2016 Annual Conference

This roundtable reports the findings of a study which explored the influence of prior holding environments on two diverse adult learners’ navigation of a critical learning event. Biographical factors, along with the quality or absence of being "well-held," variably influenced meaning making orientations and capacities in the transformative experience.

The session will have relevance for those with interest in adult learning and development, transformative learning and change, meaning making, diversity, and holding spaces in work with adults. It will be of particular interest to researchers in adult and transformative learning.

The concept of the holding space in adult learning and development is prominent in the work of Kegan (1982) and Daloz (1999) and derives from Winnicott’s (1965) construct of the holding environment. In constructive-developmental theory and the facilitating mentoring environment, learning and development occur through experiences of confirmation (acceptance and validation), continuity (ongoing support), and contradiction (experiences of challenge).
One way of understanding adults is through their stories. Adults’ stories, whether socially shared or privately held, often reveal experiences of affirmation and challenge. Adult learning and growth often occurs when self-representation—who adults “know” or believe themselves to be—is contradicted by the external environment.
This study explores the influence of prior holding environments on the ways in which two diverse adult learners navigate a critical learning event. Findings suggest biographical factors, in combination with the quality of previous holding environments, variably influence meaning making orientations and capacities in the transformative experience.
In attempting to make visible the interactive personal and social contexts that shaped participants’ negotiation of an identified critical event, this study addressed Taylor’s (2000) call for inquiries that attend to the contextualized influences and cultural impacts on adult learners in the transformative process.