The diploma thesis is focused on the topic of transformative learning in connection with adult experiential learning. The goal of the thesis is to identify transformative effects in the interpretation of participants' experiences which are caused by experiential learning courses. The concept of transformative learning is mainly examined by foreign authors who look at the concept from different perspectives. This thesis deals with a qualitative survey which is based on the reflection of the common framework of transformative learning, including its various concepts and topic of adult experiential learning. Respondents of the survey are nine employees in management positions who have completed a long-term development program focused on management skills. The development of semi-structured interview with respondents was aimed at identifying a shift in "knowing" and changes in thinking, perception and action throughout life. The analysis of qualitative data brings concrete implications in the interpretation of experience in work and personal life. Key words transformative learning, Jack Mezirow, perspective transformation, disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, dialogue, experiential education, Kolb's learning cycle, experience

Målet och syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur en damfotbollstränare bör vara och agera för att spelarna ska utvecklas, detta utifrån spelarnas egna perspektiv. Studien har en holistisk inriktning och gjordes ur hermeneutiskt-fenomenologisk tradition. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och totalt nio respondenter från tre olika fotbollslag deltog. Undersökningen genomfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer där deltagarna var aktiva damfotbollsspelare.  Frågeställningarna som tillsammans med teorierna transformativt ledarskap och situationsanpassat ledarskap ligger till grund för resultatet är: vilka pedagogiska tillvägagångssätt gynnar damfotbollsspelare? Vilka tränaregenskaper gynnar damfotbollsspelares utveckling? Vilka faktorer ökar damfotbollsspelares motivation? Studiens resultat påvisar att damfotbollsspelare anser att viktiga ledaregenskaper hos tränare stämmer överens med viktiga ledaregenskaper hos både transformativa ledare, där engagerad och peppande är grundläggande egenskaper, och situationsanpassade ledare, där en anpassningsförmåga är a och o. Vidare påvisar resultatet att damfotbollsspelare tycker att framgångsrika pedagogiska tillvägagångsätt hos en tränare är att ge konstruktiv kritik och feedback, samt att ha en god spelidé, matchlika träningar och struktur. Gällande faktorer som spelarna anser öka sin egen motivation går det utifrån resultatet att tyda att pushande, peppande, uppmärksammande och motiverande var faktorer som ökade motivationen, dessa faktorer är mer vanligt förekommande i det transformativa ledarskapet än i det situationsanpassade ledarskapet. / The aim and purpose of this study was to find out how a women's football coach should be and act in order for the players to develop, this from the players' own perspective. The study has a holistic focus and was made from a hermeneutic-phenomenological tradition. The study has a qualitative approach and a total of nine respondents from three different football teams participated. The survey was conducted through semi-structured interviews where the participants were active women's soccer players. The questions that together with the theories of transformative leadership and situation-adapted leadership form the basis for the result are: which pedagogical approaches benefit women's football players? Which coaching qualities benefit the development of women's soccer players? Wh factors increase women's soccer players' motivation? The results of the study show that women's soccer players consider important leadership qualities in their coaches to be consistent with important leadership qualities in both transformative leaders, where commitment and pep talk are basic qualities, and situational leaders, where adaptability is vital. Furthermore, the results show that women's soccer players think that a successful pedagogical approach in a coach is to give constructive criticism and feedback as well as to have a good game idea, match-like training and structure. In the result, it can be indicated that pushing, pep talking, paying attention and motivating were factors that increased motivation, these factors are more common in transformative leadership than in situational leadership.

