This paper argues that quality education has a bearing on performance which, in turn, ultimately has a bearing on social transformation. This is thus an exploration of one of the ways in which quality education can be facilitated to realize this ideal. Located within critical theoretical pedagogies, this paper focuses on work that emphasizes transformative learning within learning environments that enable students’ active participation, deep learning, and agency.

The design the study has drawn from the qualitative perspective of the transformative paradigm. The empirical data on which this paper is based were generated using semi-structured interviews with first generation Black African second language speakers of English (L2) who, at the time of the study were pre-service teachers at an institution of higher learning in South Africa. The findings indicated that the tutoring sessions provided a platform for pre-service (L2) teachers to actively participate and speak about their learning experiences in a non-threatening environment. The responses indicated that tutoring sessions carried the potential to create spaces for preservice teachers to engage meaningfully.  However, there were negative aspects of the tutoring sessions. In this regard useful insights about the various strategies for optimizing tutor spaces to provide useful support for student teachers.

The challenge of higher education is to shape history and make a significant contribution towards social transformation through developing a responsive and responsible citizenry. It is about creating a 21^st century in which education enhances, rather than diminishes a country’s socio-economic conditions. Global trends indicate a move into a phase where a variety of factors are identified as influencing the quality of public education and its ability to serve its citizens as well as, contribute to societal success. It has become evident that higher education institutions at all levels are recognising the need for transformation for both access to, and quality of, public education. There is recognition of the teaching and learning methods and conditions limiting transformation in the academia. Concern has been raised about the role of higher education in making a contribution towards the transformative agenda, with specific regard to graduate attributes that have cyclical ramifications for quality education.

The concern for quality education is about the creation of optimal learning environments  through appropriate tutor support which contributes towards graduatness with implications for social transformation. This paper is an exploration of one of the ways in which quality education can be facilitated to realise this ideal. Located within critical theoretical pedagogies, this paper focuses on work that emphasises transformative learning within learning environments that enable students’ active participation, critical reflection  and social engagement..

In its design the study has drawn from the qualitative perspective of the transformative paradigm. The empirical data on which this paper is based were generated using semi-structured interviews with first generation Black African second language speakers of English (L2) who, at the time of the study were pre-service teachers in South Africa. The findings indicated that the tutoring sessions were a platform for this cohort of preservice teachers  to actively participate and speak about their learning experiences in the non-threatening environment of tutor sessions. The responses indicated that, on the one hand, tutoring sessions carried the potential to provide transformative and critical pedagogies where the preservice teachers could engage meaningfully with texts. On the other hand there was an unintended consequence where the negative aspects of the tutoring sessions were critiqued. In this regard they were able to proffer useful insights about the various strategies for optimizing tutor spaces so that they could serve the purpose of providing appropriate support for pre-service teachers.

Finally, we argue that tutor support sessions have potential value for creating optimal learning environments that promote the development of critical graduate attributes in education that is geared towards social transformation. Tutoring sessions are thus seen as spaces for the facilitation of student teacher engagement in pursuit of the creation of optimal learning environments, firstly for the benefit of the cohort that forms the fulcrum of this discussion. Secondly, these spaces are regarded as ideal hubs for the inculcation of transformative learning in the form of critical thinking and critical consciousness that will promote change agency.

Key words:  transformative learning, optimal learning ecologies, graduate attributes, tutoring sessions, student engagement, praxis

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30-Minute Research Session

Critically Reflecting in Transformative Learning