An Underlying Pedagogical Goal: Teaching for Transformation

When considering the problems involved with engaging students in "difficult dialogues," it is critical that teachers never lose sight of an underlying goal of a university education: personal transformation.

In the context of college teaching, personal transformation entails challenging students to critically examine their assumptions and open themselves to alternative ways of thinking. As Professor Patricia Cranton remarks:

We cannot teach transformation. We often cannot even identify how or why it happens. But we can teach as though the possibility always exists that a student will have a transformative experience. There are no special methods that guarantee transformation, although transformation is always one of our goals. In every strategy we use, we need to provide an ever-changing balance of challenge, support, and learner empowerment. Sometimes to ask the right challenging question at the right moment is the most important thing we can do. At other times, it is essential to validate a student's thoughts or feelings. And yet at another time, we need to say, "This is up to you now," because in the end, it is the student who chooses to transform.

The critical thing to remember is that teaching for inclusion and engaging students in difficult dialogues ought not to entail placing the student or the teacher in a defensive posture. This is not about doing "damage control." Instead, it is about finding ways to pro-actively address the issues of the day, turning them into "teaching moments" that may have transformative effects. The classroom can be a space of possibility and positive change for student and teacher alike.

See Patricia Cranton, "Teaching for Transformation," New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 93, Spring 2002, pp. 63-71.