Vi è un ampio e diffuso consenso che suggerisce che il tirocinio (internship), come forma di apprendimento esperienziale, può essere uno strumento efficace per lo sviluppo delle competenze tecniche e trasferibili degli studenti e quindi come strumento di rafforzamento dell'occupabilità (employabiltiy) dei laureati. Numerosi studi hanno anche scoperto che le esperienze internazionali possono sviluppare le competenze più apprezzate dai datori di lavoro. Questa ricerca affronta una lacuna all'intersezione di questi due campi di studio. La maggior parte degli studi analizza le esperienze internazionali con un focus distintivo sull'aspetto internazionale e non sui diversi tipi di esperienze, ad es. studiare all’estero rispetto a fare un tirocinio (internship) all’estero. La domanda a cui questo studio si propone di rispondere è se il tirocinio (internship) e il contesto internazionale abbinati estendono l'esperienza di apprendimento oltre a quella sviluppata attraverso un tirocinio domestico da solo. Quando la progettazione di questo studio è stata inizialmente pianificata, è stato fatto un grande sforzo per identificare uno strumento per misurare l'occupabilità (employability) nel modo più obiettivo possibile. Le misurazioni basate sull’utilizzo di giochi digitali (digital game-based assessments) sono state identificate come lo strumento più appropriato per farlo in modo obiettivo. In questo studio i comportamenti che definiscono l’occupabilita’ (employability) degli studenti risultato in oltre 30 indicatori quantitativi. Questi indicatori convergono con le competenze trasferibili che sono state identificate come quelle richieste dal mercato del lavoro e ampiamente analizzate nella letteratura sull'occupabilità (employability). I dati per questo studio sono stati raccolti nel triennio 2017-19 e sono stati coinvolti un totale di 1315 studenti italiani. L'analisi fattoriale esplorativa ha esaminato la struttura alla base degli indicatori di occupabilità (employability) generati dalle valutazioni basate sul gioco digitale (digital game-based assessments). I risultati rivelano diversi temi significativi che contribuiscono ulteriormente alla conoscenza e comprensione di ciò che influenza l'occupabilità (employability) dei laureati. Il primo risultato che emerge dalle analisi di questo studio risponde alla domanda di ricerca. Quando un tirocinio (internship) si svolge all’estero, c'è un apprendimento esperienziale aggiuntivo dato dal contesto internazionale, che contribuisce ulteriormente all'apprendimento esperienziale e trasformativo già sviluppato attraverso un tirocinio (internship) domestico. Inoltre, risulta anche che questo elemento aggiuntivo sia associato a comportamenti di occupabilità (employability) legati a fattori cognitivi e non sociali. Ciò contrasta con gli studi precedenti sull'impatto delle esperienze internazionali, che generalmente associano questo tipo di esperienze allo sviluppo di competenze di tipo sociale e interpersonale. Questo studio rileva infine che quando sembra esserci una superiorità degli studenti maschi nei comportamenti di occupabilità (employability) legati dalle capacità cognitive, questa superiorità scompare quando associata a stage internazionali. / There is a large and widespread consensus suggesting that internships, as one form of experiential learning, can be an effective instrument for the development of students’ technical and transferable skills and therefore as enhancing graduate employability. Separately, studies have found that international experiences can develop the skills most valued by employers. This research addresses a gap at the intersection of these two fields of study. Most studies analyze international experiences with a distinctive focus on the international and not on the different types of experiences, e.g. study abroad versus internships. The question this study aims to answer is whether an internship and an international context combine to extend the learning experience beyond that developed through a domestic internship alone. When the design of this study was initially planned, much effort was put into identifying a tool to measure employability in the most objective way possible. Digital game-based assessments were identified as the most appropriate tool to do this objectively. Insights into behaviors in this study result in over 30 quantitative descriptors of employability, which converge with the lists of transferable skills that have been identified as those demanded by the labor market and extensively analyzed in the employability literature. The data for this study was collected over three years 2017-19, and a total of 1315 Italian students were involved. Exploratory factor analysis examined the structure underlying the employability descriptors generated by the digital game-based assessments. The findings reveal several significant themes that further contribute to our current knowledge and understanding of what influences graduates’ employability. The first finding answers the research question. When an internship takes place in a country different from that of the student’s home, there is additional experiential learning from the international context, which contributes further to the experiential and transformative learning already developed through the internship. It also appears that this additional element is associated with employability behaviors predicted by Cognitive and not Social factors. This contrasts with earlier studies on the impact of international experiences, which generally find that social and interpersonal skills are developed. This study also finds that when there appears to be a gender bias toward male students in employability behaviors predicted by cognitive abilities, this bias disappears when associated with international internships.

