Transformational Learners: Transformational Teachers

Transformational learning, according to Mezirow (1981), involves transforming taken-for-granted frames of reference into more discriminating, flexible ‘habits of mind’. In teacher education, transformative learning impacts on the development of students’ action theories, self-efficacy and professional attributes. Although considered imperative to reflective practice, not all students take a transformative, ‘double-loop’ approach to learning; reflexive and adaptive learning are also identifiable. This paper discusses the integration of the three learning approaches in the conceptualisation of LEARnT Theory (Jones, 2008), whereby Learning evolves as: Efficacy informs Actions, and Reflection impacts Theory building. LEARnT integrates reflexive, adaptive and transformative approaches. In Reflexive approaches, learning is restricted, action theories remain covert, efficacy remains stable and actions are automated. In Adaptive learning, reflection is ‘single-loop’ in nature; it involves the modification of concepts whilst maintaining existing schema; theories of action, efficacy and behaviours may alter. LEARnT theory provides a challenging paradigm for a larger study into teacher education student learning approaches. Teacher education is primarily concerned with professional and intra-personal learning (Author, 2007). Professional learning and intra-personal learning involve a synchronicity of learning about teaching and learning, and learning about oneself as a teacher and learner. Current moves to a more stringent overseeing of teacher education accreditation, in New South Wales in particular, provide an impetus for clarifying this complex dynamic of undergraduate learning. In response to these imperatives, this paper presents a conceptualization of learning, namely, LEARnT theory (Author 2008) and a discussion of the proposed methodologies for researching the nature of Bachelor of Education student learning. In LEARnT theory, learning is “theory making” and the developing teacher is the “theory maker”. It is proposed that a theory maker’s proficiency is dependent upon the power of their generative, reflective thinking. Learning in teacher education In teacher education, professional learning in terms of knowledge, practice and commitment to doing (i.e. “action theories”), are overtly recognised, understood and accredited. However, learning about one’s self-belief as a learner and as a teacher (i.e. “efficacy theories”), although intrinsic to professional development, are covert, less well recognised and understood, and clearly overlooked in terms of teacher education pedagogy and accreditation. In New South Wales, the NSW Institute of Teachers’ Professional Teaching Standards (2005) mandate professional learning in terms of what graduate teachers will “know, do and commit to”. Learning focuses on the nature of teachers’ work and the Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol 34, 2, March 2009 16 attributes of teacher graduates, in terms of: Professional Knowledge of subject content, pedagogical skills, students and learning styles (Elements 1 & 2); Practice in implementing an effective Learning Cycle, effective communication, and classroom management skills (Elements 3, 4 and 5); and, Commitment to the profession through ongoing professional development and engagement in the profession and wider community (Elements 6 and 7). Only one of the forty-six Aspects (6.1.1) hints at the means by which graduate teachers will approach their professional learning, namely, through a “capacity to reflect critically on and improve [their] teaching practice”. This is a limited view of the role of reflection in teacher development, and perhaps an unrealistic view of the capacity of emerging teachers’ reflection competencies. Developing teachers are not simply defined by their accumulating professional competencies, nor is their learning restricted to the professional domain, as the NSW IT (2005) would have us believe. Teacher professional learning is refined or confined by the intra-personal competence of “efficacy theory empowering action” and “reflective thinking informing theory making” (Jones, 2008). The expectation that graduate teachers emerge from their teacher education experiences as “reflective practitioners” assumes that the most effective approaches to learning (i.e. the critically reflective (transformative) practices) are understood, taught and honed throughout the degree. This assumption about the nature of students’ approaches to learning was explored initially within one cohort of the Bachelor of Education program in a NSW university (Jones, 2006 & 2007). This earlier research mounts a case for further research which: (1) makes overt the actual approaches to learning evident in under-graduate teachers; (2) explores the “fit” with the Institute’s expectation of “critically reflective” graduate teachers; and, (3) identifies the key factors impacting on the development of transformative, “critically reflective” practice. Conceptual Framework Perspectives from literature and recent studies by Jones (2007) inform a theory which articulates the integration of the professional and the intra-personal in developing teachers’ learning. LEARnT Theory (Jones, 2008) proposes that Learning is the synthesis of: Efficacy empowering Action, Reflection informing Theory-making; learning involves cognitive, cognitive-affective and behavioural dimensions (Jones, 2008). By analysing reflective thinking practices, an individual’s approach to learning is revealed. Within LEARnT Theory, these approaches are understood to be reflexive, adaptive or transformative. It is hypothesised that in learning how to “reflect and theory build” effectively, one is learning how to learn more effectively (see Figure 1). Australian Journal of Teacher Education Vol 34, 2, March 2009 17 Figure 1: LEARnT Model A discussion of Learning and its’ contributing dimensions of Efficacy and Action, Reflection and Theory making, follows.