exploration of transformational learning experiences of adult community college learners in career...

Running head: TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING ADULTS IN CAREER TRANSITION 1

Exploration of Transformational Learning Experiences

of Adult Community College Learners in Career

Transition

Kristen P. McKenna

Eastern Nazarene College

Presented to the faculty of Eastern Nazarene College in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Education in Higher Education Administration

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING FOR ADULTS IN CAREER TRANSITION 2

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Abstract

The overall purpose of this qualitative study is to explore if adult learners in career transition

experienced transformational learning through perspective transformation. The first charge of the

study is to determine if transformation took place within the framework of Mezriow’s Ten

Phases of Transformational Learning (TPTL) (Mezirow, 1978).The premise of this research is

adult community college learners in career transition who experienced perspective

transformation toward transformational learning did so because of positive factors and

characteristics of cultural and administrative practices at Bristol Community College(BCC) and

/or One Stop Career Center(OSCC). Since the Great Recession of 2008, there is an appeal from

employers, government and society to improve community college education and support

services for adults in career transition referred to the college from an OSCC. Unemployment

after 2008 is unlike any other modern period of unemployment for several reasons; fewer full

time jobs, wage stagnation, long-term unemployment and long term wage loss. Adults need to

better prepare to return to a more competitive workforce with future education. In addition to an

overview of workforce demands, this thesis will cover educational and developmental theory

focusing on transformational learning theory. The researcher will delineate methods and tools

used in the research to arrive at findings for future discussion and recommendations. The

findings support the premise by providing a better understanding of adult learners in career

transition and community college and OSCC partnerships. A findings discussion suggests areas

of future theory research and theory application to further strengthen our response to learner’s

and workforce policy needs. It concludes with the belief that transformational learning is

necessary for adult learner’s educational and economic needs as a matter of social justice.


Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Question 8

Research Question 12

Theoretical Framework with Similarities and Differences: 14

Defining Participant Criteria 16

Why is this Research Important? 18

Chapter 2: Literature Review 22

The First Study and Theory Revisions 23

Criticism 32

Variations in a Theory 36

Adult Education Theory Basis and Characteristics of Adult Learners 39

Adult Learner Development Theory 41

Career Development Theory 45

Great Recession of 2008 and Workforce Policy Changes 51

Community Colleges and TAACCCT 54

Higher Education Accountability for Workforce Needs 57

Chapter 3: Methodology 61

Overview of Research Design 61

Design Modifications 62

Participants 63

Measurement Tools 65


Data Collection Process 69

Data Analysis Procedure 71

Ethical Considerations 73

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion 74

General Data Findings 75

Findings 85

Finding One 85

Finding Two 90

Finding Three 93

Finding Four 96

Limitations 97

Discussion 98

Recommendations 118

Survey Tool Design 119

Co Case Management Promising Practice 120

TL and Other Theory Application and Research 121

Non Rational TL Theory Research 123

Research Influences Policy Development 124

Concluding Thoughts 125

References 128


Appendix A 137

Appendix B 139

Appendix C 140

Appendix C p. 2 141

Appendix D 142

Appendix E 143


Chapter 1: Introduction and Research Question

The 21st century requires adults as learners and workers to be able to meet the challenges

of persistent technological innovations and a rapidly changing global economy with advanced or

“transformed critical thinking and problem solving skills” (Mezirow, 2009). The problems of our

post 2008 society are based on three intersecting variables, persistent unemployment, the need

for more educated adults with greater credentials and a call to action for higher education to meet

workforce demands. “Unemployment after 2008 is unlike any other modern period of

unemployment for several reasons; fewer full time jobs, wage stagnation, long-term

unemployment and long-term wage loss” (Farber H., 2011). With the need to serve more

unemployed adults and an analogous need to find more skilled, educated workers, it is evident

society needs to look at what community colleges and their workforce partners can do to increase

the individual success of each adult. Critical thinking needs to go hand-in-hand with the kinds of

skills and competencies that employers need like transferable skills of problem solving and

ability to use technology to locate information and syntheses information. Meanwhile, adults

need to earn credentials that lead to a sustainable wage. Adult learners, previously employed in

factory jobs like manufacturing, are returning to higher education to gain the knowledge and

skills needed for the newer knowledge-based economy. This is especially important in former

mill and factory cities like Fall River, New Bedford and Providence metro areas where

unemployment remains persistently high at 6.2% high with other communities in region. (US

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014)

Higher education faculty and staff need to help adult learners succeed and using

Transformational Learning (TL) theory will help faculty to teach adults in a way that develops


critical thinking and problem solving skills (Taylor, 2000). Although there are several definitions

of Transformational Learning Clark’s definition explains the full dimensions of TL with;

Transformational learning is defined as learning that induces more far-reaching

change in the learner than other kinds of learning, especially learning experiences

which shape the learner and produce a significant impact, or paradigm shift,

which affects the learner's subsequent experiences. (Clark, 1993, p. 47)

In the case of community college adult learners in career transition, subsequent

experiences can include, returning to school for a credential or college degree, being reemployed,

finding a new fulfilling career, transferring to a four-year institution and developing a sustainable

life with newfound skills and attitudes. Educators need to know what works, and what is

ineffective from actual adult learners experiencing career transition. One of the motivations for

this research is to see if adult learners are getting the support and instruction they need from their

point of view. This is especially true for the adults returning to education after a career transition

that has influenced their lives and their families lives. The focus population of this study is adult

learners referred by the community-based Bristol County or Greater New Bedford One Stop

Career Centers (OSCC), or adults receiving a combination of unemployment benefits (UI) and

tuition assistance and consequently independently enrolling in Bristol Community College.

Twenty nine (29) adult learners were OSCC clients and three were not OSCC clients and will be

referred to as non-OSCC adult learners in this thesis. Thirty five adult learners out of 142

learners completed baseline surveys. Nineteen individuals comprised of 15 adult learners and 4

faculty and counselors were interviewed. These adults are struggling to transform their skills in

order to be competitive in the high demand jobs of the future and they look to community

colleges and the workforce system to help them.


With a college degree, one earns more over a lifetime than those with a high school

diploma (Complete College America, 2015). Government leaders call on community college

specifically and workforce systems to prioritize this work as an economic imperative by

developing career pathways with more demand for pathways that lead to credentials and

employment. Community Colleges are open access institutions providing a variety of options for

returning adults. Therefore, adult learners can enroll in college credit academic courses to obtain

a certificate or two-year degree or enroll in a noncredit occupational certificate program often

leading to certification; licensure or an industry recognized credential. Additionally, they can be

placed in a developmental or remedial education course such as Language Arts, Math, English as

a Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) or Adult Basic Education (ABE) because they are basic

skills deficient or need to improve their language skills. More than ever, it is important for

community college educators and workforce partners to provide transformational learning,

retooling, career counseling and a variety of educational opportunities to every adult learner who

walks in the door.

The One Stop Career Center (OSCC) part of the workforce system is typically the

gateway that leads adult learners in career transition to the community college. They support

adult learners from the post-employment phase to the job placement phases, which includes co-

managing the adult learners while they are in school at the community college. Those in this

study are adult learners who are currently in career transition and are likewise connected with a

local career center to receive support including funding to return to school. Adult learners begin

the process of becoming a client of the OSCC prior to becoming a BCC adult student. They enter

the OSCC because they have lost a job, underemployed or are employed but need to change

careers. All the baseline survey responses participants are involuntarily unemployed or


underemployed. They are referred to as clients at OSCC but in this study they are called adult

learners in career transition because we are studying them as adult engaged in an educational

process at BCC as well engaged in a career counseling process at OSCC. The career-counseling

component and educational component adult learners experience can be concurrent or separate

depending on the individual adult learner’s goals and trajectory.

Adult learners begin an intake and eligibility process, which includes why and from

where were they were laid off, income analysis, assessment of current skills and abilities as well

an evaluation of their life circumstances (Kenney, 2015). The intensive intake and eligibility

evaluation process (Kenney, 2015) often begins in the OSCC environment and case management

of the client continues through the educational process until adult learners obtain employment or

transition out to further their academic work such as transferring to a four-year institution. For

the purposes of this study, the clients become adult learners at BCC and are often co-case

managed by BCC counselors and faculty and OSCC counselors and job placement specialists.

The adult learners will be placed in an appropriate academic or occupational training program

corresponding to their career goals, tested educational level and ability to adapt to the rigors of

the program (Kenney, 2015). Some adult learner’s life circumstances may contribute to

limitations that would affect their ability to attend full time or part time. The limitations can

include transportation, family responsibilities, health issues or financial needs that influence the

educational plan put forth. These factors are considered throughout the intake and evaluation

process because it is important to provide comprehensive support for adult learners and it

determines who will receive a training voucher (Kenney, 2015). Assessment of limitations are

important to assess because OSCC has performance accountability measures to meet. OSCC will


not provide funding to an adult learner with too many limitations. All of our leaners are

financially supported by the OSCC.

After the OSCC process began, adult learners enrolled at BCC for education to support

their career objectives. Therefore, this research will explore the effects of Transformative

Learning experiences of adult community college learners in career transition. Specifically, the

focus of this study is adult learners at Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts,

under a shared partnership of co-case management with the Bristol County and Greater New

Bedford OSCC’s. The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of collaboration between community

colleges and OSCC’s to support adult learners will provide the framework for a larger discussion

of policy and pedagogy for American community colleges.

Research Question

The overall purpose of this qualitative study is to examine whether or not adult learners

in career transition experienced transformational learning through perspective transformation.

The first charge of the study is to determine if transformation took place within the framework of

Mezriow’s Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (TPTL) (Mezirow, 1978). The TPTL are

phase 1:disorienting dilemma; phase 2: a self-examination with feelings of guilt or shame; phase

3: a critical assessment of epistemic, sociocultural or psychic assumptions; phase 4: recognition

that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared and negotiated a similar

change; phase 5: exploration of options for new roles, relationships and actions; phase 6:

planning of a new course; phase 7: acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing one’s

plan; phase 8: provisional trying of new roles; phase 9: building of competence and self

confidence in new roles and relationships; phase 10; a reintegration into one’s life on the basis of

conditions dictated by one’s perspective. Next, whether or not the adult learners experienced


perspective transformation leading to the true depth of transformational learning, what factors at

Bristol Community College (BCC) or the One Stop Career Center (OSCC) “characteristically

impeded or facilitated TL experiences” (Mezirow,1978, p. 1).

Perspective transformation is a change in a meaning structure(s) we use to define

ourselves. (Mezirow, 1978, p. 7). "Perspective transformation" has three dimensions:

psychological (changes in understanding of the self), convictional (revision of belief systems),

and behavioral (changes in lifestyle)” (McEwen, 2010-2011, p. 37). Perspective transformation

is a change in how we understand ourselves, revise our beliefs systems and as a result change our

behavior. In addition, these changes lead to transformative learning. This whole process is

initiated by a “disorienting dilemma” triggered by a life crisis – in this case, career transition

brought on by the loss of a job. The actions can be a “change in behavior or developing habit of

mind that indicate a deeper more meaningful transformation” (Mezirow, 1978). Although there

are several definitions of TL Clark’s definition explains the full dimensions of TL with;




which affects the learner's subsequent experiences. (Clark, 1993, p. 47)

In the case of community college adult learners in career transition, subsequent

experiences can include, returning to school, being reemployed, finding a new fulfilling career,

transferring to a four-year institution and developing a sustainable reality with newfound skills

and attitudes. In this exploration of transformational learning among adult learners in career

transition, data is gathered to determine the true depth of transformational learning. The

fundamental query is comprised of three questions; did adult learners experience


transformational learning though perspective transformation? Was TL within or related to the

framework an as laid out in Mezriow’s Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (TPTL)?

Lastly, if adult learners experienced perspective transformation, what factors at BCC or OSCC

“characteristically impeded or facilitated transformative learning experiences” (Mezirow, 1978,

p. 1) Factors and characteristics can include but are not limited to instructional environment and

methods, adult learner support services such as career counseling and coordination between

OSCC and BCC. The premise of this research is adult learners experiencing perspective

transformation which leads to transformational learning were influenced by positive factors and

characteristics of cultural and administrative practices at BCC and /or OSCC. A theoretical

framework, which includes TPTL guides the research question.

Theoretical Framework with Similarities and Differences:

This section is intended to give the reader an overview of TPTL and to discuss the

similarities and differences between the actual original study that produced the TPTL and this

thesis design. The theoretical framework for this study is grounded in Transformative Learning

Theory from Jack Mezirow’s initial 1978 study called Education for Perspective Transformation,

Women’s Re-entry Programs in Community Colleges. (Mezirow, 1978) He studied women in

community colleges who reentered education after a prolonged absence from education. Thirty-

six years later, this thesis will explore and build on the theory’s application to a specific group of

adult learners in the context of the local One Stop Career Centers and Bristol Community

College.

As stated earlier, TL includes ten phases of perceptive transformation (TPTL) that lead to

transformational learning. The context of Mezirow’s study varies from the context of this

research but both studies begin with adults returning to education after a disorienting dilemma


(Mezirow, 1978). The disorienting dilemma also known as phase one of TPTL is one of the

constants through many variations of the theory and is the catalyst for transformation. Mezirow

(1978) believed that “external events play a prominent role in precipitating a disorienting

dilemma that can lead to transformation” (p. 13). Involuntary job loss is just such an external

event leading to a subsequent disorienting dilemma.

The important difference between his 1978 study and this thesis lies in the fact that his

results are my theoretical framework. The participants in this study have a common disorienting

dilemma and his study the participants do not have the same disorienting dilemma. All the

participants of this study are experiencing the same disorienting dilemma of career transition

brought on by involuntary unemployment or underemployment, as opposed to multiple reasons

for his participant’s disorienting dilemmas. As discovered in Mezirow’s (1978) research, there

were many reasons why adult women attended reentry programs, where as the main motivation

for adults who attend BCC programs, was centered on career transition. Additionally this study is

conducted at one community college adding the career center co-case management partnership as

opposed to his study, which involved the singular and internal work of many community

colleges around the nation. The first major difference from the current study and his 1978

research is TPTL serves as the theoretical framework for this study applying them to a modern

context. His study of “Women’s’ Reentry Programs in Community Colleges” resulted in

defining the TPTL of transformational learning (TL) for the first time. This thesis focused on

both men and women whereas Mezirow’s (1978) study focused on only women at many

community college.

There are similarities between the two studies. Current events influenced the need for

both researchers to delve into their respective topics. For example, each study is influenced by


the social context of its time while conducting case study research with participants in a variety

of community college programs. The women’s movement of the 1970’s provides a historical

context for his study and the 2008 economic downturn and ensuing effects provided the

backdrop for this thesis. Additionally both studies focus on a “set of case studies” (Mezirow,

1978, p. 57) with mature adults reentering education and career development. Similarly in our

methods, Mezirow studied a variety of adult learners in different programs. The entire pool of

community college adult learners who met our criteria were considered because they represent

the essence of an open access academic institution mission with a range of learners in credit and

noncredit educational activities. The analysis of these participants was not on the type of

program they attended but that they reflect the groups of adult learners typically referred by the

OSCC. The researcher wanted to know if all adult learners in career transition over the age of 25

at Bristol Community Colleges are experiencing TL. Therefore, it became important to define a

participant criteria based on these parameters and not based on the program of study.

Defining Participant Criteria

The pool of adult learners includes adults (25 years and older) who are experiencing a

career transition and live in Bristol Community College’s region which predominantly includes

Bristol County Massachusetts, the south coast of Massachusetts including New Bedford and the

East Bay section of Rhode Island. For all these adult learners, the disorienting dilemma is they

are involuntarily under or unemployed which leads to the career transition. They fall into two

basic categories:

1. They are adult learners referred by the community-based Bristol County or Greater New

Bedford One Stop Career Centers (OSCC)


2. They are receiving a combination of unemployment benefits (UI), and tuition assistance

and have consequently independently enrolled in Bristol Community College.

The main reason for focusing on adults over 25, who are in career transition, directly relates

to the aftermath of the Great Recessions of 2008. This is when more adults were affected by

external events outside of the adult learners control (Mezirow, 1978, p. 13) resulting in

involuntarily job loss and requiring new skills, credentials and more education to succeed in the

workplace. Mezirow (1978) believed that external events play a prominent role in precipitating a

disorienting dilemma that can lead to transformation (p. 13). Involuntary job loss is such an

external event leading to a subsequent disorienting dilemma. According to Kenner and

Weinerman (2011), adult learners returning to school typically fall into certain groups like those

with academic deficiencies and/or returning from military service.

The majority of these adult learners require developmental coursework to refresh their entry

level collegiate skills, they are veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who delayed their

education to serve in the armed forces (Kaputo, 2009), and maybe they are adults who have just

completed their GED and are moving onto higher education classes (Kenner, Weinerman, 2011,

p. 87).

These adult learners are coming back to community colleges for a variety of reasons and they

need more remediation and support because they have been out of school for a while and need to

reengage in the commitment required of formal learning. While Kenner and Weinerman’s

(2011) statement reflects 28% of the population in this study, the majority of adult learners we

see in this study are adult learners who have taken college courses or hold bachelors and/or

Masters degrees but need retooling to be competitive in a harsh job market. Adult learners with

some college experience represent (55%) of the adult learners who completed interviews.


One hundred and forty-two adult learners in career transition attended Bristol Community

College in the period between July 2013 and December 2014 (Oracle, 2011). This study

surveyed 37 adult learners and of the 37, interviewed 15 adult learners. The premise of this

research is that transformational learning was influenced by positive cultural and administrative

practices at BCC and /or OSCC. With these practices and support, adult learners in career

transition that started with a disorienting dilemma will cultivate perspective transformation,

ultimately leading to transformational learning.

Why is this Research Important?

Post 2008 society is based on three intersecting variables, persistent unemployment that

includes long term unemployment, the need for more educated adults with industry relevant

credentials and a call to action for higher education to mitigate the three intersecting variables of

the post Great Recession period of time.. Hence, this research attempts to explore what effects

transformational learning for adults in career transition and can it help mitigate these issues.

According to the National Association of Workforce Boards the number of American adults in

career transition accessing training WIA (Workforce Investment Act) services through One Stop

Career Centers increased by 234% since 2008 to 2011 (National Association of Workforce

Boards, 2011). For the south coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the increase is

comparable to serving over 17,000 clients and “exceeding their planned service level by 37% in

one year“(Massachusetts Workforce Board Association, 2011, p. 7).

Farber goes on to say, “It is clear that the dynamics of unemployment in the Great

Recession are fundamentally different from unemployment dynamics in earlier recessions (p.

2).” He identifies three factors which are different from prior periods of heavy job loss. Long

term unemployment is greater, more workers regaining employment are only part time, regained


employment wages are 17.5 % less than prior to lay off earnings, over all long term earnings are

reduced by 11% (p. 28) and job loss rates are dramatically higher for less educated workers (p.

5).

More than ever, adults need to have credentials beyond a high school diploma to secure

jobs with a family-sustaining wage and labor market projections predict that by 2018, 63% of

jobs are expected to require some college education (US Department of Education Office of

Vocational and Adult Education, 2007). Massachusetts anticipates an even higher percentage of

postsecondary work than the national average with 70% of jobs requiring some college with the

emphasis on jobs in healthcare, finance, technology, education, and life sciences (Massachusetts

Department of Higher Education, 2014). With the need to serve more unemployed adults and an

analogous need to find more skilled, educated workers, it is evident society needs to look at what

community colleges and their workforce partners can do to increase the individual success of

each adult.

This study explores if OSCC clients and other unemployed adult learners experienced

perspective transformation which led to transformational learning at Bristol Community College

and if so what factors, characteristics or environment contributed to transformation for adults in

career transition. The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of collaboration between community

colleges and OSCC’s to support adult learners will provide the framework for a larger discussion

of policy and pedagogy for American community colleges.

Public higher education especially community colleges needs to help adult learners

achieve their career goals while supporting employer needs. To meet the demand for what, the

2014 Massachusetts “Vision Report, Degrees of Urgency” calls on higher education to recruit

and successfully graduate more adult learners (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education,


2014, p. 4). The report points out that there are adult learners who have attended college before

but never got a credential and while attending they struggled more than young adults.

Seventeen percent of all Massachusetts residents aged 25–65 have some college

credits but no degree. Once enrolled or re-enrolled, adult learners persist in their

studies and earn degrees at lower rates than younger adult learners, most likely

due to competing family and job related pressures. (Massachusetts Department of

Higher Education p. 16)

Transformational Learning Theory applied to counseling and educational settings will

support learners in a way that helps adult learners overcome this challenge. Overcoming these

challenges will benefit many stakeholders such as higher education but especially help the

workforce and the economy tied to their success. Hence since 2008, there are many government

or private foundation reports like “A Better Measure of Skills Gap” (2011) and “Accelerating

Opportunities for Career Pathways” (2013) that discuss the need to improve college educational

and support services for adults in career transition who have been referred to the college from a

career center. Most notable is the 2009 President’s Council of Economic Advisers report on,

“Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow”. Critical to the report’s findings and

suggested actions, is the need to improve community college services for adult learners in career

transition. With recommended actions, the counsel calls on community college and workforce

systems to prioritize this work as an economic imperative. Additionally the concept of career

pathways fuels the debate with more demand for pathways that leads to credentials and

employment. As a result of the President’s Council Report funding was appropriated;

$500 million in Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career

Training (TAACCCT) grants were awarded to community colleges around the


country for targeted training and workforce development to help economically

disadvantaged workers who are changing careers. The grants support partnerships

between community colleges and employers to develop programs that provide

career pathways to good jobs, including building instructional programs that meet

specific industry needs. (US Department of Labor, 2011)

Massachusetts was a recipient of one such grant and it became known as the

Massachusetts Community College Workforce Development Transformation Agenda

(MCCWDTA) or Transformation Agenda. With financial backing for this national initiative, the

stakes are higher than ever before and the need to succeed is greater. So we have to ask

ourselves, what factors and characteristics of cultural and administrative practices at BCC and /or

OSCC will make an impact on the learners and ultimately the economy as we strive to create

opportunity for families to earn a living wage? The research will investigate the experience of

the OSCC adult learners and provide data for further discussion on what is transformational to

adult learners both in terms of their experience on the campus and with the help of the One-Stop

Career Center (OSCC). Furthermore, it is important for practitioners and policy makers to

understand what issues adults are undergoing as they go through the process of becoming

unemployed, retraining and seeking reemployment from the adult learners/clients perspective. It

will lead to greater understanding of the problem, and hopefully, better decisions about how to

support individuals returning to the workforce so that more people return and are not left as the

long term unemployed. As of February 6, 2015 the number of long-term unemployed (those

jobless for 27 weeks or more) was essentially unchanged from prior months at 2.8 million in

January 2014. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015)


The social and economic ramifications of long term unemployed speak to the

researcher’s need to have a truer understanding of the gaps to affect change which ultimately

improves the lives of the individual, their families and the communities in which they live.

