Believing the natural world exists separately from society can create challenges when promoting pro-environmental behaviors, such as the idea that the actions of one person do not impact the environment. The authors criticize educational approaches, such as education for sustainable development, that they believe downplay the dynamic relationship between people and the environment and promote the separation of natural world and humanity. Transformational learning teaches students to observe their experiences in new ways, emphasizes the group rather than the self, envisions new ways of inhabiting the world, and focuses on learning as a creative and conversation-based process. The authors argue it is important to link education with transformational learning in order to counter the distinction between nature and society. This article explored the influence of the transformational learning approach on environmental activists enrolled in a training program offered by the University of Santiago.
In Chile, few environmental education programs have been geared towards adults. The Diploma in Social Ecology and Political Ecology began in 2013 as a program offered for adult activists at the University of Santiago. Political ecology is an interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on the interactions between humans, nature, culture, politics, and society. The program's mission was to offer an educational space based on a transformational learning through three specific dimensions. First, the program was designed to promote the analysis of critical areas of ecological crises through an interdisciplinary political ecology lens, allowing students to relate readings to their real-world experiences. Second, students were required to conduct observations of their own learning paths, which culminated in monthly reports that help them question their assumptions of “being” in society and nature. The goal of this feedback was to encourage students to interpret their possibilities in and inhabitation of the world as 'paths' rather than fixed conventions. The third dimension involved face-to-face sessions where students participated in a series of dialogue experiences, after which they discussed recurring habits among themselves and their peers. This discussion was designed to make evident the assumptions of the students that have manifested as habits and enlighten new courses of action. At the end of their time in the program, students designed a joint action relating to activism. This allowed participants to observe the challenge of coordinating and acknowledge the complexity and influence of other actors involved.
The researchers collected data from four cohorts of students who participated in the program from 2013-2016. Among participants, they held degrees in various disciplines, roughly half were women (53%) and most were aged 25-35 (80%). In order to assess the impact of the program, the researchers reviewed three sources of data. First, they analyzed the personal observation reports from the students: 46 (80%) reports from the 2014 and 2015 cohorts, and 32 (90%) reports from the 2016 cohort. Second, they collected questionnaires given to 31 volunteers from the 2013-15 cohorts. These questionnaires asked open-ended questions about the students' perceived transformation throughout the program. Third, they collected a separate questionnaire given to students participating in the first meeting of graduates, which took place in 2016. This second questionnaire focused on the student's general reflections on the program. The researchers analyzed the data for themes related to how the students' perceptions of their interactions with society and the environment changed throughout the program.
The researchers found that transformational learning encouraged the students to view themselves as interwoven in the community and the environment. This strengthened the participants' recognition of their influence and removed barriers to action they had previously thought existed. The researchers found that prior to enrolling in the program, participants felt isolated from other activists and viewed nature as an “other,” which led to a sense of lost power and ability to effect change. The fear of not being able to effect change was compounded by their weakened perception of others. This resulted in the notion that any individual action to generate change was too small, especially when confronted with a perception of nature as “other.”
After enrolling in the program the researchers found that students felt more connected to other environmental actors. Themes related to student's perception of themselves as reported in the collected data changed from “I can't have influence” to “I'm with others” and those related to students' perception of other actors changed from “there are no allies” to “I mobilize with others” after enrolling in the program. Additionally, the students better understood the complexity of the environment and the possibility of their power as “co-creators,” a term used to describe the idea that individual actors, society, and the environment are all connected and all influence the environment. Themes related to students' perception of the environment changed from “changes are too difficult” to “I acknowledge complexity/diversity” after enrolling in the program. The researchers concluded that these changes in the participants' accounts opened up possibilities of action that were not perceived as possible prior to enrolling in the program.
This study has limitations. These findings are specific to the program studied and cannot be generalized to other programs or contexts. Additionally, the influence of transformational learning on the actions of the participants post-graduation has not been researched because the program was relatively new. Future studies on the actions of activists who have participated in the Diploma would strengthen the conclusion that transformational knowledge creates new conceptions of action.
The authors recommend that programs employ a transformational learning approach in adult EE to promote activism and collective action. The evolution in actors' perceptions of themselves as separate from the environment and each other, to actors as co-creators with the environment and each other increases the students' confidence in their ability to effect change. This confidence is an important prerequisite for environmental action.
The Bottom Line
<p>This study explored the effects of a transformational learning approach, which promotes changes in perspective, on environmental activists enrolled in the Diploma in Social Ecology and Political Ecology in Chile. After participating in the program, students viewed themselves as participants in a collective society and co-creators of the environment, and held a more optimistic outlook on their ability to effect change. The researchers recommend that programs employ a transformational learning approach to promote the feeling of being able to collectively impact environment issues.</p>
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