Can adolescents undergo a transformative learning and teaching process? Extending Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory (A South African Perspective)

Abstract

Transformative learning engages learners in drawing on relevant experiences, peer dialogue, and self-reflection in order to respond to challenges encountered in their lives. While much literature suggests that transformative learning is for adults only, our findings, together with those from several recent international studies, as well as authors who have contributed to seminal work, indicate that transformative learning and teaching is also applicable to and valuable for adolescents. This paper also suggests that although South African adolescents in a pre-university program—The Targeting Talent Programme—do not meet the pre-conditions for transformation learning set out by Mezirow, they do however meet the preconditions indicated by other seminal theorists; this is as a result of the peculiar context that these adolescents come from. Additionally, although literature reviewed for this paper focuses on the lecturer-student dynamic in transformative teaching and learning, we use findings from an analysis of questionnaire data obtained from young adult mentors and adolescent mentee in the preuniversity program to argue that mentors, and not just lecturers, can usefully facilitate such learning and that such learning is bi-directional. Mentorship is also regarded as a form of intervention support that student programs use to buffer poor student feedback and address retention and attrition rates. The findings show that mentoring indeed does facilitate intervention support and fosters transformative teaching and learning for higher educational success. Literature also reveals the need for various higher education institutions to put in place a mechanism which optimizes on the support of mentors to uphold students. Given the evidence from the Targeting Talent Programme and the value of transformative teaching and learning for both the psycho-social and academic development of adolescents and young adults, we recommend that higher education institutions consider including this approach in support programs offered at pre-university and undergraduate levels.