Earning a living wage is by far the most important factor to the success of an individual and their

family and increasing numbers of adults are falling into the desperate situation of no hope for the

future when they cannot find gainful employment. Unemployed adults in a career transition

context are sheathed in a myriad of challenges and yet strong and vital. The researcher proposes

that education is the key and transformational learning is a necessary component. Then, it is

intended that this research will shed some more light on the practice of transformational learning

and generate new questions and more understanding about perspective transformation in the

context adult learners in career transition.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

To explore the effects of Transformative Learning (TL) experiences of adult learners in

career transition, this traditional (Jesson, 2011) literature review draws from studies of

Transformational Learning Theory (TLT) as first identified and described by Jack Mezirow from

his pivotal 1978 study “Education for Perspective Transformation Women’s Reentry Programs

in Community Colleges.” It will provide a comprehensive overview of the theory, to include the

Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (TPTL), and three basic elements of meaning schemas,

critical reflection and rational discourse. It also covers modifications like adding authentic

relationships, variations and criticisms of the theory over the last 37 years. The literature review

will also provide an overview of relevant adult education theory, adult learner development

theory and career development theory especially as it relates to TL theory. A deeper


understanding of adult education theory, especially TL theory is necessary to flesh out the factors

and characteristics that help adult learners learn and prepare for careers in the 21st century.

The two overarching themes in the literature review include: (1) establishing a foundation

in TL theory, adult learner developmental theory and career development theory research, and

(2) a discussion of economic and workforce imperatives such as greater expectations for

community college staff, to help adult workers in career transition. The aim of this literature

review to is to explore the connection between theory, research and policy to affect adult

education practices to prepare adults in career transitions. By using TPTL as a framework it

helps the investigator to examine the phases adult learners may go through and it provides a

foundation of research as the basis for the premise of this research.

The First Study and Theory Revisions

According to Kitchenham (2008), Mezirow (1978) first used the term transformation in

his study of U.S. women returning to postsecondary study or the workplace after they had been

out of the workforce or education for a period of time (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 104).” Mezirow

(1978) was commissioned by the US Department to Education which was interested in

addressing the needs of U.S. women who were resuming their education or were considering

employment after an extended period of time out of university or the workforce, respectively.

He conducted a qualitative study to “identify factors that characteristically impede or facilitate

women’s progress in the re-entry programs” (Mezirow, 1978, p. 3). The study began in 1975 and

it investigated 12 re-entry college programs with 83 women over three years. The 12 programs

represented a diverse population from New York/New Jersey San Francisco and Washington

State.


After the initial study, “He conducted a nationwide telephone survey of 24 on-site

programs in 11 states” (Kitchenbam, 2008). Based on their findings, Mezirow (1978a, 1978b)

concluded participants had undergone a “personal transformation” and within that

transformation, Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (TPTL) occurred, (Table 1).

Mezirow’s Ten Phases of Transformative Learning(TPTL)

Phase 1 A disorienting dilemma

Phase 2 A self-examination with feelings of guilt or shame

Phase 3 A critical assessment of epistemic, sociocultural, or psychic assumptions

Phase 4 Recognition that one’s discontent & the process of transformation are shared &

negotiated a similar change

Phase 5 Exploration of options for new roles, relationships, and actions

Phase 6 Planning of a course of action

Phase 7 Acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans

Phase 8 Provisional trying of new roles

Phase 9 Building of competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships

Phase 10 A reintegration into one’s life on basis of conditions dictated by one’s

perspective

TABLE 1 TPTL - Ten Phases of Transformational Learning (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 105)

TPTL serves as a theoretical framework for this study delineating the stages one may

experience in career transition and a foundation for why perspective transformation may occur.

Perspective transformation" has three dimensions: psychological (changes in understanding of

the self), convictional (revision of belief systems), and behavioral (changes in lifestyle)”

(McEwen, 2010-2011, p. 37). Focusing on the disorienting dilemma, his study identifies an event


or situation that causes women to look for solutions to their disorienting dilemma through

education. The learner characteristics in the 1978 study are identified by the women’s initial

status, motivation or frame of mind as they embark on the reentry experience. He makes the

point that these women are not conventional learners because they all have the common

experience of a disorienting dilemma. They fall into six learner designations, “threshold learners,

self- aware, work-wise learners, study-wise leaners, career-wise, emancipated and

transformational” (Mezirow, 1978, pp. 12-15).This is important because some participants in this

study may exhibit the qualities of “workwise learners” (p.15), who have significant work

experience.

In the introduction to this thesis, the reader gains an understanding of the differences and

similarities between Mezirow’s 1978 study and this thesis study. The context of Mezirow’s

study varies from the context of this research but both studies begin with adults returning to

education after a disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1978). The disorienting dilemma also known

as phase one of TPTL is one of the constants through many variations of the theory and is the

catalyst for transformation. Mezirow (1978) believed that external events play a prominent role

in precipitating a disorienting dilemma that can lead to transformation (p. 13). Involuntary job

loss is such an external event leading to a subsequent disorienting dilemma. Thirty-six years

later, this thesis will explore and build on the theory’s application to a specific group of adult

learners in the context of the local One Stop Career Centers and Bristol Community College.

Interestingly enough his 1978 social context time resembles aspects of this current economic

time. Hodge says; “his theory portrays the individual as operating in an increasingly conscious

and critical relationship within social context” (2014, p. 166). The importance of conducting

research that responds to a current trend or a new phenomenon has implications beyond the


research itself, it can inform educators, and policy makers helping them to make decisions that

are research based and well thought out solutions. (Taylor, 2012)

In Mezirow’s (1978) study, women develop consciousness about themselves and the

world around at that time. Adults in career transition realize there is an implicit connection

between education, employment and economics. There is an important connection between “the

context of the learner’s situation and the learner’s understanding of the context which is

influenced by the way they make meaning” (Hodge, 2014). Meaning is based on a learners’

meaning schema (context) and meaning perspective (understanding). (Taylor, 2012). A change in

one’s meaning schema leads to a change in meaning perspective which is central to the theory at

that time. A change in meaning perspective is also relevant to our adult learners in 2015.

Perspective transformation becomes more defined year’s later as Mezirow’s (1978) theory

evolves. Kitchenham (2008) states:

Central to the perspective transformation and, therefore, the three types of

learning are the meaning perspective and the meaning schema. A meaning

perspective refers (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 110) to the structure of cultural and

psychological assumptions within which our past experience assimilates and

transforms new experience whereas a meaning scheme is “the constellation of

concept, belief, judgment, and feeling which shapes a particular interpretation

(Mezirow, 1985, p. 21).”

Early on, researchers like Kuhn (1962), Freire (1970) and Habermas (1971) influenced

Mezirow (1978) to develop the concept of the meaning schema further. Kuhn’s 1962 work

served as a basis for transformative learning after he determined the concept of paradigms, which

are also meaning schemas. (Mezirow, 1985, 1991) Certain paradigms are accepted until someone


else comes along with a different meaning perspective and changes it. For example, early

civilizations thought the earth was flat until Galileo and others disproved it and concluded the

earth is a sphere. Those scientists shared a common set of problems and common set of solutions

or common meaning perspectives.

Habermas (1971) contributed to the meaning perspective with his three of domains of

learning, technical, practical and emancipatory (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 109) that effect meaning

schemas. Technical includes task-oriented concrete skills, practical involves social expectations

and conventions, while emancipatory is “introspective as a learner self reflects and experience

self-knowledge” (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 109). Technical learning may be important to adults

developing concrete skills like using technology, which is also something that workforce policy

promotes. Changes to meaning perspectives whether technical, practical or emancipatory evolve

out of adult’s abilities to critically reflect on what they know and what they need to know.

Paulo Freire’s (2008) advocated that adult learners develop a critical awareness and

consciousness so they can take action against the oppressive elements of reality (Freire, 2008).

His influence has a great deal of impact, because it focuses on the lack of free thought

encouraged be traditional education systems and he advocated that “transformational theory

should focus on developing a consciousness that has the power to transform reality” (Freire,

2008). Merging critical reflection, discourse and action are central to Freire’s (1970)

consciousness and undoubtedly aids Mezirow’s (1978) formation of TL based in critical

reflection and rational thinking (Kitchenbam, 2008, p. 108). Freire’s version of TL will be

discussed in more detail later in the literature review.


FIGURE 1.Summary of Mezirow's Theory by year and salient element

(Kitchenham, 2008, p.110)

The figure 1 (Kitchenham , 2008) is a longitudinal assessment of the theories many

influences year and salient element (p. 110).After meaning schemas and perspective, critical

reflection is the second element that is import to TL in adult learners. Taylor (2012) working

with Mezirow (2009), but also critical of his theory, explains one of the main elements, critical

reflections, of Mezirow’s theory.

Critical reflection refers to questioning the integrity of assumptions and beliefs

based on prior experience. It often occurs in response to an awareness of a

contradiction among our thoughts, feelings, and actions. In essence, we realize


something is not consistent with what we hold to be true and act in relation to our

world. (Taylor, 2006, p. 9) “Reflection is the perceptive process by which we

change our minds, literally and figuratively. It is the process of turning our

attention to the justification for what we know, feel, believe and act upon”

(Mezirow, & Taylor, 2009, p. 12)

In TPTL, Phase 3, a critical assessment of epistemic, socio cultural or psychic

assumptions, implies that a process of critical reflection should occur at this point, but a process

of reflection may happen at any point after disorienting dilemmas. Therefore, and it is hard to

assess when one is able to engage in critical reflection or if a person can engage in deep and

meaningful critical reflection.

The third element is the concept of rational discourse and for purposes of this thesis an

evolving theme relevant to adult learners returning to education. According to Taylor (2006),

rational discourse is the essential medium through which transformational learning is promoted

and developed (p. 10). Discourse in transformative learning rests on the following five

assumptions; it is rational only as long it meets the conditions necessary to create understanding

with another and it is to be driven by objectivity. “All actions and statements are open to

question and discussion while understanding is arrived through the weighing of evidence and

measuring insight and strength of supporting arguments” (p. 10) Finally the primary goal is to

promote mutual understanding among others. Critical reflection of meaning schemas and

perspective grows out of rational discourse, if one has met the assumptions listed. Mezirow

(1991) believes meaning schemas and meaning structures are transformed because of “rational

discourse that critically challenges assumptions explicit in TPTL” (Mezirow, 1991). This is


important to our study because our research is attempting to ascertain if the adult learners in this

situation experience these elements within the TPTL which leads to TL.

Several years after the initial study, the TPTL structure was enhanced when he added an

eleventh phase: altering present relationships and forging new relationships. (Kitchenbam, 2008,

p. 109). Furthermore, in 1991 he changed the 11th phase to renegotiating relationships and

negotiating new relationships and placed it between the original phase 8 and phase 9. The new

phase reflected the importance of critical reflection and constructivist learning theory (2008, p.

113), because it is important for adults to construct their own meaning in relationship to their

own context which includes relationships. Education is a social context where relationships can

be important for adult learners returning to school. Changing the TPTL, also responded to

criticism’s asserting a lack of analysis of adult learner relationships on TL covered in this

chapter.

In 2000, Mezirow (1978) adopts the idea that “meaning perspectives are frames of

reference with two dimensions; habits of mind and their resulting viewpoints” (Taylor, 2012,

p.83). A frame of reference is contextually based on the learner’s tendencies and disposition

along with the assumptions they carry with them in a given situation. Adults carry with them the

assumption that they need to work and it will be important to see how they react to a change in

their meaning perspective. Throughout his work, Mezirow (1978) strives to describe each of his

elements in hopes that concrete terminology will resonate with educators and counselors.

Another development in Mezirow’s (1978) theory involves the role of counseling and

learner support. Oddly, Mezirow‘s 1978 study discovered gaps in counseling and instructional

support. Less than one third of the 288 programs studied had counselors on staff and yet he was

able to identify perspective transformation. (Mezirow, 1978, p. 47) Mezirow spent years trying


to pinpoint exactly what was important about counseling and learner support. To that end, he

identifies authentic relationships as one of the six elements necessary to fostering transformative

learning. The six elements named in 2009 are experience, critical reflection, dialogue, holistic

orientation, appreciation for context and authentic relationships with students” (Mezirow, &

Taylor, 2009, p.290). These authentic relationships very crucial to adult learners and in the

interview, process; adult learners cited relationships with staff as crucial. “Fostering

transformative learning in the classroom depends to a large extent on establishing meaningful,

genuine relationships with students (Cranton, 2013, p. 5). Taylor (2009) found that “establishing

positive and productive relationships with others is one of the essential factors in a

transformative experience” (p. 12). “It is through building trusting relationships that learners

develop the confidence to deal with learning on an affective level, where transformation at times

can be perceived as threatening and an emotionally charged experience” (pp. 12-13). Authentic

relationships is a salient factor in this research, even if it is not explicit in the TPTL, it is part of

the fabric of returning adult learners educational context.

It is important to note, TL theory is complicated because it continues to change with

further research. At times it is confusing but continued analysis and progression of this theory

creates opportunities for other researchers to include their viewpoint. Whereas authentic

relationships is now an indisputable element, critical reflection and rational discourse are two

elements which continue to breed controversy. For some practitioners the idea of a

transformational learning process rooted in rational discourse and critical reflection may not be

relevant to the low skilled adult learners in adult education programs. It does not take into

account other non-national ways of viewing and learning or the effect of individual’s


relationships with peers, family members or faculty. These are areas of criticism discussed in the

next section devoted to an overview of criticisms that are relevant to this study.

Criticism

No literature review would be complete without an analysis of the theory’s criticism and

particularly the criticisms that affect this research. As a consummate educator and academic,

Mezirow (1978) was open to critiques, revisions, and variations. He spent his life searching for a

true definition of his theory and many researchers have taken on the same charge. Areas of

criticism are mainly critical of a lack of individual and historical context, relying too heavily on

only rational discourse with an absence of affective learning or spirituality (Taylor, & Snyder,

2012, p. 48). Also, ignoring the meaning of relationships and constructs of social recognition

(2012, p. 49) as well as how the construct of power is ignored in Mezirow’s(1978) design to

“creating conditions for discourse free from epistemic, sociocultural and psychic distortions”

(Pietrykowski, 1996, p. 94).

Overall, Taylor (2012), in the Handbook of Transformational Learning, is critical of the

way TL Theory is studied in general and he advocates for less reliance on Mezirow’s (1978)

initial study framework and his specific research and development of the TL. Taylor (2012) says

there should be more consideration for extending beyond traditional contexts such as formal

education, delving into the creative, spiritual and emotional areas of transformation while

developing a terminology and a process to adequately capture the process of transformation. (pp.

48-50).

Clark and Wilson (1991) criticize his theory in two main areas. Context and rational discourse as

it relates to context. First they say, “He implies that this learning conforms to universal principles

that apply across all contexts” (1991, p. 76). The lack of historical, socio-cultural and


biographical context is a major problem with the 1978 study. The women in the study were

mostly middle class existing in a patriarchal society and each women had a biographically

history which was largely ignored. (Clark, 1991, p. 77) To that end, “reason cannot exist

independently of contextual contingencies” (Clark, & Wilson, 1991, p. 90), and “rational

discourse is a communal process” (p. 89) based on inherit structures or meaning schemas that an

individual in a certain context or with certain histories can apply. There are assumptions about

individual contexts with Mezirow’s (1978) work that need further clarification especially as it

relates to an individual’s history and cognitive abilities. Mezriow(1978) says “rational discourse

occurs when we set aside bias and prejudice and personal concerns to arrive at consensus”

(Mezirow, 1995, p. 53) Additionally if rational discourse can only happen in those

circumstances, it leaves out “divergent voices, human qualities and values” (1991, p. 82) of

specific human beings and communities.

Similarly, rational discourse and critical reflection requires a mature level of cognitive

functioning. Therefore, Merriam (2004) wonders “is a rather high level of cognitive functioning

a prerequisite for transformational learning” (Merriam, 2004, p. 61). TL theory is predicated on

critical reflection and rational discourse. Adult learners come into an educational environment

with all kinds of cognitive and educational backgrounds. They may not be able to participate in

rational discourse at a high level for a variety of reasons, like “maturity, education deficits,

safety, health, economic security or lacking emotional intelligence” (Merriam (2004), 2004, p.

65). Merriam (2004) feels there should be more study in this area to expand TL theory to include

more “connected, affective and intuitive dimensions” (p. 67). Moreover, even with cognitive

challenges adults experiencing a disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1978) like unemployment will

experience transformation in some manner. In addition, Merriam (2004) has the same concerns


as Clark (1991) and Wilson (1991) when she does not see the likelihood of having “ideal

conditions” for rational discourse. Factors such as not having the right information, all the

information, free from self-deception, having an equal opportunity to participate and a myriad of

emotional factors (Merriam, 2004, pp. 62-63) are “never fully realized in practice” (Mezirow,

2000, p. 14).” Having worked with many different adult learners in a variety of settings, the

researcher knows it takes more than the ability to have a rational argument at a high level of

cognition to bring about change. This is where habits of mind come into play and adults succeed

because they have certain characteristics beyond the rational or cognitive. No classroom

environment is indicative of “ideal conditions which is another reason why criticism have

validity toward this thesis. Furthermore, Taylor (2012) acknowledges that there is no

understanding of affective elements in TL theory with a complete “lack of attention to racial,

political factors that affect individuals differently” (Taylor, & Snyder, 2012, pp. 37-55). Taylor

and Snyder’s suggest to further TL theory by doing more field work and deep research, with a

variety of primary sources because that is where theory comes from, and how we can learn best

(2012, p. 48).

The classroom is a traditional source for primary research and educators know learning is

not done in an individual vacuum. So scholars like Chin, (2006) Nohl (2009) and Scott (2003)

after their research wonder why the social nature of learning is largely ignored in Mezirow’s

(1978) TL theory. Chin (2006) believes there is significance in relationships while Nohl (2009)

introduces the concept of social recognition (2009) he witnessed as a major component of TL.

Moreover, Scott (2003) observes “transformative learning is at the intersections between the

personal and the social, whereas a transformation is a reciprocal process” (Scott, 2003). Certain

questions arise such as, is transformation as much a product of individual change as of group


acceptance of change? And will learners experience transformation if there is no social support

or recognition” (Taylor, & Snyder, 2012, p. 49)? The social connection has significance in this

study because adult learners respond to group interaction and study groups as effective

classroom methods and environments.

In addition, to social support from one’s peers, there is support of faculty and staff that

must be considered. The differences between faculty support and peer support lies in the concept

of power. Adult learners do not necessarily feel that they are on the same footing as the teacher

and yet they know how they like to learn. Younger adult learners simply do not have as much

worldly experience to compare with older adults but there is a hierarchy in the classroom

environment. Pietrykowski (1996) points out that Mezirow (1978) does not pay enough attention

to the “pervasive role of power in adult learning processes and TL should seek to understand the

deep structures of power that govern our lives” (Pietrykowski, 1996, p. 94). Communication for

rational discourse or critical reflection must be an atmosphere that supports the freedom to learn.

Mezirow (1978) elected to in cooperate Habermas (1971) ideal speech situation which is creating

emancipated learners engaged in communication free of distortions. (1996, p. 94) But like many

of the critical claims cited, it is short cited to think that these conditions can be created when

there are other salient variables. “Power structures especially, real or perceived, are the most

corruptive and distorting of all the epistemic, sociocultural and psychic biases” (Kitchenbam,

2008, p. 108).

Taylor (2012) has studied TL Theory extensively and his criticisms are also looking to

the future of the TL research. Taylor (2012) hopes that research will take on new dimensions that

get away from the original TPTL, rational discourse and critical reflection as Mezirow (1978)

describes it (Mezirow, 2009). A call for more understanding of non-rational TL, study in


different environments and contexts, understanding the aspects of relationships and how they

affect TL. Peers, teachers, counselors and families at home all have some effect on an

individual’s TL and yet the research has not given us many answers to those questions. (Taylor,

& Snyder, 2012, pp. 47-48). Also, cultural influences which affect TL were not considered in

this study and is an area for further development both in understanding it from the learner point

of view and how staff respond to multiculturalism and TL. Ukpokodu (2009) worked with

educators to “foster transformative learning in a multicultural education.” (p. 1) and the need was

clear. This study was not structured around the student’s ethnicity or culture and the researcher

wonders what impact that may have. While TL theory is not as expanded at Taylor (2012) hoped,

other educational theorists such as Freire (1970), and Clark (2012) have adapted TL Theory to

embody different elements such as political, and non-cognitive.

Variations in a Theory

Mezirow (1978) was not the only educational research to explore TL in the 1970’s and

80’s. Freire (1970) influenced our understanding of Transformational Learning theory.

Researchers such as Freire (1970), furthered their understanding of Mezirow’s (1978) basic

premise of critical reflection to evolve into consciences–raising forms of transformational

learning theory. While there are a variety of new perspectives on TL, this literature review can

only focus on a few, and it is important to mention Clark’s(2012) narrative focus as non-

cognitive knowing(Clark, 2012) in TL Theory because her definition in the introduction

resonates with the author. Newer variations and perspectives will also be disused in the literature

review to establish more recent research but let’s start with the main variations that spring

boarded from Mezirow’s(1978) original study.


Paulo Freire worked in South America in the 1970’s. His work influences Mezirows’

(1970) work. Freire’s (1970) work introduces the idea of adult learners developing a critical

perspective but with one major difference. Freire’s (1970) work is rooted in literacy–based adult

education and a focus on supporting social change with “freedom from oppression” and

developing critical consciousness (Dirkx, 1998, p. 3). His work in the United States with

community based organizations such as The Highlander School is the basis for social-

educational movements to bring about the type of transformational learning needed in

community- based school and adult education centers from around the country. Emancipatory

learner is a key goal for Freire and Mezirow. (Pietrykowski, 1996) However, Freire’s (1970)

definition of TL asks for more than Mezirow’s original definition of TL which is

“Transformative Learning is the process of using a prior interpretation to construe a new or

revised interpretation of the meaning of one’s experience in order to guide future action"

(Mezirow, 1978). Freire’s (1970) process of critical consciousness similar to critical reflection is

a process to include one’s self and outside ones’ self. “Critical consciousness refers to a process

in which learners develop the ability to analyze and pose questions, “take action in the social

political cultural and economic context that influence, and shape their lives” (Dirkx, 1998, p. 3).

Freire (1970) “saw the teacher as a facilitator of the group learning process and the teacher and

student relationship were horizontal” (Mezirow & Taylor, et al 2009, p. 245). Teaching adults in

transition especially mature adults involves an understanding of classroom dynamics, and just as

Pietrykowsi (1996) said, the notion of power is crucial to recognize (p.94). Freire (1970)

considered the social context in his research and application.

