This paper examines the complex interweaving of the 'personal' and 'professional' in the affective labour of teachers. In line with theorisations of affective labour, contemporary school-teaching involves practices of self-work and self-making, as much as practices of curriculum and pedagogy. One emergent form of self-work, reflective of…

This article, developed from a phenomenological case study of a graduate seminar, presents the development of student-student relationships over the course of a semester and the ways in which they were part of a transformative learning (TL) experience. Often neglected in studies of adult learners, such relationships are revealed to be of critical…

Within higher education there is widespread support for developing students' interdisciplinary skills. Despite this, evidence for, and practice of, cross-faculty interdisciplinary sustainability learning remains in its infancy. Recent articles have shown that Australia is no exception. This article provides a case study of interdisciplinary…

Previous analyses of transformational learning (TL) focused on rational or nonrational processes such as critical reflection on an uncomfortable personal situation or emotional learning. In this phenomenological study, researchers examined existential dimensions of TL. Individual interviews were analyzed to identify the lived experiences of eight…

Ostensibly, the orientation towards learning outcomes in adult English language and literacy delivery ensures that the focus is on standardised skill development and knowledge acquisition of students. Such measureable development is seen as foundational to broader employability skills and job readiness. It is an agenda however which ignores the…

Researchers have suggested that effective teachers have a vision for their instruction. This article describes the professional journey of one teacher from her initial teacher preparation coursework through her first year of teaching. This research documented the role visioning played in enhancing this teacher's instruction across time.

In 2013-2015, two faculty-led educational research studies were conducted, aided by five undergraduate preservice teachers/researchers (PSTR). Faculty-researchers designed a qualitative phenomenological-inquiry based methodology to examine the PSTR perceptions regarding their respective research experiences with faculty. Triangulation of the data…

In this study, I examined the lived experiences of African American students who studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa. I used two theoretical frameworks. The first, Racial Identity Development (RID) filtered through the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI) as the conceptual model developed by Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, and…

"Listen with your heart. But, remember listening with your heart sometimes means you cannot sleep at night because you are worried about your students" (Education majors' e-mail reflection following 7th week of service-learning tutoring). "I honestly feel like I'm making a difference in these students' lives. The most difficult…

Pre-service teachers face a complex educational context and Transformative Inquiry is a useful approach for negotiating this terrain. We interpret the movement of students via the adaptive cycle put forth in panarchy theory as they engage in the inquiry process through "winter counts", a Plains First Nation tradition, as expressions of…

The purpose of this study was to understand the study abroad experience, as it relates to employment, from multiple perspectives in order to gain insight into how the study abroad experience prepares accounting students to work in a global economy. Studying abroad has been recognized at the national level as an important component to…

Using transformational learning as a framework and a case study approach, this study explored how students make meaning of their experiences 1 year after a weeklong study abroad experience and examines how they integrate their study abroad experience into their lives. The findings include that students who had engaged in subsequent learning…

The purpose of this collective-case study was to explore the characteristics of transformational figures. This study revealed that interpersonal encounters were seen as a catalyst that assisted study participants through the process of transformation. Ten themes emerged from the cross-case analysis: Imposed and Intentional Influence; Metaphors of…

For their 56th annual meeting, the Association of Educators and Researchers (ALER) met in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the Amway Grand Hotel. This year's conference theme was Literacy Is Transformative, which was also used as the title for this year's Yearbook, Volume 35. Included are double-peer reviewed papers, the presidential address,…

A gap exists between research and practice within the field of intellectual disability. In particular, researchers suggest that personal choice enhances quality of life. Following Bourdieu's suggestion to focus on improving the practice of theory rather than the theory of practice, this paper is a reflexive ethnography detailing my struggles to…