This research set out to explore how a group of nine educators from a Catholic Church school in Malta, who have attended the Let Me Learn professional Learning process (LMLpLp), experienced personal and professional transformation. This study investigates those factors influencing participants in their transformative learning journey. It also explores the dynamics of transformative learning and whether individual transformation affects the school’s transformative learning experience. More specifically this study set out to explore how teachers who participated in the Let Me Learn professional Learning process have experienced transformative learning. This study takes a qualitative phenomenological approach. It seeks to identify phenomena of personal and professional transformative learning through the perceptions of the educators participating in this study. Through the use of the semi-structured interview it seeks to gather ‘deep’ data. This data represents the voices of these educators in narrative, thus emphasising the importance of the personal perspective and interpretation. This allowed this research to understand the subjective experience, motivation and actions of the participants. The Literature review informs the questions asked during the interview. The interview was used as a tool for gathering information regarding values, attitudes and beliefs of participants. Each interview was transcribed, translated (when response was given in Maltese) and categorised according to Mezirow’s ten stages. Excerpts from each stage were further processed to generate themes. The themes were later streamlined and an acceptable interpretive framework was created. Each interview excerpt was then analysed through the framework. Once all interviews were coded, detailed narratives were written. These narratives are meant to help the reader reflect on the process of transformative learning. It underscores those factors highlighted by the participants, which helped bring about both personal and professional transformative learning. This research has identified that individual constructs are strongly determined by an individual’s personal learning characteristics. Awareness of these personal learning characteristics (self-knowledge) helped educators assess their practice and understand how their personal characteristics were determining their approach to teaching and affecting their interpersonal relationships with students and colleagues. This research showed that transformative learning is a mutually interdependent experience. Individual transformation amounts to, and is influenced by, the collective transformation. This study highlighted the role of the school community in the pursuit of personal transformation. Yet another important finding of this research is the importance of a shared language of possibility. Through a shared language, a learning community can create a dialogic environment through which intentions, beliefs and interventions can be shared among the professional community. This research accentuates the importance of a shared language as a means of articulating a change in perspective. The study identified three main agents of change. The Let Me Learn team, as promoters and experts of this particular learning process; the teachers, who internalised the process and applied it to their practice; and the school’s senior management team, who internalised the Process, positioned it into the larger vision of the school and created a conducive environment through which the whole school community was empowered to take responsibility to bring about change in practice. A number of implications emerge from this study that could inform policy on teacher professional learning. A major implication concerns the importance of a shared language – a language that reflects the shared values and ideological position of the community. Such language frames the learning process, makes learning visible for teachers to be able to respond effectively with strategies that respect each learner’s learning preference and makes learning visible to the learner himself. Another implication from this study arises from the finding that the transformative learning process of any individual educator and effectively of the whole school community, goes beyond the effectiveness and limitations of any one professional development programme. True and deep-seated transformative learning comes from within the individual educator. This statement has serious repercussions on any professional development programme that aims to aid participants in their quest to transform their practice. This study also emphasised the importance that any professional development needs to be seated in the local experience and needs of the school community. Any attempts at developing comprehensive, nation-wide projects with pre-packaged approaches, are doomed to fail. What this research has shown is that for effective professional development, the identified outcomes need to correspond to the local needs of the school, rather than the national guidelines, detached from the realities of the particular school. Finally, this study accentuated the importance of incorporating mentoring support in any professional development proposal. Delivery of information and skills without follow-up tend to lead to superficial application. Transformative learning presupposes a period of shared reflection on practice and collegial mediation of ideas through contact between teachers and their leaders and on-the-job support from their professional development mentors.