Clark (2012) internalizes TL. Her explanation of Transformational Learning lays out a

description in sync with the adult learner’s paradigm when they are faced with job loss.





which affects the learner's subsequent experiences. (Clark, 1993)

It also describes more than the cognitive rational focus Mezirow (1978) had theorized

about and expanded on over years of study. Her focus is on the “embodied narrative of

transformation” (Taylor, 2012, p. 435) where as the “disorienting dilemma” begins a process of

change that cannot be explained but a person is different afterwards in ways they and others can

recognize” (Clark M., 1993, p. 47). As part of a story or narrative, one can develop different

meaning schemas stemming out of a single event and the life-altering event resounds in ways

that unexplainable. Clark points out at “different points in one’s life, one realizes that a “certain

story is meant to be lived out” (p. 436). For example, as one ages one knows the possibility of

more serious illness is greater and afflictions like arthritis can take their toll after a certain age,

but one learns to live with it and redefine one’s narrative; in essence, it transforms our meaning

schema to accommodate the issue or to challenge the issue with a new perspective. The

researcher sees the story of unemployment and career transition as an embodied narrative that

proposes perspective changes in surface ways and under the surface as well. TL is more than the

cognitive and the rational; it has deeper dimensions for adult learners and implications of adult

learning theory development.

Correspondingly, Rachel (2002) proposes that “TL theory is the new andragogy”

applying a theory of, what is learning? Which is different” than Knowles (1986) framework of

“how to teach adults not what is happening in their learning” (Rachel, 2002). Transformational


Learning Theory is transforming adult education theory both with the exponential growth of the

theory and emerging perspectives. It takes,

“The basic premise of andragogy to new levels. It recognizes adult complexities

influenced by the individual affective personality, their surroundings, cognition,

relationships and even spiritual dimensions to probe at a better understanding of

how to teach adult learners (Rachal, 2002).

Therefore, in the spirit of progressive education (Dewey, 1916) and recognizing the need

to advance the human condition while mitigating the tension between individual versus

societal change, TL theory may be the new andragogy. If it continues to expand our

thinking about adult learning. Taylor hopes its evolution will bring a more unified theory

(2012, p. 17) that helps educators and professional apply Theory to their practice in the

tradition adult education theory has tried to do. The evolution of TL as it applies to this

research is also more than a guide to teaching adults but what factors and characteristics

of their career transition experience effect teaching adult learners effectively.

Adult Education Theory Basis and Characteristics of Adult Learners

In this section, we briefly cover the beginnings of adult education theory development

while focusing on adult learner characteristics and needs which include, readiness to learn, goal

oriented and clarity of purpose. Adult education theory or andragogy is the mother of all adult

education theories and the springboard for which TL and other adult learning theories have

evolved out of an effort to help educators gain more understanding of the way adults learn as

opposed to children. Malcolm Knowles (1986), American educator associated with the post-

World War II progressive or popular education movement, used the term andragogy to describe

the process of adult learning. He is credited with recognizing that adults learn differently from


children; popularizing the first notion of andragogy, study of adult learning (Smith, 2002, p. 4)

Knowles acknowledges adult learning is different because of the role of self–direction, which is

an element of motivation for adults and is a key to adult learner progress (p.6). Characteristics of

adult learning include self-concept, experience, readiness to learn, orientation to learning and

motivation to learn” (p. 7). Readiness to learn is part of TPTL, implied in Phase 5 with an

exploration of options for new roles, relationship s and actions. When adult learners see

themselves as students, they are more likely persistent and adult education theory research

supports this concept which is important to this research.

Additionally, one of the basic tenets of adult learning theory is that adults tend to be goal-

oriented (Knowles, 1975), seeking to use their learning to achieve specific outcomes. Based off

this idea, Comings, Parrella and Soricone (1999) studies adults over a period of time and those

adult learners who were able to clearly identify their learning goals were much more likely to

persist than those who either mentioned no specific purpose or simply said that they were

learning for themselves (Comings, Parrella, and Soricone, 1999). Kallenbach (2009) and Nash

(2009) say:

Where clarity and transparency are lacking, students are often confused about the

purpose of instruction, and how it supports their academic goals.” ‘Clarity of

Purpose’, needs to connect to the curriculum and ongoing counseling in order for

the program to meet the test of relevance in the learners’ eyes (Nash, 2009, p. 68).

So much adult educational theory has been built off the very concepts Knowles (1986)

laid out especially the characteristics of adult learners. This serves as a foundation for theory

development and practice. Adult educators seek the answer to the question how to help adult

learners be successful and more importantly how to help them develop into transformed thinkers


(Mezirow, 2009). “Clarity of purpose, needs to connect to the curriculum and ongoing

counseling in order for the program to meet the test of relevance to the learners” (Nash, 2009, p.

68).This becomes important when we look at why adults may not succeed. Adult Learning

theory goes hand-in-hand with adult learner development theory especially in the circumstances

of adults in career transitions, the basis of this study.

Adult Learner Development Theory

At that time of the initial study, Mezirow (1978) did not link his research to recognized

adult learner development research of the time. In fact, he did not want the “metaphor of

psychological developmental stages to be super imposed on his learner characteristics or

designations” (Taylor, 2006). However, there are a plethora of adult learner development

theories, which overlap, codify and contradict TPTL. There are too many to go into significant

detail about but many involving stages and phases of adult learner development that are

reminiscent of the stages and phases adult education theory particularly TL theory have. Adult

Transition Theory and constructivist development theory are covered in this literature review

because of their applicability to the adult learners in career transition.

Adult transition development theory is the most relevant adult learner development

theory linked to adults in career transition. The process, described by Schlossberg’s (1984)

transition theory is” one of reaction over time, moving in, moving through and moving out of the

transition” (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, Renn, 2010, p. 218). Counseling Adults in Transitions

is the work of Schlossberg (1984), Anderson (1984) and Goodman (1984). Their theory is an

integrative theory useful in combination with a deeper understanding of cognitive and

psychosocial theories. Schlossberg believed,” a need to develop a framework that would

facilitate an understanding of adults in transition and aid them in connecting to the help they


needed to cope with the ordinary and extraordinary process of living “ (Anderson, Goodman,

Schlossberg, 1984, p. vii). Her stages are defined by what is the transition, “an event or

nonevent; did something happen or did something that was supposed to happen not happen”

(Anderson et al, 1984) Meaning is based on the type of transition, the context and the impact.

The theory explains the “process of reaction, dealing with, moving in and out of the transition as

it relates to the ability of one to cope with it which is based on their assets and liabilities”

(Anderson et al, 2006). The variables of, what is the situation, personal and demographical self-

characteristics and psychological resources affect the transition as well as support systems and

inherent strategies in place. The context of those decisions and “the discrete or concurrent stages

of moral, psychosocial and cognitive development determine their transition process” (Anderson

et al, 1984). The “process of reaction over time” (Evans et al., 2010), is very applicable to adult

learning in a career transition. It is interesting that the movement is almost a metaphor for the

unemployed workers from the beginning of the process of unemployment, through retraining and

hopeful on to reemployment. Assets and liabilities of adult learner characteristics will have

influence on how adults will handle career transition.

Anderson et al (2006) research focuses on adults in transition and saliency and self-

efficacy are major components of adult career transition. (Anderson, 2006, pp. 154-155,160).

Because adults have multiple roles of worker, parent, wife, daughter citizen etc., each role has a

level of importance, a ranking or order. “Saliency is the level of importance one role may be to a

person” (Anderson et al, 2006, p. 155). Self-efficacy, the belief that one’s actions will have

impact on one’s environment (Anderson, 2006, p. 160), plays a major role in the success of an

adult learner. Schlossberg (1984) and her colleagues cite self-efficacy work of Bandura (1996)

and Barbaranelli (1996):


Our self-efficacy defines us because our beliefs influence our goals and

commitment to those goals. Research indicates that a high or low level of self-

efficacy influences motivation, perseverance in the face of challenges, successes

and failures and how one copes with stress and depression. (Bandura, 1996, p.

1206).

The role of self-efficacy, self-esteem and salience are aspects of adult attributes that have

significance on how adults succeed or fail. Adults who possess these attributes have assets and

not liabilities. Saliency and self-esteem are evaluated in career counseling theory and application

to adults in career transition, which is covered in the next section. Adult learner development

theory practiced in tandem with educational practice supports the ways adults participated in

their own learning while constructing their own meaning in and out of the classroom. The aim is

holistic, learner-centered and hopefully transformational.

The second adult learner developmental theory that influences this study is constructivist

development theory. Developmental psychologist Robert Kegan (1994) took Piget’s (1937)

constructivist stages of child development into adult practice with his constructivist development

theory through what he describes as orders of consciousness. (Kegan, 1994) He describes orders

or levels of cognitive ability constructed through developing meaning. Adults can progress

through these levels with bridges (Kegan, 1994). As he said, “Bridges can be constructed to help

adult learners toward the gradual accomplishment of higher level reasoning overtime” (Kegan,

1994).Transformation is not about adding more information to someone’s brain but changing the

vessel (Traylor, 2010) that holds the information. One “changes one’s vessel” while constructing

meaning which then necessitates the need to change the level, thus permeating a higher level of


consciousness. Kegan (1994) says, this is when true transformation for the adults, within one’s

own context, occurs.

Criticisms of TL theory have pointed out that Mezirow (1978) did not consider the

surrounding biographical context and relationships of the individual. His presentation is that

perspective transformation is personal (Kitchenham, 2012). In his work, Kegan(1994) analyzed

adult learners going back to school and those adults who experienced transformation experienced

it in all areas of their lives so transformation not only bridges orders of consciousness in the

classroom, but in a persons’ life. He says:

What makes school transformational for adults is that it creates a bridging

environment, but it does not only in the intentionally fabricated, temporary and

“rented” world of school itself: it also reaches into the preexisting, ongoing real

world of the adult learner’s relational field and seeks to make it a part of the

bridging environment. (Kegan, 1994, p. 294)

Family and friends are drawn into the process of transformation and in turn, their support

is essential to the success of adult learners. Conversely, unemployed adults gaining skills and

employment have a tremendous impact on relationships as they stand to benefit from this type of

progress. Kegan(1994)’s constructivist developmental approach to adult development and

learning resonates with this researcher in that it has provided some answers to understanding the

situation of the “whole” adult learner. An important dimension of transformational learning is a

holistic learner-centered approach to instruction. Kegan(1994) says, “Developmentally conscious

educators will not only teach in ways that expect and reward adult learners’ capacities to

demonstrate higher stage ways of thinking and acting but will also find ways of meeting adult

learners at their level” (Kegan., 1994, p. 178). Therefore, Kegan (1994)’s ideas add substance to


the research, suggesting a process and strategy to address learners where they are, whether it is

his orders of consciousness or Mezirow’s (1978) TPTL.

Another interesting aspect of Kegan(1994)’s work is his understanding of the changing

societal and cultural context, and the need for higher-level critical thinking skills or transformed

learning as Mezirow(1978) said, is imminent. Kegan (1994) predicted, “The information

highway we plan for the next century may geometrically increase the amount of information, the

ways it can be sent, and the number of its recipients” (Kegan, 1994, p. 5). Given our need to

synthesize all of the information, the researcher wonders how it will affect our ability to

negotiate the challenges adult learners in transition are already facing and what transformational

learning strategies are therefore needed. Adults now change jobs more than ever before, so what

we can learn from those who help adults transition from unemployment to employment.

Learning theory and developmental theory reinforce the concept that holistic support for learners

and learner-centered education are critical to adult success.

Career Development Theory

Adult learner development theories such as those already mentioned enable us to

understand the adult learner experience in a career transition or a disorienting dilemma in a

clinical or educational context. Counselors’ knowledge of self-efficacy, transitioning and

bridging led the investigator to uncover a completely underutilized disciple in education, that of

Career Development Theory. Therefore, to round out the literature review, exploration of

transition phases, career stages, career maturity and career adaptability are essential. The theories

and practices used by vocational and career counselors as well as human resources and

management professionals, especially in the situation of job loss, are important to recognize

within educational contexts.


Especially in recent years, adults are reinventing their work selves to fulfill a multitude of

positions within a lifetime, because Americans no longer work for the same employer for thirty

years or more years. According to the US Department of Labor, “baby boomers held an average

of 11 jobs in a lifetime with half of those jobs between the ages of 18-25. It is projected

millennials will hold more than 20 jobs across the span of their working years 18-65” (2014).

After 2008, older adults also find themselves changing careers defined as a mid-life career

change. Aptly, midlife career changes describes the adult learners in this thesis study. Walker

(2000) counsels adults in mid-life and suggests that there are strategies adults can use to become

employed in a new career.

The key is to understanding the phenomenon of transitions and one’s own nature.

Transition is divided into three phases: beginning, middle and end... Adults

respond differently in those phases based on their own biases. Understanding

these natural bias not only helps with the career transition but also helps people

make the right career choices. (Walker, 2000, pp. 16-19)

The transitions phases are described in terms of a persons’ preference for one stage over

the other. “Beginnings people thrive on planning and organizing and they love starting projects

and often handle career transition well.” (Walker, 2000, p. 16). “Middles people thrive on

stability, security and routine” (p. 16).They are often considered the backbone of the company

and they carry out orders not usually initiating new ideas. “They have a hard time with career

transition” (p. 16). Finally, ending people like closure. “They never lose sight of a goal and can

be counted on to get the job done and transition is a minor bump in the road when there is more

work to be done” (p. 17). While these are generalizations and individuals can possess traits from

all three categories, it is interesting to look at this self-reflective activity as a counseling strategy


with to deal with adults in a mid-life career change. It can also be a way for learners to evaluate

how they approach the commitment of education for a career. Walker (2000) also points out that

age is an asset when evaluating oneself, because one has a long work history to assess areas of

strength and weakness. (p. 18)

Trained counselors have a special lens through which they view the adult in a career

related disorienting dilemma. Super (1983) is the preeminent psychologist and researcher in the

area of career stages, career maturity and adaptability. “Career Maturity has been defined as the

individual’s ability to make appropriate career choices, including awareness of what is required

to make career decisions and the degree to which one’s choices are both realistic and consistent

over time. “(Crites, 1978). Super (1983) helps teens and adults in career guidance stating that;

An effective career development model brings out the fact that readiness for

vocational and related career decision making requires 1) a sense of autonomy,

time or future perspective, and self-esteem, 2) a commitment to work or to self-

actualizing career in terms of work salience. (Super, 1983, p. 567)

Using a Developmental Assessment Model (Super, 1983, p. 559) he explores and tests career

maturity and career adaptability, which is especially appropriate for adults in career transition.

There are five components of career maturity, “plan fullness, exploration, information about

work norms and occupations, decision-making and reality orientation” (Super, 1983, p. 557).

Two important factors that have been mentioned are work salience and self-esteem related to

self-efficacy. In the plan fullness component, self –esteem is evaluated. High self-esteem

indicates one has faith in one’s abilities to develop a career plan, using the skills they have and/or

through the capability of learning to move forward in a career. Work salience or work readiness

is necessary to be able to make decisions, component four of career maturity. Super (1983) and


Nevill (1984) found “work salience was perhaps the important determinate in career

adaptability” (1984, p. 200). Adult learners who consider work salient, one of their major roles,

are more likely to be successful and adaptable. The concept of salience transcends adult learner

development theory and career development theory, which is important in our application of

theory to adults in career transition who have recently become involuntarily unemployed. In

considering, “factors and characteristics which imped or facilitate transformational learning”

(Mezirow, 1978), career adaptability is a factor to consider especially for assessing counseling

used in the research.

Career counselors help adults reinvent themselves by assessing career maturity and career

stages. The seven stages of one’s career are exploration, personnel assessing, analysis, decision–

making, and planning, implementation or development and life and work management. (Dubois,

2000, p. 47) Maturity components are different because it is an assessment of one’s abilities.

Stages are about the process of defining one’s career path, path development, and how to

negotiate one’s life in and out of the path. (p. 45) Career adaptability is implicit in all the stages

but especially in the decision–making stage.

Career adaptably is a central theme in the studies of Ebberwein (2004), Krieshok (2004),

Ulven (2004) and Prosser (2004). Referred through the OSCC, Ebberwein (2004) et al surveyed,

forty-eight (48) Midwestern laid-off workers to determine how adults handle career transition

(2004). Results showed three themes, “adaptive responses, contextual challenges and insights

into transition” (Ebberwein et al, 2004, p. 297). All the respondents indicated they had anger,

depression, denial and a host of emotional reactions similar to the “stages of grief” (Kübler-Ross,

1969) and implied in the TPTL especially phases 2-4. However, all those that were adaptable had

hope as well. Another aspect of adaptability is to have a healthy sense of urgency, but the


patience to be plan full thus envisioning one’s self s in a new career (Ebberwein, 2004, pp. 297-

298). Career Mature respondents set realistic goals and plan the steps to achieve career changes.

Sixty seven percent (67%) of the respondents to their survey indicated it was very important to

gain more education or learn new skills. Several participants reported their skills were outdated

and they understood the rapidly changing needs of the work force (p. 304) Education was part of

their plan.

Contextual challenges of the participants relate to a lack of financial resources, family life

and interaction with the employer in the process of termination. Those that were adaptable were

able to handle the transition better especially if they had buffers in place like another person

contributing to the household, supportive relationships and good communication with the

employer. Ebberwein (2004) et al found that respondents appreciated when the employer

communicated effectively and frequently and that they offered career counseling and outpatient’s

service (p. 301). Additionally, they felt counselors need to have a holistic approach to career

counseling to best help workers. One respondent said, “People don’t understand that in career

transition, it is the whole person. It is the family, the friends, social and employment”

(Ebberwein, et al, 2004, p. 302). Ebberwein et al’s research is significant to this research

because it deals with the same population, and an exploration of other similar research helps us

to determine if some of the main points like good employer communication are relevant. It

represents a nexus of theory and application.

Additionally, adults in career transitions are going through multiple “metaphases” within

the phases of being laid off often to include a period of adjustment like pre termination. Job loss

is like any loss it requires adjustment and strategies for coping. Davis (2009) says,


For many people today, there are two major phases of job loss. The first one is

relatively new, and although it can be helpful, it brings new problems, too. I call it

the "pre-termination" phase. In past years, it was common for firings to be swift

and merciless, but more and more companies are now providing a transition

period. This is the period beginning with advance notification of job termination

and ending with the actual job loss. It can last from a few weeks to several

months. It often involves job retraining and outplacement services, which are

provided by the company (Davis, 2009)

Adults in Ebberwein(2003) et al study found transition services along with

straightforward, clear communication from the employer within a period prior to the last day of

work, to be helpful and important to their ability to handle job loss. One of the reasons for pre

terminations is the a result of the Warn Act of 1988 which will be discussed later in the chapter,

but essentially it mandates employers give notification 60 days before laying off more than 50

workers (US Department of Labor, 1988). All of the workers in this thesis research were

provided advanced notice due to the WARN Act.

Some participants of the study indicated, “They saw the lay off as an opportunity and

they hoped to develop a new career”. Schlosberg (2006) says, “Often when counselors counsel

adults in transition, one of the first tasks for the counselor is to uncover hope or to help create or

instill hope. When people have hope, they realize that their situation can change” (p. 110).

Optimism also signals a person who has the ability to change his life through his own efforts,

displaying self-efficacy, and adaptability.

Career Development concepts such as transition phases, career phases, career maturity

and career adaptability are taken into consideration as part of the research, but also for utilization


in counseling and educational practices. These disciplines seem to be practiced in isolation when

they can be shared to improve human development in any context. Consequently using all these

theories to create a new perspective in educational theory amidst the changing landscape of

workers lives and career transitions, could be helpful to education and career professionals who

prepare workers for the challenges they face in a new paradigm.

Great Recession of 2008 and Workforce Policy Changes

Fast forward to 2015, this study responds to the movement of more adults into career

transition after the financial crisis of 2008. This period in time is without a doubt the most

financially unstable for Americans since the great depression. In the week of Oct 3, 2014 a CBS

news poll reported thirty four percent (34%)of voters thought the economy still ranks as the most

important issue for Americans when deciding who to cast their votes for in November” (CBS

Polling Report Inc., 2014), and government officials and politicians are falling all over

themselves to find the answer.

The majority of the literature review covered theory that may be relevant to actual

circumstance and so to understand the relationship of workforce to education and provide a

context for understanding adult learners in career transition services, this section lays out policy,

legislation, workforce report findings and accountability. Historically, workforce needs and

educational implications have always had a relationship. The Higher Education Act (HEA) of

1965 and The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 laid out parameters for post-secondary

school education. In 2010, Gainful Employment rules amend the HEA Act to include more

accountability for loan making at post-secondary institutions. The rule states:

In order to receive federal adult learner aid, the law requires that most for-profit

programs, regardless of credential level, and most non-degree programs at non-


profit and public institutions, including community colleges, prepare adult

learners for gainful employment in a recognized occupation. These regulations set

the standards for gainful employment programs to remain eligible to accept

federal adult learner aid grants and loans (US Department of Education, 2013).

A summary of WIA is broken up into to five titles in areas pertaining to education and

workforce agencies. Title I authorizes the new Workforce Investment System that funds OSCC.

Title II reauthorizes Adult Education, literacy programs and “Title III amends the Wagner-

Peyser Act to require employment service/job service activities become part of the "One-Stop"

system (OSCC) and establishes a national employment statistics initiative” (US Department of

Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 2014). Finally, Title IV reauthorizes the

Rehabilitation Act program for special populations (disabled, Native Americans etc.) and Title V

contains general provisions to include authority for state unified plans relating to several

workforce development programs, state incentive grants such as the Perkins Vocational

Education Act. In July 2014, WIA was amended to include performance-based funding and

accountability under the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The rule changes

will affect adult learner’s ability to receive training and education in periods of unemployment

and higher education will be more accountable to tax payers. It remains to be seen the impact of

the new law, but policy makers are looking to educators for workforce solutions.

Other employment services for adults in career transitions under WIA for OSCC pertain

to operations, guidance and funding under the US Employment and Training Administration

(ETA), part of Department of Labor. OSCC’s work cooperatively with employers and

educational institutions to support unemployed workers or any adult in career transition under

legislation enforced under ETA. One example of this legislation is the WARN (Worker


Adjustment and Retraining Notification) Act of 1988 also help protect workers with advance

notice the opportunity to get advanced warning and career counseling services through OSCC.

