EXAMINING TRANSFORMATIONAL LEARNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION - AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract: Considering the rise in global sustainability challenges and most especially in a continent like Africa, these challenges could pose a grave danger to the population owing to the limited commitment towards sustainability. This requires a proactive and systematic approach in order to propagate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) on the continent. The purpose of this thesis was to support the implementation of Transformational Learning in an African perspective and to see how the TL components can be used to support this learning experience. This was conducted within some selected programs of LEAP Africa. As a case study, the Youth Leadership Development Program (YLDP) and the Transformative Leadership Program (TLP) were examined to explore the transformative learning experiences that these programs provide. The research examines how the program participants perceive and rate the transformational nature of the programs using a mixed-methods approach that includes survey questions and interviews. Through the Transformational Learning theory and the components of Transformational Learning,the findings from the research showed that above 50 % of the participants of the programs, YLDP and TLP considered them as transformative experiences that shaped their perspectives in terms of their knowledge, behavior, abilities, leadership, and personal development. The findings further attest to the importance of an African perspective in promoting Transformational Learning for sustainability. Thus, the study uncovered that some of the components of Transformational Learning; Community, Place, Pedagogy, Concepts and Content, Disorientation, and Hope and Agency are transformational and present within the selected programs though perceived differently across regions and cultures.