A beautiful metaphor: Transformative learning theory

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Author(s)
Howie, Peter
Bagnall, Richard
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This article presents a critique of both transformative learning theory and critical comments on it to date. It argues that transformative learning theory remains substantively the same as its initial exposition, in spite of a raft of problematic contentions voiced against it. The theory is argued here to be conceptually problematic, except at the level of a conceptual metaphor, which latter renders its many inconsistencies inconsequential and which explains, not just its continued popularity among educational practitioners, but also it's largely being ignored as a subject worthy of serious critique.This article presents a critique of both transformative learning theory and critical comments on it to date. It argues that transformative learning theory remains substantively the same as its initial exposition, in spite of a raft of problematic contentions voiced against it. The theory is argued here to be conceptually problematic, except at the level of a conceptual metaphor, which latter renders its many inconsistencies inconsequential and which explains, not just its continued popularity among educational practitioners, but also it's largely being ignored as a subject worthy of serious critique.
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Journal Title
International Journal of Lifelong Education
Volume
32
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Taylor & Francis. This is an electronic version of an article published in International Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol. 32(6), 2013, pp. 816-836. International Journal of Lifelong Education is available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com with the open URL of your article.
Subject
Education systems
Education systems not elsewhere classified