment.

Originality/value

The research provides the first map of how countries within the EHEA support transformative learning for sustainable development in national QA systems.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 23 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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