THE ROLE OF EDUCATION IN A PROGRAM TO TREAT DEPRESSION IN OLDER WOMEN

This article reports on the crucial role of education in the Social Health Outreach Program (SHOP), a social network intervention designed to treat clinically depressed older women. The role of education in current psychological and medical therapies for depression is discussed, as is the educator's view that education is interventionist by nature and indispensable in transformative programs that aim to strengthen personal, economic, and social resources. The evolution of the role of education in SHOP'S social therapy is outlined, and its modalities—information‐sharing, skills training, and intellectual stimulation—are described. We show how, as a result of participant demand, the educational content of SHOP has gradually expanded during the program's four‐year history. We point out that, in SHOP, education functions as a tool for perspective transformation, during which participants are sensitized to “blame‐the‐victim” biases inherent in psychological and medical approaches to treating depression. Participants learn they are not the problem; rather, they suffer from a role‐determined, social identity deficit. SHOP'S current format is described, and the program is recommended to adult educators for use in a variety of settings. We conclude that, though not therapeutic in and of itself, education acts as an “enabling tool,” playing a crucial role in implementing SHOP'S social‐change therapy.     

Transformative change in higher education through participatory action research: a capabilities analysis

As a methodological approach, participatory action research (PAR), and its variant of critical action research in education, aims to further social justice and generate transformative change. Although this understanding of PAR is well rehearsed, there is still a gap in detailed explorations of the transformative impact of PAR projects in higher education settings beyond the classroom: how do we then know whether transformative change through PAR has taken place, in which ways, through which processes, and for whom. This article aims to address these questions through proposing the use of a participatory action research cube (PARC) as a human capabilities evaluative framework for personal and structural transformative change enabled by PAR projects. Evaluating transformative change from this perspective rests on both the normative nature of the capabilities approach in its justice concerns, as well as consideration for individual well-being, understood as the expansion of freedoms people have to live the lives they value. Evaluating change both includes personal well-being as well as broader social or structural impact in the direction of more social justice. To demonstrate this empirically, we report on an eight-month PAR project on one rural South African university campus, where 13 undergraduate students were involved in researching gender inequalities on their campus. The PARC analysis highlights the development of capabilities and agency through axes of participation, knowledge development, and public deliberation, as well as identifying the developmental impact of these axes on transformative change for the participants, as well as the university.     

文化政治:批判教育理论视域中的教师教育

批判教育理论将教师教育界定为文化政治。认为教师教育机构是一种公共领域。教师教育的目的在于培养转化性知识分子。教师教育课程是一种文化政治的形式,教师教育课程研究应特别注意揭示课程知识与权力的关系,关注权力、语言、文化、历史等内容。批判教育理论关注教师教育的文化政治属性,能为我国当代教师教育价值取向的转换提供有益的理论参考。     

The African renaissance and the transformation of the higher education curriculum in South Africa

The curriculum is a critical element in the transformation of higher education, and as a result, I argue for the inclusion of what I refer to as an African epistemic in higher education curricula in South Africa. In so doing, attention is directed at the decolonisation of the curriculum in higher education in South Africa, which aims to give indigenous African knowledge systems their rightful place as equally valid ways of knowing among the array of knowledge systems in the world. In developing my argument, I maintain that a critical questioning of the knowledge included in higher education curricula in South Africa should be taken up in what I call transformative education discourses that examine the sources of the knowledge that inform what is imposed on or prescribed for curricula in higher education in South Africa, and how these higher educational curricula are implicated in the universalisation of Western and European experiences.     

Should education be transformative?

ABSTRACT

It has become commonplace within the educational research community to invoke the transformative power of education. The call to adopt a ‘transformative’ approach to teaching and learning can be heard in fields as different as adult education and school leadership and as estranged as social justice education and educational psychology. While there is undoubtedly great promise in the idea of transformative education, the fact that it involves deep psychological restructuring on the part of the student requires ethical justification. In this article, I analyze the three most pressing ethical problems that arise within a transformative educational environment: the problems of transformative consent, controversial direction and transformative trauma. In the concluding section, I argue that this ethical analysis urges us to adopt an approach to transformative education as a process of initiation.     

