Karen Mary Magro
The purpose of this study was to explore the conceptions of teachhg and learning of twelve adult educators who teach in a range of English programs in the public school system and at the cornmunity college level. Their perspectives on teaching and leaming as weil as their "personal philosophy of practice" were compared with the role of the educator and the process of learning, most notabiy described by Jack Mezirow ( 198 1; 1990; 1996) in his theory of transformational leaniing and Paulo Freire ( 1970) in his critical theory of adult leaniing. One of the theoretical models for understanding the different perspectives that the adult educators held was developed by Pratt and associates ( 1998).
Transfomative learning involves a process whereby individuals reflectively transfonn existing beliefs, attitudes, and emotional reactions that may be hindenng their ability to achieve their potential, personally, intellectually, and socially, Most of the educators did not refer to themselves as c'transfonnative educators" nor did they share a theoreticai understanding of Mezirow ' s transformative learning theory ; in this sense, theory is not dnving practice. However, significant parallels between some of the teachers' intentions, views on learning, curriculum orientation, and personai philosophy of practice were consistent with the role of the transfomative educator and the process of leaming described by theorists sucb as Mezirow (l981), Freire (l970), and Daloz (1986).
The teachers also held many reservations about the role of the teacher as "change agent;" rnany of the educators suggested that "transforrnative learning" rnay be a by-product of many factors (e.g. Iearners' beliefs and attitudes, content, context) in the leaming
environment rather than a result of a specific teaching behavior, attitude, or style. The practical realities of teaching in an inner city high school for addts and in a city community coliege also made it difficuit for the teachers to apply 'iransfonnative leaming" approaches. While a qualitative analysis of the data from three in depth interviews with the twelve teachers was a major part of the data collection, cross verifkation of the data also included the use of Kolb's (1985) Learning Style Inventoru, Zinn's (1994) Philosophy of
Adult Education Inventop, and Conti's(l990) Princi~leso f Adult Leamine Scale.
This study found that English teachers' personai philosophy of practice is intluenced by the values, beliefs, and ideals that they hoid. The perspectives on teaching and leaming that the educators in this study held developed over time and were influenced by factors such as family and educational experience, personality, past teaching
experiences the specific characteristics of their students, and the institution and department that they work in. Important concems and limitations of transfomative leming theory emerge out of this study. The findings of this study aiso have significant implications relating to the teacher education programs for adult educators, the professionai development of adult educators, and the importance of grounding theoreticai knowledge in teachers' and students' experiences.