WARN Act:

Offers protection to workers, their families and communities by requiring

employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and

covered mass layoffs. This notice must be provided to either affected workers or

their representatives (e.g., a labor union); to the State dislocated worker unit; and

to the appropriate unit of local government." (US Department of Labor,

Employment and Training Administration, 2014)

In a planned process the OSCC works with the employer laying off workers to assist in

occupational counseling guidance and other support while they negotiate with a local educational

institution for future training opportunities for the laid off workers. The One Stop Career Center

(OSCC) part of the workforce system is typically the gateway that leads adult learners in career

transition to the community college. As described in chapter one, they support adult learners

through the post-employment phase to the job placement phases, which includes co-managing

the adult learners while they are in school at the community college.

The intersection of post Great Recession unemployment, workforce policy and legislation

along with regional employment statistics relates to the adult learners in this study because it

directly effects their circumstances and prospective educational journey. According to the

National Association of Workforce Boards the number of American adults in career transition

accessing training WIA (Workforce Investment Act) services through One Stop Career Centers

increased by 234% between 2008 and 2011 (National Association of Workforce Boards, 2011).

For the south coast of Massachusetts and RI the notable increase is comparable serving over


17,000 clients and “exceeding their planned service level by 37% in one year. “ (Massachusetts

Workforce Board Association, 2011, p. 7) Additionally data from Farber’s 2011 research,

Showed a record high rate of job loss, with almost one in six workers reporting

having lost a job in the 2007-2009 period. The consequences of job loss are also

very serious during this period with very low rates of reemployment, difficulty

finding full-time employment, and substantial earnings losses. (Farber, 2011, p.

abstract)

Even in other countries, researchers study the effects of a global recession to determine

the aftermath of a severe period of unemployment. Romanian researchers Bordea (2014) and

Pellegrini (2014) in their 2014 research explore the relationship between unemployment, stress,

anxiety and depressions only to determine there is a direct correlation. (p. 398). They also found

that adults with less education experienced more anxiety and depressions than those with higher

levels of education (p. 407).

This study explores whether or not OSCC clients and other unemployed adult learners

experienced perspective transformation and transformational learning at Bristol Community

College and if so what factors, characteristics or environment contributed to transformation for

adults in career transition. The effectiveness or ineffectiveness of collaboration between

community colleges and OSCC’s to support adult learners provides the framework for a larger

discussion of policy and pedagogy for American community colleges. The discussion continues

with a look at more recent initiatives from the Obama administration.

Community Colleges and TAACCCT

In 2009, the President’s Council of Economic Advisers report on, “Preparing the Workers

of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow.” Critical to the report’s findings and suggested actions is the


need to improve community college services for adult learners in career transition. With

recommended actions, the President’s counsel calls on community college and workforce

systems to prioritize this work as an economic imperative.

Since the President’s Council report in 2009 funding streams have been established to

address the reports finding. One such program is the Transformation Agenda (TAACCCT) grant,

also known as grant MCCWDTA in Massachusetts. Community colleges are charged with

working with all TAACCCT eligible adults or nontraditional adult learners assisting them to

succeed at post-secondary training with more intensive college case management, career

advisement, redesigned programs and additional opportunities to meet their goals with equal

challenge and support (Massachusetts Community Colleges MCCWDTA, 2013).

As part of the MCCWDTA plan, College & Career Navigators serve at all MA

Community college campuses at the local OSCC. Mainly, the role of the Navigator is providing

dedicated case management style of holistic counseling for at-risk adult learners and /or

nontraditional adult learners. (Massachusetts Community College Executive Office, 2013) The

origins of this idea are Breaking Though Initiative (JFF), the preliminary model for the

Transformation Agenda and the role of the Navigator. The initial Jobs for the Future (JFF) report

called for more intensity in adult learner support services with “intrusive” advising. (Jobs for the

Future and the National Council on Workforce Education, 2004). Academic advising and social

supports often fail to reach adult and workforce development learners. With weak advising

programs at several community colleges, JFF found that more than 40 % of adult learners lack a

career path or a major, and see no connection between degree programs and career opportunities.

(Jobs for the Future and the National Council on Workforce Education, 2004, pp. 14-15


Recognizing the low graduation rates at community colleges, community colleges around

the country instituted various initiatives to fulfill a need for comprehensive supports. JFF listed

successful examples of programs that provide intrusive advising and career counseling. College

advising and support services collaborate with local agencies to provide adult learner programs

such as Austin Community College and Capital IDEA partnership. The combined efforts provide

case management counseling, mentoring, tutoring, job search, and job placement with weekly

peer and career counselor meetings. Participants graduate at nearly twice the rate and earn 39%

more than Austin Community College students who do not receive the extra supports. (Jobs for

the Future and the National Council on Workforce Education, 2004, pp. 26-28)

From 2008 to 2010 the designated “Breaking Through” colleges such as Portland

Community College “created intensive and intrusive counseling such as regular checking with

adult learners to help them overcome barriers to persistence.” (Jobs for the Future and the

National Council on Workforce Education, 2010, p. 12). “Cuyahoga Community College has a

Career Support Specialist playing the role of case manager who is connected to Workforce

Investment Board’s (WIB) and employers”. (Jobs for the Future and the National Council on

Workforce Education, 2010, p. 14). Accelerating Opportunity is an initiative out of the best

practices developed in Breaking Through but with intent to replicate certain aspects and refine

the methods and goals to include a College and Career Navigator as part of its four main

priorities. Foreshadowing future accountability trends and unique to this program design is the

establishment of performance-based funding with more rigorous evaluation. All seven

Accelerating Opportunity states, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and North Carolina

employ a Navigator in the adult learner support piece of the design. (Jobs for the Future, 2013)


Adult Learning theory, developmental theory, and career development theory reinforce

the concept that holistic support for workers/ learners and learner-centered education are critical

to adult success. Moreover, research from a policy perspective supports these notions as well.

Clearly, the success of adult learners, particularly a group in career transition, compounded by

any additional challenges they face, while retraining, depends on a chorus of higher education

educators and counselors working together with and for adult learners.

Higher Education Accountability for Workforce Needs

Accountability and performance are the new metrics for which educational institutions

will be judged by as they try to meet workforce demands and economic imperatives. Numerous

initiatives from K-12 to higher education like Common Core Standards for College and Career

Readiness, Liberal Education and America’s Promise, College America’s Guided Pathway to

Success.(GPS) call for standards, strategies, high impact practices and career pathways to meet

performance outcomes. Massachusetts suffers from a deficit of skilled workers with higher

education credentials to meet high tech demands of the areas’ employers. The 2014 MA Vision

report, Degrees of Urgency says:

The effectiveness of higher education recruitment will be tested as states try to

fulfill a demand for skilled workers especially those with industry recognized

certificates or degrees and yet the pool of younger high school graduates is drying

up. (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2014, p. 4)

Public Higher Education needs adult learners more than ever. The report points out that

there are adult learners who have attended college before but never received a credential and

while attending they struggled more than young adults;


Seventeen percent of all Massachusetts residents aged 25–65 have some college

credits but no degree. (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2014)

Most of these individuals are not currently enrolled in college. Many other adults

aspire to jobs that require a college degree or certificate but are not yet ready for

college-level work. Once enrolled or re-enrolled, adult learners persist in their

studies and earn degrees at lower rates than younger adult learners, most likely

due to competing family and job related pressures. (Massachusetts Department of

Higher Education p. 16)

Not only do we need to recruit more adults to fill highly skilled jobs we need to make

sure they are successful which the research shows requires more intrusive advising and clarity of

purpose (Nash, 2009). We see this trend on a national scale. Complete College America

promoting the Guided Pathways to Success program calls on higher education to initiate

intrusive advising with college students as they progress through their college program. It is one

of the mandatory six components of the GPS program and it works. “Graduation rates are up

20% at Georgia State University graduation with degree mapping and intrusive advising”

(Complete College America, 2015).

A global trend toward more accountability coupled with the desire to compete in a

universal community in science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) is driving

policy decisions that could insist on more and better outcomes for the college educated

individuals. Education will need to be life changing and transformative to meet a standard that

expects the world in general to be more enlightened, especially the United States which is not

competing as well with other countries in terms of STEM fields. The world is more complicated

and requires greater problem solving and critical thinking skills too and education is seen as the


key to creating a better “thinker”. Norwegian scholar Ivan Bleiklie (2004) acknowledges that

there is a growing government concern over the role of education of a society in his 2005 policy

research,” The first concern is that the level of education in the population affects the

competitiveness of a nation. Prevailing beliefs seem to indicate that in order to elevate the level

of education one must raise academic standards” (Bleiklie I., 2004). This will affect higher

education beyond policy and curriculum decisions, it touches the very heart of higher education:

Academic freedom.

Academic freedom for faculty and the freedom to teach, and academic freedom for adult

learners and freedom to learn have been around since the middle ages, but an institution’s

academic freedom is more recent. The “four freedoms” (Kaplin, 2007, p. 258) were born from

the decision in Sweenzy v New Hampshire (1957). Justice Felix Frankfurter’s concurring

opinion detailed the concept that: “An institution has the freedom to determine who may teach,

the freedom to determine what may be taught, how the subject matter will be taught and who will

be admitted to study” (p. 252). Consequently as the federal government and state government

provide more funds that are tied to greater accountability, academia, particularly under the guise

of institutional academic freedom may have even more control over the classroom. As

institutions gain more control of faculty’s academic freedom, adult learners are also asking for

outcomes related to their own employment success after college.

In 2009, former Monroe College adult learner Trina Thompson sued the college because

after graduation she was unable to find employment. Additionally she alleges there was a lack of

adequate support from college career service because they discriminated against her due to the

fact she was an average adult learner and they only cater to adult learners with excellent GPA’s.

(Kessler, 2009). This suggests she did not feel her experiences at Monroe College were


transformational or even adequate. It raises the idea of accountability for academics and

employment. Completion and employment are required outcomes for the school which receives

Transformation Agenda (TAACCCT) funding, and it is recommended in countless articles and

policy briefs since the 2008 recession. Public policies such as Gainful Employment and

performance based funding under WIOA are just the tip of the iceberg in a series of more

accountability measures for academia to possibly include standardized tests in higher education

and challenges to academic freedom.

This literature review is responding to shifting workforce needs like advanced

technologies, changing demographics and globalization by connecting educational and

developmental theory, strategies and challenges to workforce paradigms and economic realities.

According to a RAND report,

To respond to the 21st century workforce needs there will be an emphasis on

retraining and lifelong learning, which coincides with slower labor force growth.

Fewer employees will encourage employers to include more women, the elderly,

those with disabilities and the lower skilled adults. (Rand Corporation, 2004)

In particular, transformational learning (TL) theory will have applicability with special

populations and nontraditional adult learners particularly those in career transition. Finally, it is

the premise of this research that those adult learners in career transition experience perspective

transformation that leads to transformational learning, and adult learners who experience

transformational learning were influenced by positive factors and characteristics of cultural and

administrative practices at BCC and /or OSCC.

Mezirow’s 1978 study was responsive to the momentum of reentry programs in

correlation to the Women’s Movement of the late 1970s. Now it is this generation’s turn to be


responsive to changing needs in a global society to meet the challenges we seek better strategies

to help workers, adult learners, become critical thinkers and experience truly transformational

thinking. Simply put transformation requires that an old way of seeing or doing is changed to a

new way of seeing or doing” (Scott., 1997, p.41).

Chapter 3: Methodology

This chapter will present the research method that utilized a qualitative case study design.

The researcher, guided by Mezirow’s (1978) TPTL framework, developed the measurement

tools. A student pilot group, OSCC counselor, ENC thesis advisor, and the Internal Review

Boards (IRB) of Eastern Nazarene College and Bristol Community College reviewed questions

for the student and staff interviews as well as the baseline student survey. The student baseline

survey was piloted on a class of BCC adult learners in career transition in Sept 2014. Two

changes were made to the feedback form based input from those students. In November 2014,

the baseline survey results merited changes to the student and staff interview questions, to

dovetail to the actual responses given on the baseline survey. Participants were selected based on

meeting the criteria of adult learners over the age of 25 who were in career transition. They were

identified via “purposeful” and “snowball sampling” (Gay, Mills, & Airasian, 2009, pp. 137-

138). Data was recorded from the interviews by researcher note taking. Data was analyzed

using a case study method (Stake, 1994). This chapter provides an overview of the design and

modifications in the design, participants, measurement tools, data collection procedures, data

analysis procedures, and ethical considerations.

Overview of Research Design

From the period of September 2014 to February 2015, the tools designed, and the data

was gathered using the following tools: adult learner baseline surveys, interviews with adult


learners, and interviews with staff, either faculty or counselors. The tools or apparatus used is

adult learner baseline survey (Gay, 2009) (appendix A), semi-structured interview questions for

adult learners (appendix B), semi-structured interview questions for staff (appendix C) and adult

learner consent form (appendix D). Appendix A-D samples are included at the end of this thesis.

In addition to the survey and interview tools, basic demographic, enrollment and completion

information was derived from BCC databases, Banner (Oracle 2011) and Argos (Envisions, Inc.,

2014) adult learner management systems.

The researcher invited 142 adult learners, three faculty members, and four counselors to

participate. One hundred and forty-two adult learners were asked to complete a consent form and

the baseline surveys. It was the researcher’s intent to reach the learners who responded to the

baseline survey with a follow-up interview. After adult learners’ interviews, the researcher hoped

to reach at least seven faculty who could contribute to a better understanding of specific learner’s

transformational experiences. Thirty seven adults responded to the baseline survey. Out of the 37

adults, 32 agreed to be interviewed. Fifteen were interviewed and out of the 15 student interview

responses, seven (7) faculty and staff were identified for staff interviews. Four staff, one faculty,

one Career Navigator in OSCC, and two BCC academic advisors, participated in interviews.

Design Modifications

The baseline survey and interview tools were designed using the TPTL of Mezirow’s

theory (1978). The design adapted Mezirow’s TPTL and applied them to a current case study of

adult learners who were experiencing one major and widespread “disorienting dilemma”

(Mezirow, 1978, p. 12). The tools were modified twice after student pilot feedback and baseline

surveys were returned. Therefore, in early September, the baseline adult learner survey (Gay et

al, 2009) and adult learner consent forms were revised and piloted with a group of adult learners


who were in career transition and enrolled at BCC. After receiving their feedback, the baseline

adult learner survey and adult learner consent forms (Appendix A and D) were rewritten and

distributed to the available pool of participants. The pilot group asked the researcher to be more

specific on question two of the baseline survey “What stage are you in at BCC?” They asked for

clarification on enrollment stages of credit adult learners that are first term, second term, third

term and fourth term versus noncredit adult learners, which are defined as at the beginning of

studies, middle of studies and end of studies or graduating. This explains why the question

directs noncredit adult learners to skip the term definitions. Only credit adult learners would

answer the term designation if it applied to them.

The other point that came out of the pilot was the need to add “Non OSCC” to the

baseline survey and consent form because some adult learners did not come through the career

center but entered classes on their own. So that statement was added to question one of the

baseline survey (Gay, 2009). Originally, the interview questions were submitted in draft form

because the researcher knew that the questions would need to change based on the responses

(Charmaz, 2014). In November 2014, the adult learners, faculty and counselor interview

questions were revised after the researcher collected the adult learner baseline surveys (Gay,

2009). Consequently, the focus of the interview questions were refined and strengthen, to capture

a clearer understanding of adult learners’ experiences, based on the answers received through the

baseline survey (Gay, 2009).

Participants

The primary participants in this purposeful sampling are BCC enrolled adult learners,

twenty five years and older and in career transition that were enrolled between July 2013 and

December 2014. The secondary research participants identified through snowball sampling


method were faculty and counselors at the BCC or the OSCC. One hundred and forty two (142)

adult learners were originally identified from a BCC database of learners who were

underemployed or unemployed and tracked by the college for the MCCWDTA grant. The

researcher’s motivation to work with this group of learners comes from 15 years of experience

with adult learners in career transition. Additionally, the researcher’s team recently worked

closely with many of these students and had access to all of their information under the

MCCWDTA grant. The criteria dictated adult learners in this study must be Bristol Community

College adult learners over the age of 25 and in some state of career transition. The adult learners

represented were mostly (31) adult learners referred through the One Stop Career Center (OSCC)

of Bristol County, Massachusetts or Greater New Bedford Massachusetts. Three learners came to

BCC on their own, and did not go to OSCC. The researcher originally thought that all of the

adults in career transition in the unemployed tracking database were clients of the career center

only to find out in this process, that they can enter the college on their own. One hundred and

forty two (142) met the criteria, were contacted via email or mail. Thirty seven (37) responded

with baseline surveys and consent forms (appendix A & C) and 32 agreed to participate in a semi

structured interview. Out of the 32, 15 adult learners participated in semi-structured interviews

(appendix B) between December 2014 and February 2015.

The secondary participants were BCC staff or OSCC staff who were identified in adult

learner interviews. Seven (7) staff were contacted in February 2015 after the student interviews

were completed. Four (4) agreed to be interviewed with a semi-structured interview tool

(appendix C). The breakdown was one (1) credit faculty, one (1) Career Navigator at OSCC and

two (2) BCC Academic Advisors/counselors.


Measurement Tools

In this section we discuss the baseline survey (appendix A) and semi-structured interview

tools (appendix B & C) design which is based on the TPTL framework. We also discuss other

data sources included in the research such as corollary tools like counselor notes, institutional

data, unofficial transcripts, and program educational plans. Lastly, reliability and validity are

discussed in reference to the baseline survey and interview tool design.

From the period of September 2014 to February 2015, tools were designed and the data

was gathered with the following tools: adult learner baseline surveys and interviews with adult

learners, interviews with staff either faculty or counselors. The tools or apparatus used are adult

learner baseline survey (Gay, 2009) (appendix A), interview questions for adult learners

(appendix B), interview questions for staff (appendix C) and adult learner consent form

(appendix D). Appendix A-D samples are included at the end of this study. The baseline survey

and interview tools were designed using the TPTL of Mezirow’s theory (1978). The design

adapted Mezirow’s TPTL and applied them to a current case study of adult learners who are

experiencing one major and widespread “disorienting dilemma” (Mezirow, 1978, p. 12). All the

tools designed consisted of a combination of open and closed response questions, multiple choice

or a Likert Scale (Gay, 2009, p. P.150).

A baseline survey example of a closed question was “Did you question why you were in

this situation and why this happened to you (unemployment etc.)?” In addition, “Did your

thoughts, feelings or behaviors change when you started to work with staff at BCC or OSCC?”

Open ended questions such as, “How, if at all, has your education been important to helping you

feel more positive about the changes in your life? If not please tell us why.” gave adult learners

the opportunity to self-reflect and share. Six of the ten questions on the adult learner baseline


survey were multiple choice and are reflective of the TPTL of Mezirow’s Perspective

Transformational Learning study (Mezirow, 1978, p. 7). For example, “At the beginning of this

experience how did you feel? Please check any of the feelings (negative or positive) that

describes your feeling at this time.” The choices were fear, anger, shame, guilt, anxiety, and

confusion, optimistic for a chance to start over, relieved to be out of a job you hated and better

than you thought. Adult learners were asked to elaborate if they checked “better than you

thought” or “other.” One multiple choice question asked learners to identify feelings one might

have if they were in the beginning of a disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1978) like

unemployment.

Next, adult learners were also asked to rate their experience with the OSCC and with

BCC on a scale from 1-5 with five as the most positive experience and one being the least

positive experience. Assessing the role of the OSCC and BCC may be directly related to a

positive or negative experience and it is important to know how adult learners perceived the two

entities. It provides some insight for future study and can have a potential impact on future best

practices. The adult learner baseline survey in Appendix A sets the stage for the interview

questions in Appendix B.

Interview questions outlined in Appendix B are chiefly open-ended such as: “How do

you see yourself now as opposed to the beginning of this journey?” and “What do you think you

will be able to accomplish going forward?” A key question at the end of the interview is “Has

your perspective changed and if so name any change in perspective within the areas: self,

education, career, the world around you, or about a particular person or role? Adult learners who

identified particular staff as helpful gave consent to speak to staff and therefore Appendix C was

a semi-structured interview format for subsequent staff interviews with counselors and faculty.


Appendix C faculty and counselor semi-structured interview questions tool listed the

TPTL of Transformational Learning (TL) asking the staff person to identify one or more of the

phases in reference to a particular adult learner and based on their interactions with the adult

learner over time from the beginning to the end of their interaction. The interview questions we

offered in semi-structured interviews to give the interviewee the opportunity to add any

important reflection or observation about the adult learner’s experience form their point of view.

In addition to the survey and interview tools, basic demographic, enrollment and completion

information was derived from the Banner (Oracle 2011) and Argos (Envisions Inc., 2014) adult

learner management systems. These tools provide baseline information for the researcher to

identify the total pool of participants and select the methods of distribution most likely to reach

the client /adult learner. Corollary tools and documentation were used only when an adult learner

consented to complete a more in-depth interview process. Therefore, counseling notes were

provided through consenting counselors. These notes were obtained from the OSCC case

management system and BCC Degree Works (Ellucian, 2013) counseling notes and unofficial

transcripts accessed by the researcher. Program plans were accessed from the academic catalog,

academic counselor or through program managers, so the researcher could understand the

trajectory of the adult learner’s coursework and educational plan. These tools enabled the

researcher to have a fuller understanding of the adult learner experience from an institutional

point of view and it provided a timeline of events and benchmarks within the adult learner

experience. All of the materials collected for each leaner and staff member were stored in a file

folder with a pseudonym on the folder to protect participant confidentiality.

The established reliability and validity the ENC handbook requires an assessment of any

pre-established observational tool. Therefore, prior to this study, perspective transformation and


its TPTL framework were utilized in several other studies. In 1980, Hunter studied adults who

were suffering with ill health. She examined individuals diagnosed with a health issue and

discovered the pattern of change or amount of perspective transformation for those individuals as

they confronted their situation. (Hunter, 1987). Using Mezirow’s(1978)TPTL,

Williams(1986)developed a criteria to determine how well perspective transformation could

explain the process that led to the development of abusive behavior toward one’s spouse and

whether it might assist in understanding and facilitating change in that behavior. (Williams G.H.,

1986)

In 1987, the researcher Morgan (1987) studies thirty displaced homemakers who became

separated or divorced or suffered the death of a spouse. These individuals attended a specially

designed program for women experiencing this specific “disorienting dilemma”. Morgan (1987)

reported the stages of a particular transition group as: shock and devastation, pain and rejection,

immobilization and depressions, gaining confidence, exploring options, decision making and

establishment of independence (Morgan, 1987, p. 204). Essentially her phases mirror

Mezirow’s(1978) phases and similar to the other study’s referenced, “the perspective

transformation ratings were found to be of greater value than other measures in providing insight

into the changes among the subjects interviewed.” (Mezirow, 1991, p. 171). The reliability and

validity of the TPTL framework specifically has not been a major criticism in the literature

referenced in the literature review section but the other components of the theory have been

criticized and examined at length. Therefore, this researcher saw it as a valid basis to study

subjects in career transition who warranted a tested and clear framework for evaluating their

phases or stages of the experience and contributing factors that affect the experience.


