From Trauma Survivors to Community Leaders: The Transformative Learning Approach

Experience, critical reflection, and development are the three significant concepts that are essential to transformative learning (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). Without a balance between the three key concepts, transformative learning — the learning experience that leads to the “dramatic, fundamental change in the way we see ourselves and the world in which we live — ” might not be as impactful as scholars have argued and proven over time (p. 166). This article is to examine the Ontario Literacy Coalition’s Trauma Literacy Leadership Seminar (seminar), through the lens of transformative learning theories.

Transformative Learning Analysis

Image Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/cooperative-learning-for-group-activities-7749

“Adult learning is a ‘transformational journey’” (Hoggan, 2019; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 173). The seminar hopes to do so by empowering trauma survivors to take up leadership roles in the program, engage in the community, and take more control in other areas of their lives (Burnaby & Campbell, 2001). To empower trauma survivors to be learners then leaders, the seminar facilitation team has learners solely responsible for program planning and execution, while the facilitation team “[teaches] the skills that literacy and trauma adult learners need to take leadership roles within their programs” without actual teaching responsibilities.

Such practice can be loosely explained through Chamber’s (1994; as cited in English, 2020) “groundtruthing”— a practice that encourages “working with and not for the other” (p. 79). Groundtruthing, when done right, helps to bring rigor to development and increase program credibility (English, 2020). However, the seminar facilitation team has overlooked some of its critical participatory ways of knowing.

“The whole person is made up on mind, body, and spirit,” and educators must take into account all three when discussing adult learning (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 233). However, learning activities and interactions with their peers during the seminar have triggered learner’s flashbacks of trauma. “Tensions and anger simmer and erupted in the group” (Burnaby & Campbell, 2001).

This Twitter post highlights the impact of trigger on one’s traumatic experience.

With learners in the seminar being trauma survivors, educators should recognize the emotional needs of the population. Additionally, recognizing the impact of embodied learning — learning through the body — is significant as “knowledge is credited only to the degree that experience has been transcended” (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 234). When learners expressed they “became extremely sick” after triggering flashbacks of trauma during a learning activity, the seminar facilitation team should have recognized the connection between mind and body, and how the rejection of the learner’s body has reflected the negative impact of the respective learning experience through their bodily reactions. The lack of recognition in the need to shift in learner’s consciousness has impacted the self-formative processes of learners (Dirkx, 2012b).

The Overlooked Gaps

Mezirow’s (1978; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020) Psychocritical Approach defined transformative learning as the “learning that transforms problematic frames of reference to make them more inclusive, discriminating, reflective, open, and emotionally able to change” (2009; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 169). The program goals— wanting learners to be more involved in the community and take more control in other areas of their lives — encourage learners to have a shift in their habits of mind (Burnaby & Campbell, 2001). Habits of mind refer to “how we see the world based on our background, experience, culture, and personality” (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020 p. 169). With the transformation of their entire perspective, learners will then be able to process their traumatic experience, and hence express their transformation as a point of view.

This Tweet states the need of transformative experience on trauma survivors — without transformation, trauma will be transferred to others, and a vicious cycle then begins.

Mezirow’s (1978; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020) theory includes four main components: experiences, critical reflection (ability to critically self-examine how the experience has been interpreted), reflective discourse (use of dialogues to seek a common ground of an interpretation), and action. Although the seminar facilitation team recognized the experiences trauma survivors have gone through, and have offered them opportunities to reflect on the experience with their peers, “critical reflection” and “reflective discourse” still have yet to be well-integrated into the program design.

Lack of Opportunities for Critical Reflection

There are three types of reflection — content reflection that considers the experience itself, process reflection that considers ways to deal with the experience and the problem-solving strategies, and premise reflection that considers the examination of socially-constructed assumptions and beliefs about the experience (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). During the seminar, a session exploring anger and how people dealt with anger has encouraged learners to go through content reflection. Such reflective practice does not lead to perspective transformation. The seminar facilitation team has missed opportunities to foster critical reflection among the learning community.

Misinterpretation of Reflective Discourse

Learners “seek different viewpoints, weigh evidence for and against the argument, and critically assess assumptions” during reflective discourse (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 170). Such activity is a consensus-building exercise conducted among the group to arrive at a “best judgment.” Merriam and Baumgartner (2020) specifically highlighted that empathy, social skills, and self-control are critical in effective reflective discourse. I’d argue when a reflective discourse is conducted among trauma survivors as learners — a relatively vulnerable population, a facilitated group activity has to be designed in advance. With their specific learning needs and potential outcomes in mind, the emphasis on learners-led education approach might not work well in this scenario — which then led to the overlooking of emotions that occur after a disorienting dilemma has been unveiled.

Power Relations Analysis

In the context of trauma on learning, trauma survivors have limited power in individual agency and choice, and such limitation would make them targets of personal and structural violence (Kerka, 2002). With significant differences among learner’s age, education level, work experiences, and racial affiliations, the power relation among learners remained imbalanced and dynamic. Further, with learners from various cultural backgrounds, there is also a conflict among differences in ways of learning and knowing. Either that be “the tendency to view one’s own cultural group as superior to others” (Reagan, 2018; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020, p. 270), or the authority of educators between different learning and knowing perspectives, such conflicts have played out among the learner community, as shown by their frustrations in various interactions among themselves.