Anticipating the challenges of a sustainable future requires a set of specific competencies, often called future skills. They range from systems-thinking, anticipatory future-thinking, normative value-thinking, entrepreneurial and strategic thinking, data literacy to both intrapersonal and interpersonal qualities of collaborative, integrated problem-solving and implementation (cf. Kirchherr et al. 2019; Brundiers et al 2021; OECD 2021). Future oriented learning assignments have to address these competencies and adequate solutions have to be provided for acquiring them. In many cases, due to fixed structures of curricula and accreditation processes related approaches are perceived as limiting and bureaucratic in order to adequately correspond to the dynamic of future skills for transformative action. In fact, they have to be addressed now in order to unfold their full potential soon in the future.

Syftet med denna masteruppsats är att söka en transformerande pedagogisk praktik omjämställdhet och jämställdhetsintegrering. Det är en studie av några pedagogersupplevelser och konsekvenser av motstånd i arbetsplatsbaserad undervisning omjämställdhet och jämställdhetsintegrering.Den svenska retoriken kring jämställdhet bidrar till att det inte talas om det motståndsom pedagoger möter, ett motstånd emot jämställdhet och jämställdhetsintegrering. Trefokusgrupper med totalt tretton deltagare har träffats runtom i Sverige och samtalat omundervisning och transformativ pedagogik utifrån frågeställningar kopplade till maktoch motstånd. Innehållsanalys har använts, framförallt med hjälp av Paulo Freiresbegrepp conscientização och Sara Ahmeds begrepp snap. Resultaten har relaterats tillMalin Rönnbloms dekonstruktion av svensk jämställdhetspolitik och rådandekunskapsdiskurs.De viktigaste resultaten handlar om att pedagogerna möter motstånd oavsett vilkenfråga som lärandet handlar om inom jämställdhet. Motståndet leder till känslor av blandannat trötthet, ledsamhet och ilska. Effekter av motstånd på undervisningen är blandannat att ämnet adresseras på ett avdramatiserande sätt för att förekomma motståndet.Resultaten synliggör ett behov av att använda den praktik och de erfarenheter somfinns i större utsträckning än vad som görs idag. Studien bidrar till en ökad förståelseför vilka konsekvenser motstånd får i arbetsplatsbaserad vuxenundervisning omjämställdhet.

It has been the desire of the ANC government ever since it came to power in 1994 to develop a unity of purpose and spirit that cherishes and celebrates the diverse nature of the South African population in terms of culture, language and religion and to transform existing inequalities that are deep-rooted in South African educational history and religion in particular. In order to satisfy this desire, a whole plethora of legislation and policies was developed. Amongst the developments entailed in these laws and policies were religious rights and freedoms guaranteed to all South Africans as well as the establishment of democratic structures vested with powers to govern schools while school principals manage them. In terms of education legislation, one of the functions of the governing body of a school is to develop and adopt a school policy on religion (as per the study) which is accordingly implemented by the school principal. It is in the policy implementation stage that the school principal is expected to play a mediating role and resolve possible conflicts erupting due to different religious interestThis study is based on the assumption that the management and leadership training they received and the position they hold as school managers and leaders, enabled participating school principals to mediate the implementation of new religion policies. The research question driving this study was “How do school principals deal with implementation of the National Policy on Religion and Education in schools?” Informed by this question the focus of the study was to explore “how principals describe and experience their mediating role in implementing the religion policy within an existing religious context in schools”. Following a qualitative research approach a phenomenological research design was employed in order to understand and describe the meaning of the lived, felt and narrated experiences of school principals. Data were collected by means of narrative interviews where twelve school principals pursuing postgraduate studies with the University of Pretoria and who have been in education for at least ten years, told their religion in education stories. These stories were subsequently transcribed, analysed and interpreted to determine the impact of principals’ past religious experiences and their management training on their implementation of religion policies at their schools. This study found that in dealing with the National Policy on Religion and Policy (2003) implementation in schools, participating principals ignore the policy in preference of maintaining the status quo. When faced with conflicts related to religious interests, they partially sub-contracted into the policy. They did not seem to