Models of transformative learning for social justice: comparative case studies of non-formal development education in Britain and Spain

This paper presents comparative case studies of non-formal development education by non-profit organisations in two European countries. The study aimed to explore the extent to which such activities provide opportunities for transformative learning. The research was qualitative and began with interviews with educators across 14 organisations in Britain and Spain. Case studies were then identified, purposefully selecting interesting non-formal activities. This paper presents four activities and analyses their potential for transformative learning, drawing together ideas from the literature and the cross-case analysis of the perspectives of development education practitioners. By using the framework of transformative learning pedagogies, this research can inform non-formal education with aims regarding social justice in a range of contexts. It is argued that while there are scarce opportunities for sustained non-formal development education, these cases contribute to knowledge by providing examples of how participative methodologies can generate critical thinking and thus offer learning opportunities that are transformational.     

Mindfulness,adult learning and therapeutic education: integrating the cognitive and affective domains of learning

Although it has been given qualified approval by a number of philosophers of education, the so‐called ‘therapeutic turn’ in education has been the subject of criticism by several commentators on post‐compulsory and adult learning over the last few years. A key feature of this alleged development in recent educational policy is said to be the replacement of the traditional goals of knowledge and understanding with personal and social objectives concerned with enhancing and developing confidence and self‐esteem in learners. After offering some critical observations on these developments, I suggest that there are some educationally justifiable goals underpinning what has been described as a therapeutic turn. Whilst accepting that ‘self‐esteem’ and cognate concepts cannot provide a general end or universal aim of education, the therapeutic function—the affective domain of learning—is more valuable and significant than is generally acknowledged. This claim is justified by an examination of the concept of ‘mindfulness’ which, it is argued, can be an immensely powerful and valuable notion that is integrally connected with the centrally transformative and developmental nature of learning and educational activity at all levels. The incorporation of mindfulness strategies within adult learning programmes may go some way towards re‐connecting the cognitive and affective dimensions of education.     

Teacher education as or for social and ecological transformation: place‐based reflections on local and global participatory methods and collaborative practices

This paper offers reflections on two transformative teacher education projects. The first a global communities module is set in a university in Vancouver and utilizes the lens of social ecology to examine the roles of teachers in bringing an awareness of local/global issues to their students' learning experiences. The second, a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) teacher education project located in rural Peru, involves the collaboration of universities in Canada, Mexico and Peru. The projects are united in their use of ‘critical place‐based’ transformative teacher education agendas and democratic participatory methods. We use our experiences in these projects combined with relevant literature to explore three questions: (1) What inspirations might be drawn from our critical place‐based participatory approaches? (2) What might these approaches offer in response to the United Nation's Decade of Education for Sustainable Development [UNDESD]? (3) Does the UN Decade provides a conceptual framework to instigate and support social and ecological transformation?     

Transformative Valuing

In this essay, Randall Curren addresses four basic questions about transformative experiences in education: Is education necessarily transformative? What must education provide for it to be personally transformative? What standard should educators use in determining whether engaging students in potentially transformative experiences is beneficial or justified? How should schools and educators orchestrate opportunities for beneficial transformative experiences? The focus is on transformative valuing, but also on the importance of a fully transformative nexus of personal attributes and social pathways to living a transformed life. Curren argues that educational decisions on behalf of students can be justified on the basis of necessary goods that persist through transformative changes in what is contingently good for them, and that schools' efforts to orchestrate opportunities for transformative experiences should engage students in activities that can be eudaimonic for them.     

Who We Are: (In)Visible African American Women Setting Traditions of Excellence and Paving Paths for Transformation

The purpose of this lecture is to provide the voice and visibility of African American women who have upheld the tradition of excellence set by Amy Morris Homans in the development of physical education in higher education for women and set pathways to transition our field to be more inclusive and diverse and have served as transformative leaders and role models for me and countless other teachers, scholars, and administrators. I used a combination of personal experiences and reflections on the legacy of Amy Morris Homans to describe how our collective wisdom, strength, and resilience in the face of social, political, and historical barriers have enabled us all to transform physical education and kinesiology in higher education. Final recommendations include continued commitment to facing our fears and making conscious efforts to embrace opportunities to be more inclusive in our programs.     

