The work of the authors as teacher educators spans contexts (in the United States and Southern Africa) that share both similarities and differences. In both contexts, the authors, as a team of teacher educators, seek out ways to improve the experiences that they offer beginning teachers in programs. In this commentary, the authors review the…

Critical theory and transformative learning are two seminal theories that have incited a deluge of literature, fueled many discussions, and triggered much debate. Their relevance is enduring, and they are undeniably a great asset to the scholarship of adult education, but the two theories are far from fully developed or explored. Our purpose in…

This paper shows that philosophy and contemplation are integral parts of leisure ("scholé") and of a fully conscious educative experience. Through examination of the concepts of philosophy, the philosopher, and contemplation, it will be proposed that leisure is a necessary "condition" for philosophy and for education. To…

Recognising the importance of learning from experience, this mixed methods study critically problematises how teacher educators position student teaching as pivotal in teacher education programmes' inability to focus on racial equity. Through learnings from a survey of US university-based teacher educators who constructed student teaching…

Wilderness Therapy (WT) programming has been criticized for underutilizing nature as an active co-facilitator in treatment. Although some concept models in the field take into account nature's contributions in WT, an abundance of multidisciplinary research suggests that nature contact and connection could be of greater emphasis. The purpose of…

Ancient Greeks such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle realized the need for combining intellectual, theoretical learning with practical, real-world experiences. Modern educational theorists continue to make similar pleas for the need of a more holistic and experiential view of education. To promote experiential learning in business communication,…

Recognising the urgent need to open a global discussion about education, the OECD launched the "Future of Education and Skills 2030" project. The project aims to support countries in adapting their education systems by considering the types of 21st century competencies (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values) that students and teachers…

First, I review the context for the need of new deliberative models, specifically agonistic deliberative models, for public discourse and for use in training students for public discourse. I then highlight five specific points that I trouble and enrich, principally through the work of Giroux, Arendt, Biesta, and Duarte. While I agree that there is…

Mezirow relies on the critical theory of Habermas to give his theory of transformative learning rigor. Yet critiques persist and focus on whether the theory has an adequate understanding of the social dimension of learning and whether it is overly rational. This article addresses these issues and explores relevant ideas from Habermas and Honneth.…

This paper approaches the question of Spinoza and education via the work of Louis Althusser. One important aim is to show how Spinoza's description of the imagination underpins Althusser's description of the ideological 'infrastructure' of educational practices and institutions. To achieve this, I begin by addressing Spinoza's treatment of the…

This paper seeks to make use of the theological concept of conversion as a means of understanding and explicating the process of insight and understanding as it is experienced by students, and, in so doing, make proposals that can aid in both in pedagogy and classroom processes. Philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan described a cognitive…

Professional identity development (PID), which involves transformational learning, is crucial for counselors and trainees. However most current training approaches focus more on specific tasks related to PID without focusing on the transformational learning aspect. Mindfulness is an important component for transformational learning; however,…

Recent reforms for the early childhood education and care sector in Australia have led in part to the development of a national Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) which presents play based learning as "a context for learning through which children organize and make sense of their social worlds, as they engage actively with people, objects…

Calls for the decolonisation of higher education in South Africa gained prominence after the #Rhodesmustfall, #Feesmustfall and series of 2015-2016 students' protests in South African higher institutions. Visible in the demands of the students during these protests was the need for the decolonisation of higher education curriculum to ensure…

This article documents a teaching journey in a 6/7 class with 20 Torres Strait Islander students in the curriculum area of literacy, over the course of one academic year. Specifically, this action research study explores a classroom teacher's efforts to navigate and respond to the prominent teaching model of explicit instruction and culturally…