consider transformative mediation as a possible leadership strategy for conflict resolution in the existing religious context of schools. The study also found that amongst these principals, there were those who displayed a confident attitude, values of openness, generosity and integrity and had used their past religious experiences to transform the quality of conflict interaction in schools. My recommendation in this regard would therefore be threefold. One, Higher Education Institutions should provide appropriate training by introducing suitable courses that will yield adequate knowledge, skills and opportunities for professional attitude, value attainment and determination for continuous learning and development to principals as key change agents. Two, there is a need for these organizations to re-evaluate and re-organise existing courses for better recognition of transformative mediation as a leadership strategy to conflict resolution in schools. The provincial departments of education need to provide appropriate training for prospective principals as part of professional development programmes to address the essential needs pertaining to policy implementation that could create conflict in schools. Training in mediation of conflict would therefore be essential. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån Leader-Member exchange teorin (LMX) undersöka om relationen mellan ledare och följare påverkar hur följaren upplever ledarens ledarskapsstil. Metod: En kvalitativ intervjustudie med deduktiv forskningsansats har tillämpats i denna studie. Populationen består av tio stycken följare från ett säljande svenskt företag och datainsamlingen har skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Det empiriska materialet har analyserats och tolkats genom kodning och tematisering för att sedan redovisas och analyseras i empirin utifrån de teoretiskt härledda kategorierna. Resultat och slutsats: Studien leder till en ökad förståelse för hur relationen mellan ledare och följare påverkar ledarens attributions -och ledarskapsstil. Slutsatsen säger därmed att beroende på om följaren hamnar i en in -eller ut-grupp kommer ledaren att anpassa både sin ledarskapsstil och attributionsstil vilket presenteras i en modell. Där följare som hamnar i en in-grupp upplever en transformativ ledare med en yttre attributionsstil och en följare som hamnar i ut-grupp en transaktionell ledare med en inre attributionsstil Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens bidrag består av vår vidareutvecklade modell som utvecklats genom analysen av det teoretiska samt empiriska materialet. Modellen leder till en större förståelse för hur relationen mellan ledare och följare kan påverka följarens indelning i in -eller ut-grupp samt ledarens ledarskap -och attributionsstil. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: För en mer generaliserbar slutsats hade det varit intressant om liknande studier genomförs där även ledarens perspektiv undersöks. Utöver detta såg vi indikationer på ett samband mellan följarens år inom organisationen och tillhörighet i in- eller ut-grupp vilket skulle kunna undersökas vidare. / Aim: The purpose of this study is to, based on the Leader-Member exchange theory (LMX), investigate whether the relationship between leader and follower affects how the follower experiences the leader's leadership style. Method: A qualitative method with a deductive research approach has been applied in this study. collection took place through semi-structured interviews. The empirical material was analyzed and interpreted through coding and thematization and then reported and analyzed in the empirical data based on the theoretically derived categories. Result and Conclusions: The study leads to an increased understanding of how the relationship between leader and follower affects the followers experience of the leader’s attribution and leadership style. The conclusion tells us that depending on whether the follower ends up in an in-or-out group, the leader will adapt both his leadership style and attribution style, which is presented in a model. Followers who end up in an in-group experience a transformative leader with an external attribution style. However, a follower who ends up in an out-group experience a transactional leader with an internal attribution style Contribution of the thesis: The study's contribution consists of our further developed model that has been developed through the analysis of the theoretical and empirical material. The model leads to a greater understanding of how the relationship between a leader and follower can affect the follower's distribution into in-or-out groups as well as the leader's leadership and attribution style. Suggestions for future research: It would have been interesting if similar studies were carried out where the leader's perspective is also considered. In addition to this, we saw indications of a correlation between the followers' year within the organization and belonging to an in- or out-group, which could be investigated further.

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