Jack Mezirow (1923 - September 24, 2014) was an American sociologist and Emeritus Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at

Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) is the graduate school of education affiliated with Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, Teachers College has been a part of Columbia University since ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. Mezirow received his B.A. and M.A. Degree in Social Sciences and Education from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, and his Ed.D. Degree in Adult Education from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. He was an Emeritus Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, and the founder of the Adult Education Guided Intensive Study (AEGIS) doctoral program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Work

Mezirow was influenced by

Paulo Freire Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (19 September 1921 – 2 May 1997) was a Brazilian educator and philosopher whose work revolutionized global thought on education. He is best known for ''Pedagogy of the Oppressed'', in which he reimagines teaching ...

and

Jürgen Habermas Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere. Associated with the Frankfurt S ...

. He was widely acknowledged as the founder of the concept of

transformative learning Transformative learning, as a theory, says that the process of "perspective transformation" has three dimensions: psychological (changes in understanding of the self), convictional (revision of belief systems), and behavioral (changes in lifestyle ...

Perspective transformation

Mezirow began his theory of perspective transformation when he studied adult women who chose to re-enter higher education. Mezirow's initial research and further study led him to surmise that adults do not simply make application of old ways of learning to new situations - instead they "discover a need to acquire new perspectives in order to gain a more complete understanding of changing events". Mezirow then coined this "reflective-change-action" process as Perspective Transformation. Mezirow continued to find consistencies in the adult learners he studied. He then identified 10 stages that adult learners encounter as they experience perspective transformations.

Works

* 1990. ''Fostering Critical reflection in adulthood'', Jossey-Bass Inc * 1991. ''Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning'', Jossey-Bass Inc * 2000. ''Learning as transformation: Critical Perspectives on a theory in Progress'', Jossey-Bass Inc * 2009. ''Transformative Learning in Practice: Insights from Community, Workplace and Education'', Jossey-Bass Inc

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mezirow, Jack 1923 births 2014 deaths Adult education leaders Columbia University faculty Teachers College, Columbia University faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development alumni