Data Collection Process

From September 2014 to February 2015, BCC adult learners in career transition who met

the criterion sampling protocol. Subsequently staff and faculty members from either the career

center or the college (OSCC or BCC) who made an impact on the adult learners’ experiences

were identified, contacted and later interviewed if they agreed to be interviewed. Using

combined methods of purposeful sampling (Gay, 2009) and snowball sampling (Gay, 2009)

survey responses guided the development of qualitative semi-structured interview protocol.

Subsequently a snowball sampling cite method was used with adult learner input and consent

which identified counselors and faculty who had a connection and a positive influence on the

adult learners interviewed. The semi-structured counselor and faculty interviews provided a

richer qualitative data source to deepen our understanding of the adult learner’s experience.

A total of 142 baseline surveys were distributed. Ninety adult learners (90) baseline

surveys and adult learner consent forms were distributed by mail with the option to opt out and

with a return SASE envelope. Fifty-two (52) baseline surveys were emailed in the form of an

online baseline survey created in Google Forms (Google, 2014) software. The results of an

online baseline survey populated an online excel database in the researcher’s Google Docs

(Google, 2013) software. Three surveys came back through electronic submission. Eleven (11)

adult learners responded to the email with a request to do the baseline survey in person or by

phone. The researcher conducted the baseline surveys over the phone and in person, reading out

the questions and documenting the adult learners’ responses. Email and paper surveys were

collected from Sept-October 2014 and in December 2014 to early January 2015. After the 18

paper baseline surveys were collected in December, each respondent’s answer was typed into an

excel spreadsheet. Some adult learners needed assistance with the process of completing the


surveys, which took time in the months of September and January. Three adult learners whose

first language was not English required this assistance, and were surveyed privately, and eight

(8) other adult learners completed the survey in person in a small focus group. Email responses

automatically populated an excel spreadsheet and those three were combined into a Goggle Docs

Excel form.

For the baseline survey the rate of return was best through the mail with a 22 returned as

opposed to three online and 11 by phone and in person. The rate of return was 25 % but 5

baseline surveys were discounted because the adult learner either dropped out before the research

began, opted out or was too young to meet the criteria. Therefore, the rate of return for actual

data collected was 22%. Fifteen of the 32 adult learners who completed a baseline survey

completed the interview process therefore the rate of return is 47%. Attempts were made to reach

out to any other adult learners with emails and phone calls but at a certain point it was

determined to move on to conducting interviews.

Incentives for learners were included in all distribution methods with a random prize

drawing promotion of bookstore supplies of backpacks, flash drives or gift cards to encourage

adult learners to participate and to return the baseline surveys on time. Even if the adult learner

opted out, they could return the baseline survey declaring non participation and still be eligible to

win the prizes. This allowed the researcher to be able to eliminate the adult learner from the

study and further contact, while maintaining standards of full consent and privacy.

Potential participants were contacted and interviewed by phone and in person. In most

cases handwritten notes were taken and later transcribed into Evernote V.57.1 software

application (Evernote Corp, 2013) and downloaded into MS Word. Some adult learners

consented to recording the interview, which was immediately down loaded into the Evernote


application and later edited in MS word. In some cases the recorder did not record the whole

interview or there was a technical glitch in voice recognition and operation. This is when the

recorded notes had to be edited using the researchers hand written notes. This part of the process

occurred between January 5 and Feb 1, 2015.

Seven faculty and counselors were asked to participate via phone, and email and four

staff actually participated with in person interviews. Staff were asked to consent to recording the

interview sessions but all staff declined. The interviews of staff were hand written on preprinted

interview forms (Appendix C) and later transcribed to Evernote V.5.7.1 (Evernote Corp, 2013)

software application. Evernote (Evernote Corp., 2013) was chosen because it is on the

researcher’s cell phone and notes can be dictated into a notepad format.

One Career Navigator working at OSCC, two academic advisor/counselors and one

faculty were interviewed. Those interviews were conducted from Jan 23 to February 23, 2015.

All staff were given an overview of the project, a definition of the transformational learning

theory, an explanation of TPTL and how the adult learner portion of the project was conducted.

Faculty and counselors had the option to opt out and they were asked if the session could

recording the session. In the case of the Career Navigator who worked at the OSCC, additional

process notes were added because interviewer was less familiar with the OSCC process and she

wanted to be certain she understood the steps involved in that process. Those OSCC process

steps are reported in chapter one for the reader to understand the steps adult learners go through

as clients of OSCC.

Data Analysis Procedure

After the data collection process the researcher used qualitative case study method

(Stake, 1994, p. 237) to analysis the data. Case studies data analysis method was used in order to


understand each individual case in the research. To add to the reliability and validity of the case

studies, triangulation (Stake, 1994, p. 241) method collected additional information from data

records retrieved via institutional case management notes and transcript details via the BCC

databases systems and case management notes. “Triangulation is the process of using multiple

data sources to obtain a more complete picture of who is being studied and cross-check

information” (Gay et al, 2009, p.377)

The baseline surveys provided adult learners demographic information and identified

willing adult learner interview participants, which produced the most case study data. Collected

corollary documents such as unofficial transcripts, case management notes, advising notes and

primary source research used together in the case study created triangulation (Stake, 1994) which

is a means of increasing the validity and reducing the likelihood of misinterpretation. When

interviews were not possible, corollary documents provided details of an adult learner’s

educational process.

First, the baseline survey data was examined and when applicable merged with the adult

learner interview data, faculty or counselor interviews and corollary documents. The adult

leaner responses were ordered into beginning, middle and end of Career Transition. Adult

learner’s folders were color-coded relative to their stage of career transition at the time of the

study: beginning, middle or end. For example, adult learners at the beginning of the educational

experience were coded in yellow. Learners in the middle of the process were coded in blue, and

near the end of their educational process, they are coded in green.

The learner individual responses were organized by an ordered Meta matrix tool (Gay, et

al, 2009, p. 431) (Appendix E). The Meta matrix tool (p, 431) (Appendix E) a visual organizer,

helped to analyze the connections between TPTL and the questions and answers of the learners.


For example Phase 6 in TPTL is planning a new course of action. If learners indicated they are

working with an advisor to go to college then the response was written into the Meta Matrix tool

(Appendix E) next to the phase 6 and its corresponding questions on the chart. Using Appendix

E, similar learner responses were organized by frequency. For example if a significant number of

adult learners indicated they had anxiety in the beginning of their experience the researcher

collected that information for the basic data reported in the findings section. Comparing the

individual adult learner comments to questions correlated to TPTL led to preliminary

conclusions about the individual. Additionally, it was necessary to probe deeper into each adult

learner’s experience and trajectory with corollary documents. Therefore, each adult learner’s

case study was developed with a combination of baseline survey results, interview results and

other documentation such as case management notes and adult learner account records.

Finally, the fifteen case studies were organized to examine a preponderance of responses

that indicated a change in perspective from the beginning, middle and end of their experience.

Case studies which had recurring themes were organized by the most obvious and salient points.

The salient points are evidence of TL, factors and characteristics, which supported or impeded

TL. Findings 1-3 were drawn from an assessment of the case studies and the overall process

adult learner’s experienced with the OSCC, at the college and together.

Ethical Considerations

The qualitative method of collective case studies are labor-intensive requiring attention to

detail, especially to ensure confidentiality with adult learner’s records and counseling notes.

Steps were taken to ensure confidentiality and accuracy of the surveys, transcripts, notes and

interview narratives gathered. First, only the researcher and designated staff approved by the

consenting adult learners were included in the process of collecting information or discussing the


adult learner’s records. The only exception was when learners gave consent for the researcher to

talk to a staff member about the leaner’s educational experiences. Upon request, staff member’s

names were kept confidential and a pseudonym was assigned. Next, adult learner data collected

by the researcher was stored on the computer password protected in room BCC Q204 or at the

investigators home password protected computer. Paper files were kept in folders with a

pseudonym on the folder. All of this could only be accessed by the researcher, and results shared

with her Eastern Nazarene Thesis Advisor.

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

From September 2014 to February 2015, BCC adult learners in career transition who met

the criterion sampling protocol were enrolled from July 2013 to December 2014, were surveyed

and interviewed. Subsequently staff and faculty members from either the career center or the

college (OSCC or BCC) who made an impact on the adult learners’ experiences were identified,

contacted and later interviewed if they agreed. The purpose of this collective case study was to

understand if the adult learners had experienced Transformational Learning (TL) through

perspective transformation as laid out in Mezriow’s (1978) ten phases of transformational

learning. Secondly, if the students experienced perspective transformation, what if any factors at

BCC or OSCC “characteristically impeded or facilitated transformative learning experiences”

(Mezirow, 1978, p. 1). Thirty-seven (37) of the initial 142 student surveys were returned and

thirty-two (32) of the 37 were contacted for an interview because four opted out or were too

young to participate. Fifteen (15) of the thirty-six agreed to be interviewed. The findings

presented in the chapter are general participant data, findings 1-4 and the imitations of the

research. The first portion of the findings section is dedicated to basic general information about

the participants and their responses to the baseline survey. There are four significant findings in


this study which includes, (1) interviewed adult learners who indicated perspective

transformation, (2) a network of support is key for adult learners, (3) adult learners found certain

methods and environments helpful and (4) the data could not prove that adult learners

experienced TPTL in that particular order of phases 2-4.

General Data Findings

This chapter present the general findings from the initial survey. A summary of basic adult

learner enrollment is included in the table below (Table 2). It includes the sex, median age and

general stage in terms of beginning, middle or end of the experience of career transition. The

table is organized by which stage of the process they were in at both BCC and OSCC. The

beginning is defined as just beginning at OSCC/BCC, choosing programs with counselor or

seeking academic advisement. The middle is defined as currently enrolled at OSCC and/or BCC

and checking in with a counselor or advisor, enrolled in first, second or third term or in the

middle of their studies. The end is defined as nearly complete or graduating, fourth and final

term, completed and looking for work, or completed and obtained a job and /or transferring to

another institution for further education. The last category is opted out, dropped out, or

eliminated because they were under 25 years old.

The age range of the baseline survey respondents is 34-64 year’s old and 62% were

female. The majority (88%) of the adult learners were in the middle or end of their educational

experience, which began with the disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1978) of an involuntary

change in their employment status. Four (4) learners were in the beginning of their career

transition experience. Nine (9) adult learners were enrolled in Adult Basic Education (ABE). Six

of those leaners were in the beginning toward middle stage of their career transition experience.

Since the baseline survey transpired, three of those adult learners dropped out and one got his


High School Diploma and a job. Nine(9) adult learners were in the middle of their career

transition experience are taking classes and seeking advisement or counseling while enrolled but

had not reached the final stages of their educational component. They still had at least one term

or set of classes to register for and complete. Nineteen (19) adult learners designated at the end

of the experience were nearing completion with confirmed end or graduation date, they had

completed and were looking for work or they completed, found work and/or were transferring to

another program.

The pool of participants represented a broad range of academic and occupational

programs typically offered by community colleges, and they had a variety of results in terms of

their educational progress. Sixteen (16) were enrolled in credit bearing certificates or 2-year

degree programs. During the study, six adult learners transitioned into another program or

transferred to another institution. For example, one ABE adult learner completed her high school

diploma and enrolled in a credit certificate program and one noncredit certificate adult learner

completed her industry credential and then enrolled into a related degree program. Four adult

learners completed or were close to graduating with a two-year degree and then transferring to a

four-year institution. Five adult learners in the other category were one of the following, too

young to meet the criteria of 25 years, voluntarily opted out of the study or they had dropped out

of the educational component at BCC. However, the adult learner remains a client of the OSCC

but is not enrolled in courses.

Summary of Basic Adult learner Enrollment by Sex, Median Age, General Stage

In Terms of Beginning, Middle & End by Type Of Program.


Beginning Middle End Other: Opt Out

or Eliminated

Quantity 4 9 19 5

Median Age 39 42 42 32

Sex- (11-) males /

(26) females 2/1 2/7 4/15 3/2

Adult Basic

Education- (9) 3 3 3 2

Noncredit – (5)

Occupational

certificate

programs

0 0 5 0

Credit certificate

or degree- (16) 0 6 10 3

TABLE 2 Summary of Basic Adult learner Enrollment (include sex, median age, general stage in

terms of beginning, middle and end by type of program)

The researcher broke it down to what stage they were in at BCC and OSCC. First, we

look at OSCC results. Figure two shows the stage adult learners are in terms of their relationship

with the OSCC. Thirty-four (34) of the thirty-seven (37) adult learners attended the OSCC for a

combination of career counseling, training subsidies or job placement services. Most adult

learners are still working with the OSCC in some capacity, either attending classes while

checking-in with a counselor or completed and looking for work. The greatest number of


learners are enrolled in a program and checking in with a counselor. Twenty percent (20%) have

completed and are looking for work and 18% have completed and found work. It is noteworthy

that a substantial number (85%) are still engaged in the process making progress and meeting

their goals which will be discussed in finding two.

FIGURE 2, Number and Stage of Adult learners Attending OSCC

Figure 3 shows their personal reasons for seeking OSCC help. The two most popular

reasons were understanding ones’ options and seeking professional help. Understanding one’s

options refers to the financial and career supportive options available to those adult learners who

have become unemployed. Professional help refers to the career counseling assistance from

intake to job placement clients are eligible to receive when one becomes a clients of the OSCC.

Adult learners were asked in the baseline survey to rate the experience at the OSCC on a Likert

Scale (Likert, 1932) of one to five, one being equal to the worst experience and five equal to the

best experience. Four is a good experience, three is okay and two is to not a good experience.

The majority (31) of the adult learners choose 4-5 on the scale indicating a good experience.


Some adult learners inserted comments such as “above and beyond, extremely helpful and

excellent.”

FIGURE 3 Reasons Why Adult Learners Attend OSCC

It was important to establish the learner’s state of mind after the initial disorienting

dilemma (Mezirow, 1978) of unemployment. Therefore, all the participants were asked to reflect

on how they felt when they began their career transition as in the period of time right after the

lay off and up until they started to work with an OSCC professional or community college staff. .

The Meta matrix tool (Gay, et al, 2009, p. 431) (Appendix E) a visual organizer, is an analytical

tool the researcher used with each adult learner to connect the TPTL with the questions on the

survey and interviews and their responses. Using Appendix E, similar learner responses were

organized by frequency. The question relates to TPTL Phase 2, a self-examination with feelings

of guilt or shame. Figure 4 shows the range of feelings and emotions. The feeling of anxiety,

universal to all job losers, was expected. Bordea and Pellegrini (2014) said “unemployment

represents a risk factor that causes the stress, the depression and the anxiety” (2014, p. 398).

Responding to the global economic crisis they did post unemployment research in Romania.


Additionally, Bordea and Pellegrini(2014), found that adults with less education

experienced more anxiety than those with higher levels of education (2014, p. 407) This thesis

research did not correlate with Bordea and Pellegrini’s (2014) research because 67% of the adult

learners in this population who stated they have anxiety had more education than the 33% who

had less education. There were no mutual characteristics amongst all the adult learners who had

anxiety other than unemployment.

Surprisingly, many of the adult learners were more optimistic than the researcher

anticipated. Fifteen adult learners indicated that optimism was one of their first feelings they

could identify after they became unemployed. This phenomenon is common in adults who have a

strong sense of self-efficacy. Most notable is that “optimism implies hope” (Anderson et al,

2006, p. 109). When adult learners have hope, they have self-efficacy and the motivation to

learn. Often when counselors counsel adults in transition, one of the first tasks for the counselor

is to uncover hope or to help create or instill hope. “When people have hope they realize that

their situation can change. Optimism also signals a person who has the ability to change his life

through his own efforts.” (Anderson et al, 2006, p. 110) The “ability to change through one’s

efforts” (p.110) is important for adults to feel as if they have some control over their lives.


FIGURE 4 Feelings at Beginning of Career Transition

However, fifteen (15) adult learners in this study had anxiety and optimism at the same

time, which is common for adults who have a sense of hope but also a realistic expectation that

there will be challenges in the future. (Anderson et al, 2006, p.109). Anderson et al (2006) found

that “hope only exists when there is otherwise doubt it is an expectation” (pp. 109-110). When

the possibility of something is ambiguous then hope is akin to doubt as anxiety is akin to

optimism.

In addition, adult learners were asked in the survey to report whether or not their

thoughts, feelings or behaviors changed when they started to work with staff at OSCC and/or

BCC. They were asked this because some time had lapsed between the initial lay off and starting

to work with BCC staff. All of the fifteen adult learners interviewed also went through a period

of pre termination discussed in the literature review. As they began to work with staff, they

began to experience one or more of the TPTL such as exploring options for new roles and action,

and planning a course of action with OSCC counselors, BCC counselors or both. Hence, adults

who identified themselves as workers are now exploring and trying on the new role of college

student as they work with the counselor to enroll in classes. Establishing a change in feelings


and behaviors directly relates to the TPTL of perspective change and transformational learning

because it may determine if there was a progression through the TPTL. Twenty-Three (23) adult

learners answered positively to a change in their feelings or behaviors. Ten (10) adult learners

said no and three learners did not answer the question. Those who said yes included comments

such as “I am more positive about career change.” Another adult learner said, “I feel more

positive with a better outlook.” Adult learners felt more confident, and one participant said she

“was more open-minded”. Most adult learners in the study did not elaborate on why they felt a

change. Those who said no, indicated no change even after working with BCC staff, and three

people commented that “staff [were] not concerned enough”, or that “I was doing what I had to

do” or I “still feel nervous”.

While clients of the career center, all of the adult learners embarked on an educational

path through BCC. Therefore, they were asked what stage were they at, with respect to their

progress at BCC and they rated the experience with the college just as they had done with OSCC.

(Figure 5) The results in Figure 5 show more participants in the middle or end of the process.

Participants rated BCC as follows; twenty three (23) reported the best experience, nine (9) good

experiences, three participants said it was “ok”, and one participant felt their experience with

BCC was not that good. Overall, 32 adult learners felt it was positive. One adult learner

complained about the financial aid department and two adult learners remarked on specific

“uncaring staff.”


FIGURE 5 Number and Stage of Adult learners Attending BCC

Unsuccessful adult learners or dropout adult learners were only among the survey

participants, and not the participants interviewed. Although the researcher attempted to reach

these potential participants, they did not respond to her for interviews. Four participants were

unsuccessful entirely right from the beginning of their experience with education because it was

a predicable time of backsliding. Three adult learners were enrolled in the ABE program and one

adult learner was enrolled in a degree program but dropped out in the first week. It is important

to note that some adult learners are simply not ready to return to school. Mezriow(1978)

discusses the idea that“ backsliding” or failure (Mezirow, 1991, p. 171) is most likely to occur in

“the beginning when the learner is exposed to critical analysis of his or her established ideas,

values and sense of order as well as feeling he or she has about these assumptions” (p. 171).

With 15 years’ of experience in adult education, the writer is well acquainted with adult learners

dropping out at the beginning, sometimes after one class. In the case of “Wally”, who dropped

out from the culinary arts program after two weeks, it is relevant that he was in the beginning

stage of his program, because this is another example of a predicable time of backsliding.

However, from other information collected from his adult learner account file and staff


interviews, he may have had a distorted or underdeveloped meaning schema (Kitchenbam,

2008). A distorted or underdeveloped meaning schema leads learners to view reality in a way

that arbitrarily limits what is included, impedes differentiation, lacks permeability or openness to

others ways of seeing and does not facilitate an integration of experience. He wrote in his

survey: “I left after two weeks into classes because I only had one book of the seven I need, no

complete uniforms or equipment and instead of trying to rectify the situation all I received were

zero’s for not being prepared.”

After” Wally” sent back his survey, the researcher and a BCC counselor tried to contact

him multiple times but he did not respond. “Wally’s” situation came up in another interview with

a counselor and her understanding of the situation was that

“Wally’ had options available to him and he was not really receiving the zeros

because the program director understood that Wally had extenuating

circumstances and various bureaucratic issues needed to be resolved. The

counselor says that the adult learner did not try to discuss the situation with the

program director or instructors, instead he just disappeared” (“Jill”, 2014)

Before he was enrolled in the program, he was granted $20,000 for school through the

Trade Adjustment Assistance Act (TAA) and he could collect unemployment while attending

school. Jill said, “Because the funding approval came in late, he did not receive all of his

supplies before classes started,” but according to his counselors, “It was merely a matter of one

system catching up with the other.” Jill felt, “He did not have any social skills and was not a

great communicator becoming easily frustrated and unwilling to discuss it.” She adds, “He was

difficult to work with (Jill, 2014), and the OSCC counselor Jill worked with in tandem concurs

with Jill’s assessment. Despite “Wally’s” circumstances analysis, which used a combination of


baseline survey, informal counselor remarks and secondary sources, baseline surveys alone or

even with additional secondary sources did not yield as much data as a combination of surveys,

interviews and secondary sources.

In conclusion, surveys provided the researcher with general demographic data only and

they were instrumental in helping the researcher further develop the interview protocol to help

deepen our understanding of the transformational learning experiences of the participants.

Analyzing just the baseline survey population data alone has mixed results in terms of answering

the question of perspective transformation and mixed results as to how they represented all of the

TPTL. Additionally, it did not fully provide the researcher with enough evidence influencing

perspective transformation, but there were some interesting results with respect to a few adult

learners, we will discuss later in the findings.

Findings

There are four significant findings in this study which includes, (1) interviewed adult learners

indicated perspective transformation, (2) a network of support is key for adult learners, (3) adult

learners found certain methods and environments helpful and (4) the data could not prove that

adult learners experienced TPTL in order especially phases 2-4.

Finding One

Adult learners indicated perspective transformation. All of the interviewed adult

learners have successfully completed one or more of their career goals. The results show adult

learners successfully retooled their skills, upgraded their skills, increased educational attainment

and prepared to be 21st century workers. Fourteen out of 15 said they had perspective

transformation and the majority (12) identified one or more perspective transformations in more

than one area.(Figure 6) The four areas are self-perspective, education perspective, career


perspective, and other perspectives related to another person or system outside of themselves like

a counselor or the way BCC and OSCC worked together. The results showed three main areas or

schemas of perspective transformation (self, education and career). These three areas were

identified when adult learners were asked in the interview, “has your perspective changed from

the beginning of our career transition to now.” The responses detailed below have certain

common themes which relate the three main questions of this research; was transformation

within the framework of TPTL, and what factors at BCC or OSCC characteristically impeded or

facilitated transformative learning experiences?

