Facilitating transformative learning: supporting students experiencing unique challenges

The educational community has made a shift from transmission learning to a type of learning where the student is transformed. The findings produced by a literature study delineate the authors’ definition of ‘transformative learning’. The struggle to implement this form of learning has resulted in mostly theoretical approaches; empirical data on successfully implemented cases of transformative learning is limited. This article concerns the gap in the literature regarding what best support students who struggle with the unique challenges inherent in this form of learning. A higher education programme is identifed as a successfully implemented case of transformative learning. The challenges inherit in this approach are listed, followed by descriptions on how students overcame these challenges. A case study methodology is adopted, using interviews to gain insight into the experiences of alumni students of this programme. Challenges faced by students within the programme are correlated with both the literature and the expectations of the facilitators who designed the programme. According to the students, the main challenge within this type of learning is uncertainty, which is overcome by utilising the intrinsic virtue of resourcefulness. Studying these student experiences lead the authors to the conclusion that facilitating this form of learning does not require a focus on the student, but only a focus on the level of difficulty of the problem. Students need to be allowed to access/create their own support structures as this process is the very transformation sought by this form of learning.