Nonetheless, the micromanagement that the facilitator team has kept, especially on “how to address the tensions, kept issues to themselves, and prevented the learners from becoming a part of the collective problems and solutions,” has triggered the lack of trust between educators and learners —especially when learners were asked to be “solely responsible for planning and facilitating various seminar sessions” (Burnaby & Campbell, 2001). Such practice went against the lifelong nature of adult learning (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020). The lack of ability to strive for an equilibrium regarding power relations between educators and learners remains a significant downfall for the seminar. A more collaborative approach should have been taken, with hopes to address the struggling power dynamics.

Although Cadwell (2018) argues that learners should be the one leading the classroom, seeking knowledge based on their curiosities, and learning how to ask critical questions, educators still hold the responsibility to teach learners skills to dialogue, post problems that challenge learner’s perspectives, and then empower learners to solve problems, think critically, and work collaboratively with their peer.

Recommendations

Below are recommendations that the team could incorporate to improve the seminar experience for learners:

1. Relationship-Building — Recognize the importance of holistic teaching and transformative learning, and show authenticity by showing concern, sharing experience, and making them available for learners (Taylor, 2009; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020).
2. Collaborative Learning Activities — Notice the diversity among learners, and engage learners by considering different perspectives of learning and knowing. While one of the common themes across various learning perspectives is the interdependence in learning, creating a learning opportunity that emphasizes the collaborative nature of adult learning, and highlights how the development of an individual could then lead to a potential social impact (Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020).
3. Facilitated Dialogues in Safe Spaces — Provide safe spaces for learners to have dialogues on challenging topics, facilitated by a trained facilitator to attend to matters of soul, connect with resources, and establish trust (Kerka, 2002; Dirkx, 2012a).
4. Reflective Journaling — Acknowledge the significance of personal storytelling through journaling activities, which would also help learners to manage emotions, manage time, and function as “the self in a mirror” (Dwyer et al., 2013; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020).
5. Support Groups — Offer support groups to cultivate trust among learners, which then help to foster the transformational learning process (Sands & Tennant, 2010; as cited in Merriam & Baumgartner, 2020).

The TED Talk discussed the lifelong impact of trauma on survivors (Fox, 2019). The narratives provided by Fox (2019) encourages educators to be more intentional, attentive, and strategic while engaging with learners. This is especially important for those who have experienced trauma, as that could put them into a more vulnerable position on their learning journey.

Conclusion: Looking Ahead

Learning is “a process of constructing or reconstructing meaning” (Dirkx, 2012, p. 400). As educators, we must take into consideration the importance of learner’s experience (in this case, especially their traumatic experience) and the impact that these experiences could have on one’s growth and development. Further, it is inevitable to recognize the interconnectedness of one’s heart, mind, and body, as well as the role of emotions and relationships in the process of transformative learning. Acknowledging that both educators and learners have roles to play in the program design process is also significant.

This Twitter post highlights that the trauma healing process is not linear. That said, it is important for educators to engage with learner’s heart, mind, and body, recognize learner’s unique experiences, and empower them to grow and develop to be strong, resilient and influential individual and future leaders through intentional program design to process learner’s previous traumatic experience during the seminar.

Lastly, while I do not expect educators to take up the responsibility of mental health professionals to provide learners mental health treatments, educators should still be a strong advocate for the learners — to offer guidance, assistance, and support to learners as they embark on their learning journey. (1496)

This Venn Diagram highlights how partnerships between educator (or guidance counselor) and mental health counselor looks like, and how it could positively influence a person’s journey of growth and development. The seminar facilitation team may offer guidance to trauma survivors as learners who are struggling with mental health, and offer learners support to seek mental health support through referrals. Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/wyethdalayap/profed04-venn-diagram-of-guidance-and-counseling

References

Burnaby, B., & Campbell, P. (2001). Participatory approaches in adult education. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Cadwell, K. [TEDx Talks]. (2018, April 26). Students need to lead the classroom, not teachers [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzQhiB2EOVE

Dirkx, J. M. (2012a). Nurturing soul work: A Jungian approach to transformative learning. In E. W. Taylor, P. Cranton & Associates (2012), The handbook of transformative learning: Theory, research and practice (pp. 116–130). Jossey-Bass.

Dirkx, J. M. (2012b). Self-formation and transformative learning: A response “Learning into question: Some mutinous thoughts,” by Michael Newman. Adult Education Quarterly, 62(4), 399–405. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741713612456420

English, L. M. (2020). Groundtruthing: Harnessing hope in a troubled time. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 2020(165), 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.20369

Fox, M. [TEDx Talks]. (2019, July 12). Trauma informed learning [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vbN5CZCEsw

Glennon Doyle [@GlennonDoyle]. (2016, October 6). Progress through something traumatic is not linear but circular, with quotes on graphic. [Tweet; Graphic with quote]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/glennondoyle/status/784047704204800000

Green String Network [@GSNAfrica]. (2020, November 19). Trauma if not transformed, will be transferred. [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/GSNAfrica/status/1329317129850679296

Kerka, S. (2002). Trauma and Adult Learning. ERIC Digest. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED472601.pdf

Merriam, S. B., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2020). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Unfold Your Wings [@unfoldURwings]. (2015, October 28). Impact of trigger on trauma survivor’s healing process, with quotes on graphic. [Tweet; Graphic with quote]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/unfoldURwings/status/659300593140432896