Question one of the main research inquiries was to determine if learner’s experienced

transformational learning through perspective transformation? Fourteen (14) of the fifteen (15)

adult learners indicated they had changed their perspective in the areas of education and/or

career. Evidence shows they felt more confident, have more education and skills and were

prepared to find a job or did find a job. These comments show the learner’s confidence in their

increased academic skills and likelihood of employment. All but one of the adult learners who

completed, and got jobs, found it in their field of study which were business, healthcare,

information technology, engineering and education.


FIGURE 6 Areas or Schemas of Perspective Changes

Education perspective related responses included phrases that indicated perspective

transformation. They were; “I see education opens doors”, and “My education will allow me to

have more opportunities.” One adult learner said, “Education was important because I got a job

because I had skills” and “Education increased and proved to help me obtain employment in my

field. “Two adult learners who transferred to a four-year school said, “It is important to be the

best you can be. I have a full scholarship to Bridgewater State” and I graduated 3rd in my class!”

Interview responses about career transition were generally, “My career transition has

helped me to be more positive,” and now, I am very positive about my career transition.” In a

very elated tone one adult learner said, “I can land a position in my field!” Another adult learner

said she “Was finally looking forward to moving on and transitioning to a new career with more

advancement and increased pay scale and she now felt more confident applying for jobs”. Eight

adult learners communicated having “More confidence, comfort, feeling more positive or

hopeful as well as being very grateful or thankful”.


One adult learner who did not feel she had experienced perspective transformation,

expressed concerns that” Although her education did help her she had a very different prior work

history in an unrelated field and she did not have enough experience in her new field to get a

good job.” It is important to note that she had tried an internship while enrolled in course work,

and she was upset she did not get a job from that company when she completed her schooling

and internship. This is significant because usually adult learners who get internships at least get

preferential treatment when applying for a job in that company. It is hard to say what went wrong

for this adult learner, but it did make an impact on her behavior. She was very disappointed and

more unclear about her future than many of the other adult learners interviewed. She became

stuck in her progression to total TL at TPTL phase 9 because she started to lose her self

confidence in a new role after the internship did not go the way she wanted it to.

The second part of our research question is did they reach TL through the TPTL phases?

Eleven learners’ responses and experiences showed progression in the phases near the end of the

TL spectrum. TPTL end phases 7-10 are “Phase 7: acquiring knowledge and skills for

implementing one's plans, Phase 8: making provisional efforts to try new roles, Phase 9: building

competence and: self-confidence in new roles and relationships, and Phase 10reintegrating into

society based on conditions dictated by the new perspective” (Mezirow, 1978, p. 13). The

evidence for Phase 9 is in comments such as “My education increased and proved to help me

obtain employment in my field. “ Additionally, the learner’s grades and successful attainment of

a credential as a college graduate and a job showed they acquired knowledge and competence, all

indicative of phase 7, 9 and 10. It should be noted from the interviews the researcher observed

all 14 of the 15 learners had characteristics showing certain habits of mind such as persistence

thinking about one’s own thinking, question and problem posing, taking reasonable risks,


thinking interdependently, remaining open to continued learning, and especially finding humor.

Later in TL theory development, Mezirow (1978) incorporates habits of mind into his theory.

Which is important because the researcher could see these learners possessed many of the habits

of mind of successful people.

Perspective transformation was evident in the successful completion of course work that

lead to a degree or certificate. According to Degree Works (Ellusion, 2013) which held case

management notes and unofficial transcripts and staff interviews, all of the eleven adult learners

were excellent or very good adult learners. Case management notes and staff interview

comments discussed each learner was “On track” “Making progress” and “Devoted”. The

perspective transformation is all about how the learners, all mature adults, changed the

perspective about their own ability to do the work required of a college student. The transcripts

indicated nine of the 11 had some college experience and 6 of the 9 used Prior Learning

Assessment (PLA) to transfer credits. Adult learners use PLA for a variety reasons from saving

time to saving money and PLA can support adult learner’s transformation through recognition

and motivation (Ford, & McKenna, 2014, p. 18). Since nine of them had some college

experience, they can compare with the current experience. So these adult learners who had

perspective transformation commented on how surprised they were to be excellent adult learners,

how important support was to their success and how grateful they were for the opportunity to go

back to school. This implies they had a better experience this time, in fact one adult learner said

“She was more mature than the first time she attempted to go to school.”

Lastly we wanted to know what factors at BCC or OSCC characteristically impeded or

facilitated transformative learning experiences? Actually the characteristics that really impacted

the success of these 14 learners came from within the learner. Saliency and self-efficacy are two


characteristics that were seen in the learners. They have been positively influenced by factors

and characteristics outside of the individuals which are the results of finding two and three

discussed later. Of this same group, six case studies that are especially interesting are the adult

learners who enrolled with the plan to complete one credential and get a job but then moved on

to transfer to a higher level degree or program. One 63-year-old adult learner said,

“I had the best ever experience at BCC, it was the best two years of my life. Made

me feel good and accepted and I am now going forward to get my Bachelor’s

Degree to teach history and business. Then I will get my Master’s to teach

college.”

Transformation is more evident in these adult learners because they acquired knowledge

and skills for implementing the current plan or meaning schema but they take on the possibility

of trying on a new role beyond an adult learner in their current program and into a new level or

program. Epistemologically, they thought they knew it was what was necessary to complete this

program and get a job, but they begin to see that they can learn more and achieve more changing

their meaning perspectives (Mezirow, 1991). These learners possess saliency and self- efficacy,

two factors instrumental in adult learner’s success and to be discussed further later in the

chapter.

Finding Two

A support network of counselors to include College and Career Navigators, faculty

and other college staff lead to more success and these relationships are a key factor in

affecting any kind of perspective transformation. Finding two reaffirms the current policy

research on adult education with respect to career pathways and contributes to the current debate

and policy movement toward case management and intrusive advising etc. From the research


covered in the literature review, both Adult Developmental and Career Developmental theory

advocate for inclusive supports to help adults accomplish successful career transition. All of the

observations in this thesis center on clients of the Bristol County OSCC, which includes, Fall

River, Attleboro and Taunton, Massachusetts. First, the majority (94%) of adult learners went to

the OSCC, and they did better than those who tried to negotiate the system on their own.

Second, Adult learners stayed with the OSCC even when they completed the program because

OSCC provided support as they looked for employment. Third, faculty, staff and counselors

make a difference when they work frequently with adult learners. Therefore, adult learners who

saw their counselors, either BCC advisor or OSCC counselor or both, regularly, did better.

Furthermore, 32 out of 37 surveyed adult learners indicated there was a person or persons who

stood out as more helpful, and the fifteen adult learners who were interviewed said staff helped

them to cope with a new experience, and understand the process and all it entails to complete a

credential.

Adult learners who established a relationship with the OSCC and BCC staff were more

successful by a large margin (88%) over those that did not establish relationships. Of the three

participants who did not establish a relationship with anyone at OSCC (non OSCC) only one

completed a credential, and got a job, the other two dropped out. All 15 of the 15 interviewed

adult learners(100%) stayed with the OSCC counselor after BCC into the job placement phases

and the majority who continued to work with the counselor did get a job or go on to another

post-secondary opportunity.

More evidence to support frequent counseling comes from the case management notes in

OSCC’s Moses system and in BCC’s Degree Works (Elusion, 2013) system. Multiple notes

signified, an adult learner frequently communicated with an advisor, instructor, navigator or


counselor. TAA eligible adult learners are mandated to check in every 60 days with OSCC or

BCC staff to complete a benchmarks report. Eight of the 15 adult learners interviewed

recognized the College and Career Navigator as staff supportive to them during their career

transition. The Navigator would sign off on benchmarks, which meant she had to check with

each course instructor to verify adult learner attendance.

“Jill”, an academic advisor, who is dedicated to OSCC client’s enrollment, was also

mentioned frequently. She became involved in adult learner case management at the beginning

of college enrollment and she often worked with OSCC counselors to remedy any issues during

the course of an adult learner’s program. For example, “Bill” was a 49 year old adult who was

excited to become a computer programmer but started to have issues when his UI ran out and he

was faced with the challenge of not being able to stay in school. “Bills” situation is discussed in

the discussion section of this thesis.

A majority (32) of adult learners identified twenty-five (25) individual staff in their

surveys and interviews as having a positive impact on their experience: seven OSCC counselors,

three BCC counselors, to include the navigator and faculty advisors, twelve faculty and three

other staff are considered supportive and helpful. Three BCC staff were identified as negative

influences and they were critiqued for “poor customer service” and an “uncaring attitude”.

Adult learner comments are “All the staff on both sides of the process were helpful

giving direction and assistance” And, “My counselor, advisor and navigator provided

encouragement and guided me with courses.” Another adult learner said, “My OSCC counselor

was helpful in assisting me with issues at OSCC.” A third adult learner said, “My counselor has

always been there to answer all my questions and working with me from the start to provide

support” adding “She was very understanding and went above and beyond to help.”


Comments pertaining to faculty and faculty as Program Directors were many and varied.

First, the one student said,” Computer instructor reinforced confidence and she had excellent

experience.” Another student said, “The instructor was very flexible and made the learning

experience fun and enjoyable.” A computer networking student said,” My instructor was very

organized and methodical in her approach to teaching. She made adult learners think about and

understand what they were learning about while encouraging the freedom to experiment.” Other

comments pertaining to the same faculty member, who was mentioned several times, were

“Outstanding professor who was encouraging and wonderful, he was helpful and willing to put

aside time to help in any situation, and he was helpful through the whole program.” A business

adult learner remarked “If things did not happen, the way they were supposed to he made sure

they did”! Next, “’Professor Richards’ was the only person who really helped me transition from

noncredit program to a degree program, so I could get credit for the work I had done.” Lastly,

“My view did change because no matter how many times I would shut down when it came to

math, she kept pushing until I got it.” Other staff mentioned in the interviews and baseline

surveys were a student affairs professional and two clerks who were called “Exceptional and

amazing “and the “Only two people who were really helpful and caring.” These authentic

relationships (Mezirow, 2009, p.12) are a fountain of support for adult learners and in the

interview process; adult learners who made a connection were very appreciative of those

connections.

Finding Three

Finding three is adult learners have definitive opinions on the methods they liked to

see in the classroom and on the environment for their educational experience. In adult

learner responses they identified group work, a combination of teaching methods, including


technology and internships, and any experiential component as the teaching methods or

environments they preferred. Question number two in the semi structured interview dealt with

learners preferences in the classroom or program experience. It had four parts; first, while in

classes have you or are you experiencing any classroom environment, instruction or adult learner

support that has been positive? Second, adult learners were asked to; describe any different

teaching methods outside of traditional lecture that really helped you? Thirdly, how do you like

to learn? Fourthly, any specific environments, which were beneficial, like internships, learning

communities, and civic engagement. Lastly, did you have any negative experiences?

Collaborative and social learning dominated adult learner answers to the series of questions with

11 responses indicating study groups or peer learning were favorable in a classroom environment

as a teaching method and as components of learning.

FIGURE 7 Survey of teaching methods and environments

First, learners cited study groups and group peer activities as the best way to enhance learning.

This included study group activities with classmates in class, peer groups outside of class, groups

facilitated by the instructor and outside activities such as field trips. “Project-based and learning


in a group setting can be effective teaching methods to foster transformational learning” (Taylor,

& Snyder, 2012).

Secondly, Adult learners mentioned internships, job shadowing, community service,

mock interviewing and clinical experiences as beneficial. Experiential learning experiences were

mentioned eleven times in the interviews. Adult learners wanted to do assignments or perform

activities related to real world experiences. One adult learner mentioned that “Her computer

teacher had the class collectively create and run a business using the MS Office and QuickBooks

programs they learned in class.” Moreover internships are considered a “high impact practice by

(LEAP) Liberal Education for America’s Promise” (Kuh, 2008)

Thirdly, adult learners liked a combination of teaching methods including hands-on,

discussions, and visuals. Learners referred to tools of technology nine times. They said “Visuals,

online learning, websites and videos, eLearning and a combination of computer assisted learning

and hands-on learning.” Adult learners in transition come back to school for retooling, and in

today’s workforce, technology retooling includes acquiring skills in using technology to be more

effective on the job. Employer needs cited earlier in this thesis include using technology to

locate and analyze information. Adult learners are aware of the shifting needs of the 21st

Century workforce and they are prepared to embrace technological capacities. To that end,

technology was also mentioned when learners were asked about negative experiences.

Adult learners reported eight negative experiences. Three adult learners mentioned

substandard technology software and hardware in the classrooms, calling it “very frustrating. The

discussion section of this chapter will discuss group learning and technology. Adult learners do

not only identify technology as important, but research findings indicate it specifically fosters

transformational learning. Additionally, three adult learners spoke of the physical environment


with small chairs and uncomfortable classroom furniture that was not conducive to mature

adults. They also did not appreciate someone talking down to them or berating them. One adult

learner had an unpleasant experience with a career counselor who degraded her resume in front

of the whole class. Two adult learners did not feel that the College Success Seminar 101 class

was helpful to adults because it stressed work ethic and time management, and they were mature

adults with a strong work ethic and time management skills. Although findings one through three

affirmed what the researcher has learned in her study of the literature covered in chapter two, and

from her personal experience, there were still more questions raised about the TPTL framework.

Finding Four

Finding four makes the observation adult learners did not necessarily follow TPTL

in order and data could not prove that adult learners experienced all the phases completely

especially phases 2-4. One thing is clear, perspective change did not always follow the path of

the TPTL in order and not everyone experienced all of TPTL even if they did experience TL. All

adult learners experienced Phase one: disorienting dilemma, (Mezirow, 1978) an involuntarily

job loss. Adult learners identified a range of emotions inconsistent with phase two: A self-

examination of feelings of guilt or shame (Mezirow, 1978). Question three on the baseline

survey asked learners to identify how they felt at the beginning of the experience of career

transition. Guilt and shame were the least reported emotions with only two adults reporting

those specific feelings. Optimism and anxiety were reported the most, equally with 15 out of 32

responses for each. See figure 3.

Phases 3 and 4 were particularly difficult to distinguish, quantify and qualify. Phase 3 is

defined as “A critical assessment of epistemic, socio cultural or psychic assumptions”.

(Mezirow, 1978) The research was unable to show that adult learners experienced this stage.


Question four on the baseline survey is, did you question why you were in this situation, and

why this had happened to you? The question attempted to extract a mental state of questioning

that goes with critical assessment, but the results did not prove to be helpful in ascertaining

whether or not adult learners were experiencing a critical assessment. A majority (24) of the

responses were “no “and only 7 adults indicated “Yes”. Perhaps Phase 3 occurred earlier in the

process during the initial career-counseling period and was not really part of the adult learners’

mindset as we begin this research.

Phase 4: Recognition that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared

and others have negotiated a similar change” (Mezirow, 1978). The researcher found little

supporting evidence to suggest this phase was relevant to these adult learners. Only three adult

learners indicated they attended the OSCC for companionship and to meet others like them, but

on the whole most people went there to get professional counseling and to understand their

options.(see figure 2).The need for peer support is more evident in the classroom. As seen in

finding three, adult learners overwhelmingly named study groups and other social learning

activities as a preferred classroom environment and instructional format. Finding four may have

a connection to the limitations of the study and this will be fully discussed in the next sections of

the chapter, discussion and recommendations.

Limitations

A limitation of this study is the response rate from participants especially for interviews.

Only 37 responses to 142 surveys were received. It was difficult to get participants to respond to

my requests for an interview. Therefore, the researcher could not get enough data from the 17

adult learners who completed surveys but didn’t interview with the researcher. This affected the

researcher’s ability to fully construct a complete case study on 17 adult learners, and the


researcher could not determine if 17 learners experienced full TL, although they may have

experienced some perspective transformation.

Survey data was not as informative without the opportunity to interview the adult learner.

Adult Learners did not respond to multiple phone calls and emails. In a few cases, the researcher

asked them to complete the interview in an online format which yielded only three more

responses. Likewise, faculty were not responsive to interviews either. Only one of the four

faculty contacted responded. They were provided with the three options to conduct the interview,

online in email, by phone or in person. Conducting case study research without all the

information creates gaps in fully understanding the whole case (Stake, 1994). At a certain point,

the information in hand had to be enough to move forward to construct 15 of the 32 available for

case studies and draw concrete conclusions from that information.

Discussion

In this section, a discussion of this study’s findings will shed more light on if and how

adults in career transition are experiencing TL. Our analysis is responding to our fundamental

query, did they experience transformational learning though perspective transformation? Was it

within or related to the framework as laid out in Mezriow’s (1978) Ten Phases of

Transformational Learning (TPTL)? If they experienced perspective transformation, what factors

at BCC or OSCC “characteristically impeded or facilitated transformative learning experiences”

(Mezirow, 1978, p. 1). Overall, the findings support our premise, that those adult learners in

career transition experienced perspective transformation that leads to transformational learning,

and adult learners who experience transformational learning were influenced by positive factors

and characteristics of cultural and administrative practices at BCC and /or OSCC. General data


observations, analysis and discussion of findings 1-4 as well as the limitations provokes analysis

for discussion about why this is important and how it is related to the research.

Over all, the research project provided a more complete understanding of an adult learner

in career transition because a qualitative case study (Stake, 1994) method illustrated the learner’s

situation and the context of OSCC and community college co case management. It delineated a

successful process from unemployment to educational attainment to reemployment, while

assessing how and what adult learners felt, liked and disliked. Baseline surveys, interviews and

other documentation provided an important background of what factors and characteristics

support or impede perspective transformation and transformational learning among adult

learners. The researcher gained an enhanced understanding of the type of learning environment

adult learners in career transition are looking for in their educational experience.

Moreover, the general data findings from baseline surveys gave us basic information on

the participants and it provided a base for interview discussions. Pointed out in the limitations,

surveys alone did not reveal significant data to help the researcher determine TL but they did

provide information on student success or lack of success, instances of possible perspective

transformation or when there was no perspective transformation.

Unsuccessful students or dropout students were only among the baseline survey

participants, and not the students interviewed. Although the researcher attempted to reach these

students, they did not contact her for interviews. Reticence to discuss their status may be an

indication they felt ashamed or saddened, but without talking to these adult learners, it is difficult

for the researcher to understand what happened. Interestingly, the four students were

unsuccessful in the beginning of their experience with education. Three students were enrolled in

the Adult Basic Education (ABE) program and one student was enrolled in a degree program but


dropped out in the first week. It is important to note that some students are simply not ready to

return to school after a disorienting dilemma. Mezriow (1978) declares that backsliding or failure

(Mezirow, 1991, p. 171) are most likely to occur in “The beginning when the learner is exposing

to critical analysis his or her established ideas, values and sense of order as well as feeling he or

she has about these assumptions.” (p. 171). With 15 years’ experience in adult education, the

writer is well acquainted with ABE students dropping out at the beginning, sometimes after one

class. One of the reasons could be sometimes adult learners get into the classroom and do not

feel an immediate connection with what they are learning and what they need to know. Adult

education theory reminds us that adult learners need to be ready to learn, goal oriented and with a

clarity of purpose. As Comings, Parrella and Soricone (1999) discovered those adult learners

who were able to clearly identify their learning goals were much more likely to persist (p.69)

In the case of Wally, who dropped out from the credit culinary arts program after two

weeks, it is germane that he was in the beginning stage of his program because Mezirow (1978)

points out that the beginning is often an area of backsliding (Mezirow, 1978). However, from

other information collected in his student account file and staff interviews, he may have had a

distorted or underdeveloped meaning schema (Kitchenbam, 2008). He wrote in his survey:

“I left after two weeks into classes because I only had one book of the

seven I need, no complete uniforms or equipment and instead of trying to fix the

situation all I received were zero’s for not being prepared.”

“A distorted or underdeveloped meaning schema leads learners to view reality in a way

that arbitrarily limits what is included, impedes differentiation, lacks permeability or openness to

others ways of seeing and does not facilitate an integration of experience” (Mezirow, 1991, p.

188). According to BCC and OSCC staff “Wally was rash and threw away a great opportunity


because he was not trying to understand the issue and be patient and open to next steps.” (“Jill”,

2015)

Perhaps career development and adult development theory application could have played

an important role in counseling this student. The concepts of saliency and career maturity are

really the root of the problem “Saliency is the level of importance one role may be to a person”

(Anderson et al, 2006, p. 155). “Career Maturity has been defined as the individual’s ability to

make appropriate career choices, including awareness of what is required to make career

decisions and the degree to which one’s choices are both realistic and consistent over time”

(Crites, 1978). Successfully completing this program could have led to many career

opportunities, but for Wally the role of a student was not as important or connected to the career

decision he needed to make. At this point, our discussion shifts to the students who were

interviewed and largely successful.

In finding one, fourteen of the adult learners self-reported they experienced perspective

transition, which led to TL (Transformational Learning). We know because their interview data

indicates changes in either actions, behaviors, attitudes or feelings. Adult learners successfully

retooled their skills, upgraded their skills, increased educational attainment and prepared to be

21st Century workers. All but one of the adult learners who completed and got jobs found it in

their field of study. All of the adult learners increased their academic and technological skills

acquiring employment in business, healthcare, information technology, engineering and

education.

Comments learners made are perceived as a change in the meaning perspective for those

individual meaning schemas connected to one’s self, education or career. Learners were asked to

identify the area of perspective change and eight adult learners communicated having a change in


self-perspective with more self-confidence, comfort, feeling more positive or hopeful as well as

being very grateful or thankful. Those comments reflect the way they feel about themselves.

Perspective change about education and career are about feeling more confident in terms

of their abilities and future connection with education and career. For example, education related

phrases, which indicated perspective transformation, were; “I see education opens doors” and

“My education will allow me to have more opportunities.” One adult learner said, “Education

was important because I got a job and because I had skills” and “Education increased and proved

to help me obtain employment in my field”. In a very elated tone, one adult learner said, “I can

land a position in my field!” Another adult learner said she was “Finally looking forward to

moving on and transitioning to a new career with more advancement and an increased pay scale,

and she now felt more confident applying for jobs.” Clearly, perspective transformation overlaps

meanings schema of self, education and career. Mezirow’s findings in the 1978 study identified

“Perspective change in more than one area of a person’s life and even though the disorienting

dilemma occurred in one aspect of a student’s life perspective change, often occurred in more

than one aspect of their lives” (Mezirow J., 1978, p. 16).

