Material meanings of ‘transformative learning’ among sustainability educators in universities

Prominent calls have been made to radically shift current teaching provision in higher education towards critically ‘transformative’ pedagogies that align with the pressing imperatives of sustainability. Yet much uncertainty remains over how educators envision the notion of ‘transformative learning’ and their possible role in supporting it. In this study, 21 interviews were conducted with specialist UK-based academics in which they were asked to bring a physical object to represent what ‘transformative learning’ might look like in the context of their sustainable development-focused curricula. Narrative thematic analyses indicated that while transformation cannot be directly brought about by the actions of educators, they can nonetheless indirectly help to support it by enabling students to encounter diverse perspectives, to acquire novel appreciations for relational thinking and to actively participate in social change. Such practices were found to enable a generative balance between the initiatives of the educator and the agency of the student.