Scientific Literacy and Social Transformation

The paper provides a systematic theoretical analysis of the main visions of the concept of scientific literacy developed in the last 20 years. It is described as a transition from a transmissive educational vision of scientific literacy (Vision-I) to a transformative vision (Vision-III), with a stronger engagement with social participation and emancipation. Using conceptual tools from sociology and the philosophy of education, the notions of science participation and emancipation associated with transformative Vision-III are critically analyzed in order to draw attention to the growing need to define them with greater accuracy as key conceptual components of scientific literacy. Without such an approach, it will be difficult for science education to materialize and consolidate educational actions that are pedagogically sound, culturally and socially sensitive, and coherent with the social transformation of the diverse conditions of oppression. It is concluded that Vision-III should include both a broad conception of participation, which makes visible the invisible and informal acts performed by diverse groups to build society, and an alternative notion of emancipation committed to liberation.

     

城市适应：农民工之转化学习

转化学习,作为继成人教育学、自我导向学习之后的成人学习新兴理论,已形成个人转化、组织转化、社会转化等流派,并且其研究对象、研究内容、研究重点、研究视角等已大大扩展,在成人教育领域产生了重要影响。农民工群体,作为我国特有的城乡二元经济体制下催生的一群特殊社会人群,其在走进、适应以及融入城市生活的过程中,存在着心理、社会、文化适应不良等问题,其城市适应的过程中蕴含着转化学习的要义。激发农民工转化学习。促进其城市适应势在必行。     

‘Should you turn this into a complete gender matter?’ Gender mainstreaming in medical education

The incorporation of a gender perspective in medical education aims toward better health, gender equity, and a better health care for both men and women. In this article, participants’ responses to a Dutch gender awareness‐raising project in medical education are discussed. Eighteen semi‐structured interviews were held with education directors and change agents. Resistance towards and obstacles for gender mainstreaming in medical education were implicit in four themes: (1) biomedical knowledge was perceived to be gender neutral, to which knowledge about women could be added to the body of knowledge either with or without framing them as gender issues; (2) the relevance of gender was unofficially denied by downplaying it, particularly in comparison with culture/ethnicity; (3) medical education’s social accountability was hardly mentioned and gender inequalities in health were framed as feminist political issues and not medical issues; and (4) we were urged to communicate carefully to increase acceptance and avoid overt resistance which situated gender inequalities outside the medical domain. Recommendations to change educational material were widely discussed; but specific features of gender were easily lost. This was especially true for power differences between men and women. Nevertheless, dominant systems of thought were challenged.     

OUTCOMES OF ELDERHOSTEL PARTICIPATION

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to determine in what ways and to what extent elderly women perceived a change in their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors as result of participation in an Elderhostel program. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 12 participants of five Elderhostel programs in a western state. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) method for developing grounded theory was used to analyze the interview information. Interviews produced six general‐outcome themes and 11 subthemes. General‐outcome themes were appreciations, Elderhostel support, social contact, travel, learning, and follow‐up activities. The 11 subthemes were cultural appreciation, other appreciation, self‐appreciation, historical appreciation, Elderhostel loyalty, recruitment of others, social contact, travel, content learning, general learning, and follow‐up activities. The particular educational needs of the elderly described by McCluskey (1971)—coping, influence, expressive, and contributive needs—were met for these women through their Elderhostel participation. Some higher education goals (e.g., cognitive learning, direct satisfaction and enjoyment of higher education, and advancement of knowledge in social welfare) were also met by this program.     

Rooted in resistance: women teachers constructing counter‐pedagogies in post‐authoritarian Brazil

This study focuses upon the narratives of women educators (educadoras) who contributed to radical democratic school reforms in post‐authoritarian Brazil. We illustrate through three of the teachers’ narratives how their professional identities and actions were shaped partly by their experiences of resisting the military regime and by their participation in professional development opportunities that grew from liberatory social movements. Our analysis focuses on their efforts to construct counter‐pedagogies in their disciplines of history, mathematics, and physical education that resisted colonizing, authoritative practices and moved toward more liberatory, humanizing pedagogies. We consider how these counter‐pedagogies reflect both women’s ways of knowing that emphasize dialogue, collaboration, community, and the value of personal knowledge and relationships, as well as feminist principles of consciousness‐raising and social action. This analysis highlights possibilities and challenges of radical democratic reform in education by focusing on the work, experience, and identities of women educators engaged in the day‐to‐day efforts to bring about lasting change.     