Interestingly, two students talked about a changed perspective on how the system worked

and all the available support with statements like “The process was so smooth and faster than I

thought “and the “OSCC career center went above and beyond and they helped me be

successful.” These comments could reflect the student’s belief that the locus of control is beyond

themselves, or they were skeptical about the process before they started, and were surprised by

the results. In the case of the student who commented “Above and beyond”, he genuinely

expressed gratitude for the “Support of a 63 year old man [himself] who never thought he could

be successful in school”. Kegan(1994) said transformation is not about adding information to the


brain it is about changing the brain (Kegan, 1994) and with this particular adult learner, TL was

apparent across multiple areas of schema that even effected relationships. This learner

constructed meaning from his relationships with BCC and OSCC staff. The relationships and

changing perspective were empowering. Moreover, we remember that “Mezirow (1978) changed

the 11th phase to renegotiating relationships and negotiating new relationships and placed it

between the original phase 8 and phase 9” (Kitchenbam, 2008). Social context and relationships

is an area of TL theory that needs more exploration and an area which has sparked criticism from

other scholars.

Five other students like “Ted” also transferred into other programs to extend their

learning beyond the original plan to get a credential and get a job. Hence, transformation is more

evident in these students because they acquired knowledge and skills for implementing the

current plan or meaning schema, but they took on the possibility of phase 8, “trying on a new

role” (Mezirow, 1978) beyond their perceived current level. Epistemologically, they thought they

knew what was necessary to complete this program and get a job, but they begin to see that they

can learn more and achieve more by changing their meaning perspectives (Mezirow, 1991).

Clark (1991) and Wilson (1991) said there are “Essential linkages between adult and

development and adult learning.”(p.75). Therefore, Anderson (1984), Goodman (1984) and

Schlossberg’s (1984) research focuses on adults in transition whereas saliency and self-efficacy

are major components of adult transition. (Anderson, 2006, pp. 154-155,160). Because adults

have multiple roles of worker, parent, wife, daughter, citizen etc., each role has a level of

importance, a ranking or order. “Saliency is the level of importance one role may be to a person”

(Anderson et al, 1984). To achieve perfect balance in one’s life, all roles would be equal but that

is not realistic, so often the role of worker or in this case, unemployed worker transformed into


student, has a greater role given its place in securing the other roles. Just as Super and Nevill

(1984) found “Work salience was perhaps the important determinate of career adaptability”

(1984, p. 200). Students who consider the student role salient and as one of their major life roles,

are more likely to be successful and adaptable. This might account for the need to continue in the

student role and become even more successful leading to the primary goal of the worker role.

Furthermore, self-efficacy, the belief that one’s actions will have impact on one’s

environment (Anderson, 2006, p. 160) plays a major role in the success of a student. Last

summer, “Peggy” completed her AS degree in Human Services at BCC and obtained

employment in her field. Now in spring 2015, she continues her education at Rhode Island

College to obtain a BA in Medical Imaging. She comments on her future with the phrase “I am

climbing the ladder.” “Peggy’s” level of self-efficacy is crucial in her believe that she can

ascend to a higher step in her existence. Another student “Ted”, whom we mention earlier,

completed his AS degree in Business Administration third in the class of 2014. At multiple

points in his interview, he seems to be aghast at how well he did in light of his elder status. Now

hired as a consultant and working on a BA in business at Rhode Island College (RIC), “Ted” is

motivated to continue on to a Master’s degree. “Stephan” age 42 experienced success by being

hired right away after completing his AS in Accounting and transferring with 4.0 GPA to

UMASS Dartmouth. One of the most inspirational case study involves a 57 year old women

“Sally” who earned a complete scholarship to transfer to Bridgewater State after achieving a

achieving a 4.0 in her Human Services Degree program. “Sally” writes:

It is a new beginning, a chance to start over. I am learning so much and I am now

confident I can do it after being a laborer all my life and out of school for 37

years. A real chance for a future endeavor with a better job. I am forever grateful.


All of these students exhibit a “can do” attitude with intrinsic motivation to achieve. According

to Bandura and Barbaranelli:

Our self-efficacy defines us because our beliefs influence our goals and

commitment to those goals. Research indicates that a high or low level of self-

efficacy influences motivation, perseverance in the face of challenges, successes

and failures and how one copes with stress and depression. (Bandura, 1996, p.

1206)

Additionally, self-efficacy or self-esteem and salience are evaluated in career counseling

theory and application to adults in career transition. Adults who show a high degree of career

maturity and career adaptability also exhibit higher levels of self-efficacy and self-esteem. Super

determined that;

An effective career development model brings out the fact that readiness

for vocational and related career decisions making requires,1) a sense of

autonomy, time or future perspective, and self-esteem, 2) a commitment to work

or to self-actualizing career in terms of work salience. (Super, 1983, p. 567)

Ebberwein et al, (2004) studied career adaptability. They found survey respondents who

had career adaptability set realistic goals and plan the steps to achieve career changes. Sixty

seven percent (67%) of the respondents in their study indicated it was very important to gain

more education or learn new skills. Several participants reported their skills were outdated and

they understood the rapidly changing needs of the work force (p. 304) Education was part of

their plan.

In the findings, it was determined that a majority (11) of the adult learners had undergone

aspects of TPTL in a sequential manner especially in the phases near the end of the TL spectrum.


TPTL end phases 7-10 are “Acquiring knowledge and skills for implementing one's plans,

making provisional efforts to try new roles and reintegrating into society based on conditions

dictated by the new perspective” (Mezirow, 1978, p. 13). In addition, they had characteristics,

which showed certain habits of mind such as persistence, thinking about one’s own thinking,

question and problem posing, taking reasonable risks, thinking interdependently, remaining open

to continued learning, and especially finding humor. Later, Mezirow (1978) incorporates habits

of mind into his theory. Having habits of mind in combination with qualities of a career

adaptable person point to an adult who is capable of transformation. Career adaptability

requires,

A healthy sense of urgency, ability to envision the next career move, sense of

readiness in event of career transitions, ability to follow the plan and not be

derailed by stop-gap measures and embracing realistic goals with outlined steps.

(Ebberwein et al, 2004, pp. 297-300)

Moreover, analysis of adult learners who reported perspective change and exhibit TL was

less about checking off each phases in the TPTL framework and more about interpreting the

factors and characteristics, which supported success and transformation. Some of the factors and

characteristics like habits of mind, career adaptability, and career maturity came from the adult

learners themselves. However, certain support systems and methods definitely have an impact to

foster those leaners characteristics and TL. Findings two and three illustrate the OSCC and/or

BCC factors that support TL.

Finding two’s discussion is building a network of support that is fundamental to adult

learning and development theory, as well as a facet of major policy recommendations over the

last decade. Clearly creating a support network helped adult learners’ perspectives change and


transformed uncertainty into confidence. Adult learners who transitioned into further education

illustrated a major change in meaning schemas. For example in the case of “Ted” who did not

think he could do college level work as an older adult began to work with the Navigator to plan

to go on to get his Master’s degree.

Policy reform understands the necessity of a support network. “Breaking Through”

(2004) is a national movement by JFF, is designed to help strengthen community colleges efforts

to help adults enter and succeed in educational programs at community colleges. From 2008 to

2010 the designated “Breaking Through” colleges such as Portland Community College “created

intensive and intrusive counseling such as regular checking with students to help them overcome

barriers to persistence” (Jobs for the Future and the National Council on Workforce Education,

2010, p. 12). Eight of the 15 students interviewed recognized the College and Career Navigator

as BCC staff most supportive to them during their career transition. Jobs for the Future created

the College and Career Navigator position to help connect OSCC clients more successfully to the

community college system. “College and Career Navigators play an integral role in fostering

student persistence and success through direct guidance and coordination of campus and

community based services” (Goodman, S., 2014, p. 3).

Clearly, high levels of staff support from partners like the OSCC and the college are

crucial to student success and are factors contributing to transformational learning. Laro and

Taylor’s (2014) research on fostering transformational learning within the context of Andragogy

discusses the idea that there is “constant reference in the literature to providing a supportive and

safe environment” (Laros, 2014, p. 143). Despite consistent mention in the research, Taylor and

Laro (2014) are not exactly sure what a safe and supported environment looks like and they


suggest more study in this area (p.143). It is the intent of this study that findings and

recommendations will contribute to the research on how to foster transformational learning.

A great deal of what the researcher learned about adult learner support stems from

building “Authentic relationships” (Mezirow et al, 2009, p.12) that make a difference. These

authentic relationships (Mezirow et al, 2009, p.12) were important to adult learners who made a

connection and those learners were very appreciative of those connections. Much of these results

indicate that the counseling and a strong support services environment worked well especially

when the learner made a connection with someone. This research showed the advantages of

cooperation between two entities, the One Stop Career Centers of Bristol County and Bristol

Community College. Adult learners who had repeated interaction with OSCC counselors and a

BCC Navigator or counselor were successful. In the classroom, faculty who were encouraging,

dedicated with real expertise, and knowledge, were valued by the adult learners.

In the case of “Bill”, cooperation and collaboration between, the advisor, faculty member

and OSCC counselor made all the difference. “Bill” was a 49 year old adult who was excited to

become a computer programmer. He was seeking a Computer Information Systems degree with a

training voucher through TAA and while collecting unemployment insurance (UI). After the

second semester, an issue came up with his UI benefits. Although his training was paid for, his

UI benefits were to end. “Jill” said: “He was very upset because he had to leave school to get a

job and support his family.” He was ready to give up even though his grades were very good.

Consequently, “Jill” worked closely with the career center, the faculty program director in that

department, and they came up with night school classes and an online schedule that would allow

him to work while he completed his degree.


“Bill” is still enrolled, but BCC almost lost a great student and the OSCC almost lost a

successful outcome. Mezirow(1978) said the second point of backsliding is “an event so

threatening or demanding, the learner is immobilized and it is not enough to understand

intellectually the need to change the way one acts but it requires emotional strength and an act of

will to move forward” (Mezirow,1991, p. 171.) Consequentially, close monitoring, support and

case management by faculty and counselors can make a difference in learner’s transformation.

Bill could change his meaning perspective and refocus on learning. He said” he has a positive

outlook for the future due to his academic success and opportunity to go on.” This is another

example of why authentic relationships make a difference. The three staff members who worked

collaboratively together are specifically mentioned in Bill’s baseline survey. Taylor’s (2012)

earlier research found that “establishing positive and productive relationships with others is one

of the essential factors in a transformative experience” (Taylor, 2009, p. 12). “It is through

building trusting relationships that learners develop the confidence to deal with learning on an

affective level, where transformation at times can be perceived as threatening and an emotionally

charged experience” (pp. 12-13).

Finding three is oriented in the classroom and instructional environment. Adult learners

have definitive opinions on what they liked to see in the classroom and in an educational

experience. Adult learners identified group work, a combination of teaching methods to include

technology and internships or an experiential component as favorable teaching practices.

Collaborative and social learning dominated adult learner answers to the series of questions

regarding classroom environment, teaching methods and components of learning. Project-based

and learning in a group setting can be effective teaching methods. Taylor said:


Teachers and learners who are willing to engage each other in open and

safe group settings, participate in challenging experiential activities, and explore

learning beyond the rational to include the extra-rational, have the potential for a

transformative learning experience. (2000, p. 24)

We are reminded of what Cranton (2013) said, “Fostering transformative learning in the

classroom depends largely on establishing meaningful, genuine relationships with (other)

students” (2013, p. 5). Adult learners respond to social interaction in the classroom. For example,

one student’s comment was “I liked it when the instructors and students would share their

experiences.” Freire (1970) recognized the social element of learning because he saw the teacher

as a facilitator of the group learning process and the “teacher and student relationship were

horizontal” (Mezirow & Taylor, et al 2009, p. 245). Perhaps mature adult learners appreciate an

equal status with the instructor and a lack of hierarchy evident in group learning.

Group learning gives way to the opportunity for rational discourse, another element of

Mezirow’s (1978) theory, and one that is debated greatly because educators wonder if the only

way one can experience rational discourse is if one has the cognitive ability to participate.

Merriam (2004) said it best when she wondered “Is a rather high level of cognitive functioning a

prerequisite for transformational learning” (Merriam, 2004, p. 61). What is astounding is that 11

of the 15 learners referred group learning or study groups without any coercing. The researcher

never mentioned it as an example of classroom method in the interview process. Adults said

“They like discussion”, so it is safe to say this particular group of learners enrolled in college

credit classes, may be up to the task of rational discourse or at least social learning.

Conversely, Mezirow’s (1978) TL theory is critiqued for not recognizing the social

nature of learning. After their research, Chin (2006) believes there is “significance in


relationships” (p.42) while Nohl (2009) introduces the concept of social recognition (p.306). He

witnessed it as a major component of TL. Moreover, Scott (2003) observes “Transformative

learning is at the intersections between the personal and the social, whereas a transformation is a

reciprocal process” (Scott, 2003).

Additionally internships are considered a high impact practice by (LEAP) Liberal

Education for America’s Promise in their 2008 resource on “High Impact Educational Practices:

What are They, Who has Access to them and why they Matter.” Dr. Kuh says

Internships are another increasingly common form of experiential learning. The

idea is to provide students with direct experience in a work setting—usually

related to their career interests—and to give them the benefit of supervision and

coaching from professionals in the field. ‘If the internship is taken for course

credit, students complete a project or paper that is approved by a faculty member’

(Kuh, 2008).

Internships are also a way to foster a career path. Several students mentioned they

obtained employment after an internship. It provides a connection to employers and prepares the

learner for the responsibilities of the job. Adult learners are career mature (Super, 1983) and

they have experience in the world of work, which establishes a certain comfort level for the

learner “building on already established assets” (Anderson et al, 2008). Schlossberg et al (2008)

based counseling adults in transition on adult’s “assets and liabilities” (Anderson et al, 2006).

Work experience is an asset for adult learners and helps adults cope with transition.

Adult learners reported using technology or elements of technology such as videos and

websites as a preferred learning method and environment. Early in her career, the researcher has

seen reluctance to using technology in the classroom but as this century unfolds, it is evident that


if one cannot use technology, one will not be able to participate in the world of work. College

adult learners are very aware of the need to retool. Kegan (1994) anticipated the need to adapt in

that last century with “The information highway we plan for the next century may geometrically

increase the amount of information, the ways it can be sent, and the number of its recipients”

(Kegan, 1994, p. 5). Transformational learning is at the heart of how we prepare learners in a

new age of technology. Remember, “Transformation requires that an old way of seeing or doing

is changed to a new way of seeing or doing (Scott, 1997, p. 41).” Furthermore, a technical

meaning schema is one of the three domains of learning (Habermas, 1971). Mezirow (1978)

adopted Habermas (1971) three domains as part of his expansion of the definition of meaning

schemas and perspectives. Technical includes task-oriented concrete skills (Kitchenham, 2008).

In the interviews, this is an area where adults seemed more confident because they would cite it

as an area of personal skill development and achievement. Unfortunately, it is an area where they

had some negative experiences.

Students reported eight negative experiences. Three students mentioned substandard

technology software and hardware in the classrooms, calling it “very frustrating.” According to a

2013 study conducted by The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL) the “National

Adult Learners Satisfaction-Priorities Report,”

Community College adult learners rate ‘technology’ as one of the seven

priority areas in their educational experiences. They rate it as 6.26 on a scale of 1-

7 with 7 being very important. They also rate the satisfaction as 5.78 in terms of

the experience at a community college, which is .48 performance gap. (CAEL,

2013)


The other negative experiences dealt with the physical environment, staff

unprofessionalism and course selection. All of these issues directly reflect the opinions of

mature adult learners. They did not want to sit in uncomfortable ill-fitting seats and they did not

want to be talked-down-to as in the case with the learner whose resume’ was ridiculed in front of

the whole class. The most disgruntled negative reactions were involving the mandatory class

College Success Seminar 101. Adults who are “career mature” (Super, 1983) did not need to be

told about work ethic and time management. For them, “It was a waste of time.” In Super’s

(1983) assessment of career maturity, there are five components of career maturity, “plan

fullness, exploration, and information about work norms and occupations, decision-making and

reality orientation” (p. 557). Plan fullness is an explicit step of adult learners who are career

planning at the OSCC. OSCC learners are counseled in career readiness and transition before

they go to college and as they pursue employment. This is important because the CSS101 course

is designed for traditional adult learners ages 18-25, and community colleges need to consider

other course options for nontraditional adult learners in career transition especially if they had

received career counseling at the OSCC.

Finding four observed that adult learners did not necessarily follow TPTL in order and

the data could not prove that adult learners experienced all the phases especially phases 2-4. One

thing is clear perspective changes did not always follow the path of the TPTL in order and not

everyone experienced all of them even if they did experience TL. All adult learners experienced

Phase one: disorienting dilemma (Mezirow, 1978) of an involuntarily job loss. Adult learners

identified a range of emotions inconsistent with phase two: A self-examination of feelings of

guilt or shame (Mezirow, 1078). Question three on the baseline survey asked learners to identify

how they felt at the beginning of the experience of career transition. Guilt and shame were the


least reported emotions while optimism and anxiety were reported the most; phases 3 and 4 were

particularly difficult to distinguish, quantify and qualify. Phase 3 is defined as “a critical

assessment of epistemic, socio cultural or psychic assumptions” (Mezirow, 1978). The research

was unable to show if adult learners experienced this stage. Question four on the baseline survey

is, did you question why you were in this situation, or why this had a happened to you? The

question attempted to extract a mental state of assumption questioning but the results did not

prove to be helpful in ascertaining whether adult learners were experiencing a critical

assessment. A majority of the responses were “no”. It is likely, phase 3 occurred earlier in the

process during the initial career-counseling period and was not really part of the adult learner’s

mindset as we begin this research. Most of the adult learners surveyed were in the middle to the

end of their experience. Only one of the seven adult learners who answered “yes” was in the

beginning of his career transition. The concept of a situational variable like pre termination could

have affected the results of question three. As mentioned in the literature review, a period of pre

termination in a post 2008 career transition environment is now more common, which does not

parallel well to parts of TPTL framework. One aspect that the research had not considered, until

now, is the way in which adults are thrust into career transition. Nowadays, the concept of

advanced notice, which is often a requirement by federal law in the 1988 WARN Act. The

majority of the participants in this study were laid off from companies that had to comply with

the rules of the WARN Act. Davis (2009) contends, pre termination often involves job retraining

and outplacement services which are provided by the company” (Davis, 2009).

Therefore, before the layoff actually occurred, they had a period of pre termination, and

they developed a plan. The feelings of guilt and shame were replaced with anxiety but also

optimism, because they had acclimated to the idea of unemployment and career transition. “This


is where the Seven Stages of Career Development (Dubois, 2000) are relevant, because adults

were counseled through the stages even before they left employment. Consequently they may

have experienced some aspect of transformation before they left the company or somewhere in

the interim between job loss and planning a course of action with an OSCC or BCC counselor.

Phase 4 is “recognition that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared

and others have negotiated a similar change” (Mezirow, 1978). Only three adult learners

indicated they attended the OSCC for companionship and to meet others like them but on the

whole most people went there to get professional counseling and to understand their options.(see

figure 2).The need for peer support is more evident in the classroom. Adult learners

overwhelmingly named “study groups” and other social learning activities as a preferred

classroom environment and instructional format, which was discovered in finding three.

Conceivably, phase four could have occurred when these adult learners were in a period of pre

termination. They were in a situation like those around them. This may also be why adults did

not identify with phase two, “Feelings of guilt or shame” (Mezirow, 1978). Basically, they were

laid off with other co-workers. This is the point at which they “Recognized the process of

transformation was shared and other had negotiated a similar change” (Mezirow, 1978), as

opposed to when they were surveyed. A changed context led to a different interpretation of

TPTL, which will always be the case with a different group of learners in a different context.

A limitation of this study is the interview response rate from participants. Even though 32

participants who completed surveys agreed to be interviewed, it was difficult to get them to

respond to my requests for an interview. Therefore, the researcher could not get enough data

from the 17 adult learners who completed surveys as opposed to the 15 who did interview after

the survey. Various collection methods were used to yield the best result possible. Incentive gifts


did not really mean very much to the participants. The adult learners who were able to provide

both the survey and the interview expressed gratitude and appreciation. One learner said, “A

survey was the least she could do.” The other 17 learners left the investigator with questions on

how they are doing and if they succeeded. And while we could not determine TL in these adult

learners we saw evidence of perspective change or a level of career maturity that could explain

progress toward TL.

One curious example comes from an ABE student, “Mike”, who lost his job but did not

go to the OSCC. Instead, he enrolled himself into the ABE program and on his survey, he made

it clear that “He lost his job in his field because he did not have a high school diploma and he did

not really think he needed a GED to do the work he had been doing.” Within two months of

entering the program, he completed the credential left the program and got a job. “Mike’ tested

into the program with a higher level of competency in math, then many ABE students and he

displayed determination” (Charron, 2015). The Adult Education counselor said: “He knew what

he had to do and did it” (Charron, 2015). Without an interview and more in-depth case study

analysis, there is no confirmation of a perspective transformation or even transformational

learning. However, his case suggests he incorporated a new meaning schema into a prior

meaning schema (Mezirow, 1991) because the importance of getting his high school credential,

relative to improving his employment situation, was paramount.

Like “Mike”, a few participates were very confident, mature and capable with long work

histories. “Marianne” had been working in the healthcare field for years performing the duties of

a nurse and yet she did not have her nursing degree. When she got laid off, there was no question

what she had to do; return to school and get the Associates of Nursing Degree. She was able to

complete the program and obtained employment right away. Mezirow’s (1978) reentry study


defined “Career-wise learners as learners who have already studied alternative career

possibilities or have been given vocational test in the past and perhaps career counseling”

(Mezirow, 1978, pp. 14-15). Possibly, “Marianne” and “Mike” were comfortable with a

definitive expectation. They had self-assessed the transition phase in line with their own biases

just as Walker (2000) suggestions when she counsels adults in mid-life. “The key is to

understanding the phenomenon of transitions and one’s own nature. Transition is divided into

three phases: beginning, middle and ends” (Walker, 2000, p.16). Maybe “Marianne” and

“Mike” are ending people who like closure. They never lose sight of a goal and can be counted

on to get the job done while “transition is a minor bump in the road when there is more work to

be done” (Walker, 2000, p. 17). One thing learned in this thesis project is that TL theory alone

does not explain all transformation. “It is combination of theories, which can create a new

direction in research and application” (Jesson, 2011). Educators in counseling and the classroom

can benefit with an application of adult learning and development theory leaving space to accept

theories outside of education.

The research for this thesis was to explore the effects of transformative learning

experiences of adult community college adult learners in career transition. Specifically, adult

learners at one community college, Bristol Community College in Fall River, Massachusetts,

partnered with the Bristol County and GNB OSCC’s are the focus of this study. Our exploration

concludes that TL was evident in 14 learners who reported perspective transformation. Those

learners exhibited aspects of the TPTL particularly phases 5-10. The major factors and

characteristics that facilitated change were qualities and characteristics of adult learners

themselves such as habits of mind, perspective changes to a present meaning schema, career

maturity and adaptability. Additionally factors outside of the individuals were adult learners


supported well by a network of caring and connected staff at both agencies working together.

