Transformative Learning in Education
22 what you believe would constitute the worth of an educational
technology project” as cited in Kitchenham, 2008, p. 117
Subjective reframing covers four terms. They are narrative, systemic, therapeutic, and epistemic as cited in Kitchenham, 2008, p. 117. To elaborate these four
terms, Mezirow gives an illustration. The illustration is as follows: a.
Narrative critical self-reflection on assumption is the application of narrative reflection to oneself. For example, a teacher, who is told, by a fellow teacher,
that the time spent on creating a Power Point-based interactive game is not worth it, considers the amount of teacher time devoted to the creation of that
game, adds that amount to how long the students are engaged in the activity, and decides that the hours devoted to the creation of the game outweigh the
benefits. This demonstrates narrative self-critical reflection on assumptions as the teacher critically examined something communicated to him or her i.e.,
narrative reflection of assumptions, considered the problem as applied to himself or herself, and came to a resolution.
b. Systemic critical reflection on assumptions is going to beyond the action
critical reflection to self-reflect on taken-for-granted cultural influences, which might be organizational e.g., workplace or moral-ethical e.g., social norms.
A teacher, who self-reflects on the assumption that he or she cannot learn how to create Web pages because of his or her age and realises that his or her age is
irrelevant to the learning process is demonstrating systemic critical reflection on assumptions.
c. Therapeutic critical self-reflection on assumptions is examining one’s
problematic feelings and their related consequences. When a teacher reflects
23 on the belief that he or she will never learn how to attach a document to an e-
mail message and acknowledges that this assumption is because he or she becomes frustrated so quickly, he or she is demonstrating therapeutic critical
reflection on assumptions. d.
Epistemic critical self-reflection on assumptions is investigating not only the assumption but also the causes, the nature, and the consequences of one’s
frame of reference to surmise why are predisposed to learn in a certain manner. When a teacher self-
reflects on the fact that his or her principal’s obsession with standardised testing scores has negatively affected his or her
desire to acquire educational technology skills and to take risks with his or her teaching because he or she is intimidated by the administrator, then he or she
is demonstrating epistemic critical reflection on assumptions.