Conceptualising food research in higher education as a matter of social justice: philosophical,methodological and ethical considerations

Globally, food concerns in higher education have emerged as an issue of critical importance. Food acquisition struggles and high rates of food insecurity among students have been documented, yet food within higher education continues to be an under-researched area of study. This paper calls for advancing research that critically engages with food concerns in higher education. The argument is made that food concerns should be viewed as a social justice matter, and a case is made for conducting research on food concerns by adopting an alternative approach to research in this area – a transformative paradigm. The paper advances new insights for the philosophical, methodological and ethical dimensions to researching food in higher education as a matter of social justice. The argument is made that a transformative approach to research is conducive for examining the experiences of those who are marginalised within the context of higher education and confront food challenges.     

Knowledge and Politics of Social Change: The implication of anti-racism

This article is a reflection on educational change in Euro-American contexts, undertaken as I conclude two extensive empirical studies on minority student disengagement and strategies of inclusive schooling in the Ontario public education system. Specifically, the discussion explores the implications of race, difference and power for schooling and educational change in North America. It is argued that contemporary education needs to take into account how social difference and questions of identity implicate schooling. The search for genuine educational options must be reframed in the pursuit of anti-racism praxis so that students can engage critical knowledge as a way to rupture the social order of things. In conclusion, the article suggests ways for critical educators to work collectively to ensure that learning and teaching about ourselves is transformative.     

Vocational education and training and the therapeutic turn

The concept of ‘therapeutic education’ is being increasingly used in contemporary education policy studies to identify learning initiatives which are dominated by objectives linked to personal and social skills, emotional intelligence and building self‐esteem. Contemporary educational goals connected with such strategies have been criticised for encouraging a ‘victim culture’ which marginalises learners and replaces the pursuit of knowledge and understanding with the development of personal values relevant to a life of social, cultural and economic risk and uncertainty. In relation to vocational education and training (VET) and post‐school policy trends in particular, Hayes has argued that preparation for work has abandoned vocational/occupational knowledge and skills in favour of providing learners with personal skills for emotional labour in low‐level service jobs. This paper interrogates such analyses and questions whether the therapeutic role of VET really is incompatible with the traditional objectives of developing knowledge, understanding and values in work environments. Links are made between new emphases on work‐based learning and the ‘caring’ conceptions of learning in post‐school education. It is concluded that—although therapy should not dominate VET—an attention to the important values dimension of learning in the field does involve a therapeutic dimension of some kind.     

Critical arts‐based research in education: Performing undocumented historias

The article seeks to elucidate and academically position the genre of critical arts‐based research in education. The article fuses Critical Race Theory (CRT), life history and performance, alongside work with undocumented American students of Mexican origin, to show how a politicised qualitative paradigmatic re envisioning can occur in which counter‐histories and counter‐stories can be co‐created into a powerful, evocative, and transformative arts‐based performance text: Undocumented Historias. The article reflects on how critical arts‐based research in education can function as a means to legitimise, empower and promote the voices of the educationally and socially marginalised; evoking an experiential and sensual means of feeling and knowing by which researcher and researched may co‐recover, interrogate and enrich an anti‐colonialist critique of the dominant social order.     

THE COUNTY Y. M. C. A.

Motherhood is a complex experience that can be transformative, offering women opportunities for personal enrichment and spiritual development. Because the largest incidence of births occurs to women in the Millennial or late Generation X generations, this complex, potentially transformative experience occurs at a critical time in young adult women's identity development, making it both the content and context of their quest to live a meaningful and integrated life. A richly re-imagined religious education can fashion a context in which young adult women might perceive their experiences of motherhood as an invitation to spiritual growth.