Likewise, classroom methods and environments such as group learning, technology and

experiential learning opportunities were considered positive and preferred for the same learners

who reported perspective change. The forth finding along with the studies limitations concluded

that without all the data, one could not determine if adult learners experienced TPTL or TL.

However, these findings are just scratching the surface of how and why TL occurs with adults in

career transition. Recommendations will guide future research and understanding for application.

Recommendations

Recommendations in general will address aspects of the findings conclusions and

discussion. The thesis will end with concluding thoughts. First, the researcher suggests for

further research in TL theory involving surveying adults in career transition that the survey tools

include habits of mind and questions have an awareness of unemployed adults who experienced

pre termination. Second, analysis of the co-case management model in place between OSCC and

BCC has some promising practices that require more investigation and discussion. Third, faculty

and counselors should include TL theory study, research and application especially focusing on

helping adult learners with the critical thinking and problem solving skills they need for a 21st

century education. And, the education research needs to include more study across disciplines,

like career counseling, especially in light of the workforce needs which demands ”Transformed

critical thinking skills” (Mezirow, 1990), Fourth, TL theory research needs to include non-

rational ways of knowing and we need to gain more understanding of cultural influences. Lastly,

this work can inform workforce and education policy to improve higher education, specifically

community college education so learners meet employer demands but more importantly adult

learners in career transition at community colleges have the opportunity to gain education and


skills, to find a career that will improve their own lives economically, which in terms improves

families and the community. This is economic imperative and a social imperative for educators.

Survey Tool Design

Adult learner’s ages 30-63 enrolled during the period of July 2013- Dec 2104 were largely

successful especially in credit bearing courses. The characteristics of these adult learners showed

certain habits of mind such as persisting, thinking about one’s own thinking, question and

problem posing, taking reasonable risks, thinking interdependently, remaining open to continued

learning, and especially finding humor. For better understanding, future research should use a

larger pool of adult learners in career transition and incorporate a survey to include Habits of

Mind. It would have been more comprehensive to attribute evidence of habits of mind to the

stages of TPTL. Therefore analyzing concrete characteristics of each phase. It may also help

identify the non-rational parts of TL theory. For example, finding humor is a habit of mind

learners’ display when one appreciates the unexpected, and one is able to handle roadblocks with

humor. There is nothing in the TPTL that suggest humor is a stage or element and yet it was one

of the attributes of the transformed adult learners interviewed. The theory is complicated and as

Taylor (2012) said,” A common terminology and a process to adequately capture the process of

transformation would facilitate more research especially in non-rational areas” (pp. 48-50).

Mezirow (1978) later on incorporated more emphasis of habits of mind into his theory and it

would provide a clearer framework to determine changes in behavior and actions that may be

transformational.

Additionally, creating a tool with guided questions for adults who were laid off in a

period of pre termination will be necessary for future research. Feasibly, the researcher can start

the investigations when the worker is first given the news, which could provide more data of the


range of career transitions. Involuntary unemployment and changing needs of the workplace are

a huge area for the field to respond to with good metrics.

Co Case Management Promising Practice

We recognize the importance of a support network for learners. Analysis of the co-case

management model in place between OSCC and BCC has some promising practices that require

more investigation and discussion. It may be helpful to share with other colleges and OSCC’s

who work together with a significant adult learner populations especially under TAACCCT

funded initiatives that require close collaboration and outcomes. The navigator role should be a

permanent element of OSCC and community college collaboration. Adult learners were

overwhelming pleased with the navigators support, dedication and professionalism as well as the

entire team of professionals who guided them through this process at both agencies. Completing

TAA funded progress benchmarks every 60 days may have been burdensome to staff but it paid

off with increased client contact. Perhaps policy makers need to consider similar benchmarks for

other types of funding through DOL or DOE. Accountability is not what you know but what you

can prove.

The areas of improvement are developing strategies for engaging and retaining adults in

the beginning of the educational process. This has been an area of backsliding and failure for

adults (Mezirow, 1991). The results of this study also suggest that we look at ways to case

manage adult learners at lower levels or in ABE programs. Creating the right environment to

foster Transformational Learning can be difficult. Taylor acknowledges this in his review of TL

and later in the development of the theory, Taylor and Mezirow (2009) put an emphasis on

authentic relationships (Mezirow, & Taylor et al, 2009). The findings indicated that adult

learners who had repeated interaction with OSCC counselors, and BCC Navigator, counselor


and/or faculty were successful. Help college and OSCC staff to see how important it is to make a

connection with adult learners. Lastly, career counseling theory and methods can be applied to

adults early in the unemployment process. We saw that participants of Ebbenwein’s et al (2004)

study stated that clear and effective communication from the employer and counselors is key to a

smoother transition. The researcher concurs with this assessment after recently being laid off and

receiving little communication from her employer. It doesn’t help the laid off worker to feel

ignored in the pre termination period. When adults were notified, communicated with and

counseled from the pre termination phase into the educational component, they showed feelings

of anxiety but optimism not despair.

TL and Other Theory Application and Research

A review of adult education theory reminds us that adults need to know why they are

learning and they are self-motivated. In this case and often, adult learners are in more urgent

circumstances to make a career transition, so adult education theory, specifically TL will have

benefits in the classroom.TL application that supports a constructivist view of education.

Expanding teacher’s knowledge of transformational learning theory and adult education theory is

recommended to engage adult learners effectively. Adult education theory including TL theory

should focus on help for adult learners with the critical thinking and problem-solving skills they

need for a 21st Century education. Like Kegan (1997), Mezirow (1991) saw a need to respond to

the information age with increased critical thinking skills, Grabove (1997) commented on

Mezirow’s (1985) ideas of critical thinking by saying:

He wants to empower learners to think autonomously in preparation for the 21st

century emphasizing that skills and knowledge have taken a new form in the


information age. Learners need to understand and manipulate information, not

simply acquire it. (1997, pp. 88-90)

This will support employer needs and workforce and education policy mandates. Hence for the

education research needs to include more study across disciplines, especially in light of the

workforce demands. Lent (2013) remarks,

More research, theory, and practical models on how to help adult learners and

workers to prepare for, and cope with, critical work-life events and transitions are

needed in order to ensure that the field of career development and counseling

remains vital and forward thinking in the 21st century. (Lent, 2013, p. 14)

In the latest issue (Jan 2015) of the Journal for Transformational Learning, coeditor Dirkx

(1998) encourages more TL study in different environments and contexts. In this research, the

researcher studied a specific context in a career related environment. More work needs to be

done in this area because a premium is increasingly being placed on workers' needs to adapt to

the changing needs of employers, to update their skills and develop new ones, and to move

flexibly among old and new job requirements (and employers). “In many ways and in many

places, the world of work has become a more competitive, faster moving, and less stable place

for more and more workers” (Lent, 2013, p. 5).

However, including career development theory from career counselors with educational

theory may have an impact on adult learner’s development theory especially in the class of

mature adult learners. Concepts such as career and transition phases, career maturity and career

adaptability should be taken into consideration as part of the research but also to be infused into

counseling practices at workforce and academic institutions. Under career maturity and

adaptability, the importance of work salience, self-efficacy and self-esteem matter. Pre


termination in employment was an unexpected concept which was not originally considered as

part of the research process of TL in career transition. More theory integration across disciplines

may shed new light on adult learning and development as well as provide tools for counselors

and faculty. These disciplines seem to be practiced in isolation when they can be shared to

improve human development in any context. Consequently creating a new perspective on

educational theory in the changing landscape of workers lives and adult worker career transitions

could be helpful to further study to prepare workers better for the challenges they face in a new

paradigm.

Non Rational TL Theory Research

Moreover, as Taylor (2012) has recommended researchers need to explore new areas of

TL which include non-rational aspects to include spiritual and cultural influences (Taylor, &

Snyder, 2012). Exploring these areas of non-rational TL would be helpful because there were

adult learners in this study that were successful with more than only their ability to critically

reflect. They had faith and sprit beyond rationality. Clark (1993) said it best with,




which affects the learner's subsequent experiences. (Clark, 1993)

Concurring with Taylor, the researcher would look more closely at how cultural diversity

impacted the success or failure of the adult learners as it relates to career transition and

unemployment. Racial and ethnic demographic information was not collected in his thesis but it

may be important to consider in connection with transformational adult learning theory.


Ukpokodu (2009) interested in how TL methods would affect a multicultural class, concluded

after his study that:

The importance of preparing teachers for TL cannot be emphasized enough. If the

persistent achievement, learning, and community gaps (Lee, 2005) are to be

closed, and if we are to foster a multicultural democracy, we need teachers who

possess habits and minds of transformative practice. (2009, p. 7)

Research Influences Policy Development

Finally, faculty and counselors can benefit by applying more theory to classroom

methods, and learners will benefit when they have a TL experience that affects their lives for the

better. Workforce and education policy are positively affected with research-based solutions that

draw on primary sources and prior research. This thesis began with a set of problems and

troubling statistics on the state of unemployment after the great recession and a call to action

from government leaders and policy makers. The problems of our post 2008 society are based on

three intersecting variables, persistent unemployment, the need for more educated adults with

greater credentials and a call to action for higher education to meet workforce demands. “With

recommended actions, the President’s counsel calls on business, community college and

workforce systems to prioritize this work as an economic imperative.

Higher education is asked to step up, to be more accountable and to create learning

conditions that help adults in career transition to be able to acquire the skills necessary to

compete in a global economy. Adult learners at community colleges have the opportunity to

improve their lives economically, which in terms improves families and the community. TL

impacts more than the learner. Kegan(1994) analyzed adult learners going back to school and

those adults who experienced transformation experienced it in all areas of their lives so


transformation not only bridges orders of consciousness in the classroom, but in a persons’ life.

He says:

What makes school transformational for adults is that it creates a “bridging

“environment, but it does not only in the intentionally fabricated, temporary and

“rented” world of school itself: it also reaches in to the preexisting, ongoing real

world of the adult learner’s relational field and seeks to make it a part of the

bridging environment. (Kegan, 1994, p. 294)

There is an aspect of social justice for democracy that is important for the researcher to

consider as she looks for answers on how to help adult learners. Adults can be in desperate

situations, stuck in poverty and a cycle of poverty, and education and a good job can alleviate

that cycle. Society wants learners who can think and do, and this research is aimed in figuring

how to help learners think and do. Kegan (1994) believes we will need to think at their highest

level of or fourth level of consciousness in order to accomplish complex goals of the future. It is

not just enough to meet the basic needs of adult learners in career transition but necessary to give

them something more, a transformational experience.

Concluding Thoughts

The researcher was recently asked by a Chief Academic Officer in a local higher

education institution: “How do we implement government mandated educational reforms that are

focused on careers, job attainment, completions/graduations, teaching and learning

accountability, etc., and still be able to provide a liberal education for Democracy?” The

argument is simple; we have to think more about the current unequal economic paradigm with

the haves having more and the have-nots having less and focus on a strategy to accomplish the

solution; education to careers. However, it is the application of theory and transformational


learning approaches through effective counseling and teaching that will help adult learners

develop those 21st Century skills and may ultimately have an impact on something greater;

Democracy. Moore (2005), concerned if higher education can fully practice transformational

learning discusses a 2001 interview with then President of Brown University, Ruth Simmons,

daughter of share cropper and the first African American woman president of an Ivy League

school.

Simmons was interviewed by Morley Safer on the state of university education in

America. She suggested that her vision of higher education was to give all

Americans the chance to go to university. The interviewer then pointedly

suggested a scenario of highly educated people flipping burgers for a living. She

reminded him that the goal of university was not to get yourself a better job. He

then asked her—what was education for? And she replied that education is about

transforming your soul. (Moore, 2005, p. 89)

The answer is universally debated, but learning to think to define one’s very existence

and developing competencies or career skills are not mutually exclusive of one another.

Successful people do it all the time. As a result of this thesis investigation, the researcher

discovered adult learners do experience perspective transformation in different areas of their

meaning schemas. Education can do both; prepare one for a meaningful career and “Transform

your soul” (Simmons, 2001). The researcher set out to explore if and how adults in career

transition are experiencing TL. Evidence in the results such as, strong support networks, a

variety of instructional methods to include group learning and having authentic relationships

were not a surprise. The researcher has 15 plus years working with adult learners and the

motivation for this thesis is built on a strong believe that with perseverance adult learners of any


age deserve a chance to increase educational attainment to support career decisions which

support families. Another strong belief relates to the larger notion of a community, like a chain,

is only as good as its weakest link. Fostering TL theory and cross discipline theory may be a

means to supporting the links in the chain when adults are ready to embrace the challenge of

lifelong learning. Finally, life is unpredictable so life-long learning should never end, and

perhaps community colleges can play a crucial role in transforming learning and leaners to meet

the challenges of the 21st Century and beyond.


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Appendix A

Sept 2014 Name________________________________ Age_____

This is a survey of your experience as a community college student who has worked with the

One Stop Career Center (OSCC) and Bristol Community College (BCC) to complete

some training or education. This survey assumes you are over 25 and you are working

with the career center (OSCC) because you have become unemployed, underemployed or

have experienced some career transition.

*If you are under 25 please do not continue the survey. Thank you for your time. Even if you are

ineligible to complete the survey, please return your survey in the envelope provided for

a chance to win a prize.

1. What stage are you at with the Career Center?

Just beginning___

Choosing programs and working with a counselor____

Currently enrolled and checking in with a counselor_____

Completed and working on job placement____

Dropped out the program and no longer working with the Career Center____

Other:__________________

2. What stage are you at in the school or college process:

just beginning____

seeking advisement / orientation _____

enrolled and taking courses_____ (please check which term applies if you take

college credit courses)

first term (first three months of study)___

second term___

third term___

fourth term____

non applicable____

in the middle of my studies ____

nearly complete or graduating_____

Post completion and looking for work______

post completion and transfer to other school or continuing education in some

manner_______

3. At the beginning of this experience how did you feel? Please check any feelings (negative

or positive) that describes your feelings at that/this time.

Fear

Anger


Shame

Guilt

Anxiety

Confusion

Optimistic for a chance to start over

Relieved to be out of job you hated

Better than you thought: explain why_____________________________

Other: Please explain further and you may use the back for further

explanation.

4. Did you question why you were or are in this situation and why this had to happen to

you? ____Yes ____No

5. On a scale of 1-5 (5= best experience, 4= good experience, 3= ok, 2= not that good and

1= worst experience), circle how you felt about the process of working with the One Stop

career center (OSCC)? 1__________2___________3___________4_________5

6. On a scale of 1-5 (5= best experience, 4= good experience, 3= ok, 2= not that good and

1= worst experience), circle how you felt about the process of working with the school

Advisors or counselors?

1__________2___________3___________4_________5

7. Did you your thoughts, feelings or behaviors change when you started to work with staff

at BCC or OSCC? __yes__no describe: _________________________________

8. Did one BCC or OSCC person stand out as more helpful ____yes__no and if so how? (If

you will allow me to contact this person, please provide name and contact info here:

9. How, if at all, has your education been important to helping you feel more positive about

the changes in your life? If it did not, please tell us why

10. If you need assistance or accommodations taking this survey, please contact me at 508-

678-2811 x 3437. Any additional answers can be provided on additional paper or on

back.

Thank you again. Kristen McKenna


Appendix B

December 1, 2014

Student Interview Questions for Focus Group- After Initial Survey Input.

1. The survey asked you how you felt at the beginning of your unemployment… Tell me

what was/is your attitude when you started to go back to school?

2. While in classes have you or are you experiencing any classroom environment,

instruction or student support that has been a positive experience? Please describe the

experience(s).

• Where there any different teaching methods outside of traditional lecture

that really helped you?

• How do you prefer to learn? In class (listening), hands-on or in the field

(doing), by watching others (visual) or a combination of these? In groups?

• Any specific environments which were/are beneficial like internships,

learning communities or civic engagement assignments?

• Any negative experiences?

3. Does the environment in the career center support your goals? (Ex. Having other people

like yourself to receive mutual support from, caring counselors, clear expectations,

Technology access and training etc.) Flesh out of OSCC question on the initial survey)

4. How do you see yourself now as opposed to the beginning of this journey? And what do

you think you will be able to accomplish going forward?

5. If you answered yes to question #7 on the previous survey…elaborate. Did that person

help you in one of the following ways?

▪ Cope with a new experience

▪ Learn differently and in a positive way

▪ Understand the process and all that it entails for completing a credential

▪ Make career decisions

▪ Others?

6. Has your perspective changed? Name an area such as self-perception, education

perception, Career transition perception, world around you, or about particular person or

role around you?


Appendix C

January 22, 2015

Staff or Faculty Informed Consent for Research Study:

An Exploration of Transformative Learning Experiences of Adult Community College Students

in Career Transition

A student or client in your care or classroom has identified you as someone who had a great

impact on their learning experience at Bristol Community College or as part of the One

Stop Career Center. They have consented to allow me to talk to you. I would like to

interview you for your perspective on the student’s experiences as it relates to their

educational experience and career transition. Feel Free to ask questions about the study

before we begin.

If you agree to be interviewed please indicate now through our phone or in person interview with

a “yes”. Do you consent to allowing me to tape this interview? _______

The information shared will be used in my Master’s thesis and as part of the Transformation

Agenda grant reporting. The names of the students and faculty will be protected with a

pseudonym. Your personal information remains protected by BCC confidentiality

regulations and is therefore kept secure and not shared with any outside party beyond

those already identified.(Participant is provided with definition of Perspective

Transformation)

If you do not agree to participate please answer” no” and the interview will end. Thank you for

your time and participation in this important research.

Attachment C Faculty, Counselor or Staff SAMPLE interview Questions

Transformational Learning and OSCC Students

Name: Role_______________________

Is verbal consent given: __

1. Do you remember the student named and what was your impression of the student

when you first met them? Please elaborate on each student named. (Use degree works

print out to refresh memory)

2. Do you feel the student experienced perspective transformational learning? Please

refer to the definitions and 10 concrete phases below and select which, if any, you

feel the student may be experiencing or has experienced. Select all that apply.


Appendix C Cont.

• experiencing a disorienting dilemma,

• undergoing self-examination, feeling of guilt or shame

• conducting a critical assessment of internalized role assumption which can

include a feeling a sense of alienation from traditional social expectations

• relating one’s discontent to similar experiences of others or to public issues,

recognizing one’s problem is shared and not exclusively for a private matter

• exploring options for new ways of acting

• Planning a course of action

• Acquisition of knowledge and skills that help with implementing one’s plan

• Trying a new role(s)

• Building competence and self- confidence in new roles and relationships

• A reintegration into their own life dictated by their own perspective or feelings

3. Please describe the change and why you feel this change happened?

4. Please provide any examples of changes in student behavior or skills development that

are noteworthy to the topic.

If you have any further questions, please contact me at 508-678-2811 x3437 or

[email protected]

Thank you,

Kristen P. McKenna


Appendix D

Sept 8, 2014

Dear Student:

The Bristol Community College (BCC) course, in which you are enrolled or have been enrolled

in is part of a research study for the purposes of assisting me (Kristen McKenna) to

complete a Master in Higher Education Thesis Project. Your participation will have no

effect on your current enrollment at BCC, on your grade or participation in class, or any

part of our work with the One Stop Career Center (OSCC). It is designed to help the

researcher learn about your experience as a learner after experiencing a career transition.

This is important because we would like to be more effective in helping students who

have become employed or are underemployed with a better understanding of their

situation. The results will be used only in a research project for Eastern Nazarene

College's Master’s Program and shared with Bristol Community College.

If you return the survey to me before October 10, 2014, you will be entered into a drawing to win

prizes from the BCC Bookstore. Prizes include a gift card for $50, Backpacks, and jump

drives. Winners will be notified by email on Nov 14, 2014. Additionally, I will follow up

the survey to all participants with a phone call and email. If you agree to participate

please sign, date and provide your course name or completed program name below with

the survey. Your personal information remains protected by BCC confidentiality

regulations and is therefore kept secure and not shared with any outside parties.

I (Printed Name) _________________________________agree to participate in the research

study by completing the survey and returning it in the SASE (Self-addressed, stamped

envelope) (Date) ___________________

(Current Courses or program)_______________________.

Completed program and date of completion____________________________________

Signature_________________________________________email:________________________

If you would like to OPT out of the study please sign below and return. I do need you to return

this sheet even if you do not complete the survey.

Name _______________________________________________Date:____________

If you have any further questions, please contact me at 508-678-2811 x3437 or

[email protected]

Thank you for your time,

Kristen P. McKenna

Director of the Transformation Agenda Grant


Appendix E

Meta Matrix(Gay et al,2009) Tool for TPTL Data Analysis

Mezirow’s(1978) Ten

Phases of Transformative

Learning

Corresponding Survey And Interview Questions Survey And Interview

Responses

Student name and date

interviewed

ex. Mary Jones 01/18/2015

Phase 1 A disorienting

dilemma

All students have disorienting dilemma All unemployed

Phase 2 A self-examination

with feelings of guilt or

shame

At the beginning of this experience how did you

feel? Please check any feelings (negative or positive)

that describes your feelings at that/this time. (Anger,

shame, optimistic, anxiety etc…

Phase 3 A critical

assessment of epistemic,

sociocultural, or psychic

assumptions

Did you question why you were or are in this

situation and why this had to happen to you?

____Yes ____No and explain_____________

Phase 4 Recognition that

one’s discontent & the

process of transformation are

shared & negotiated a

similar change

Does the environment in the career center support

your goals? Did that person (OSCC) help you in one

of the following ways?

Cope with a new experience

Learn differently and in a positive way

Understand the process and all that it entails for

completing a credential

Make career decisions, Others?

Phase 5 Exploration of

options for new roles,

relationships, and actions

Did you your thoughts, feelings or behaviors change

when you started to work with staff at BCC or

OSCC? __Yes__No Describe_________________

Phase 6 Planning of a

course of action

The survey asked you how you felt at the beginning

Tell me What was/is your attitude when you started

to go back to school. While in classes are you

experiencing any classroom environment, instruction

or student support that has been a positive

experience?

Phase 7 Acquisition of

knowledge and skills for

implementing one’s plans

How, if at all, has your education been important to

helping you feel more positive about the changes in

your life? If it did not, please tell us why

Phase 8 Provisional

trying of new roles

How do you see yourself now as opposed to the

beginning of this journey? And what do you think

you will be able to accomplish going forward?

Phase 9 Building of

competence and self-

confidence in new roles and

relationships

Has your perspective changed? Name an area such as

self-perception, education perception, Career

transition perception, world around you, or about

particular person or role around you?

Phase 10 A reintegration

into one’s life on the basis of

conditions dictated by one’s

perspective

Continued from above interview questions

Staff: Do you feel the student experienced

perspective transformational learning?

exploration of transformational learning experiences of adult community college learners in career...

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