Violent Transformations: Can Adult Learning Theory Help Explain Radicalization, Political Violence, and Terrorism?

Learning to be Violent? Adult education is imbued with positive thinking and subjective goals. Social, economic, and political emancipation and value-based shifts in attitudes are its theoretical and practical cornerstones. This is particularly evident in Stephen Brookfield and John Holst‘s Radicalizing Learning (Jossey-Bass, 2011). ―For us,‖ they write, ―adult learning is inextricably tied to creating and extending political and economic democracy – to equalizing democratic control of and access to wealth, education, health care, and creative work, and to promoting collective … forms of decision-making and labor‖ (xii). Adult education‘s ―traditional concern‖ is to create ―critical thinkers‖ able to counter any process of ―brainwashing or ideological manipulation‖ (2). Thus the field‘s contemporary goals include the encouragement of ―political and cultural democracy‖ and educating adults to learn ―how to recognize and abolish privilege around race, gender, status, and identity … [and] class‖ (4). And for radical learning in particular, the process involves the technical (i.e. learning how to ―stand up to racist speech‖), the communicative (i.e. ―learning how to bring the reality of racism to another‘s consciousness‖), and the emancipatory (i.e. ―integrating an alertness to racism into one‘s daily reasons and practice‖) (16). Brookfield and Holst use Nelson Mandela‘s life to illustrate how their theory is put into practice

Assessing Interprofessional Learning during a Student Placement in an Interprofessional Rehabilitation University Clinic in Primary Healthcare in a Canadian Francophone Minority Context

Background: Interprofessional collaboration is deemed the key to quality patient care and the future for healthcare delivery models. Such a complex competency needs to be learned; as such, interprofessional education should be a key component of health professional programs. An Interprofessional Rehabilitation University Clinic was created to promote interprofessional education at the pre-licensure level. However, few resources are currently available to assess interprofessional learning; no tool (English or French) that specifically assesses interprofessional learning could be identified.Methods and Findings: A self-administered questionnaire was developed to assess interprofessional learning during a clinical placement. Using a single-group posttest-only design, this descriptive pilot project reports the results obtained with this tool for the first 15 students on placement at the Clinic. Preliminary findings suggest this tool helped demonstrate that, during placements in an interprofessional clinic, students developed some understanding of their own profession as well as of other professions. Responses showed that participants believe that interprofessional interventions are more efficient, save time, and facilitate sharing of information leading to a better comprehension of the clients’ situations. The tool suggests that students feel that an interprofessional educational experience is beneficial for clients and for themselves.Conclusions: Assessing interprofessional learning is challenging. Although the tool developed during this project is most promising, further research is warranted to increase its usefulness in assessing interprofessional learning

A Conceptual Framework on the Process of Personal Transformation in a Primary Health Care Context for Living with a Chronic Illness

The objective of this study is to propose a conceptual framework that could explain the process of personal transformation within a Primary Health Care context for people living with chronic illnesses

Élaboration, implantation et évaluation d’une formation à l’enseignement de l’offre active pour les professeurs et formateurs d’université

Les professeurs et les formateurs des programmes de formation dans les domaines de la santé et des services sociaux ont la responsabilité d’enseigner le concept d’offre active, ses enjeux et les comportements qui y sont associés aux futurs professionnels de ces secteurs qui travailleront auprès des populations francophones vivant en contexte minoritaire. Cet article porte sur les résultats d’une recherche-développement visant l’élaboration, l’implantation et l’évaluation d’une formation à l’enseignement de l’offre active destinée aux professeurs et aux formateurs de ces domaines. Le programme de formation mis en place sera présenté et les pistes d’amélioration découlant de son évaluation seront proposées. Finalement, la discussion soulignera l’importance de facteurs tels que le temps, l’engagement et le soutien de l’administration, la souplesse, le partage des expériences, le soutien du formateur ainsi que les perspectives d’avenir lors de l’élaboration d’un tel programme.Health and social service professors and instructors teaching future health and social service professionals who will work with Francophone populations living in a minority context have a responsibility to teach the concept of active offer, issues surrounding it, and associated behaviours. This article addresses the results of a research and development project on the development, implementation and evaluation of active offer teaching training for professors and instructors in these fields. The training program and its evaluation are presented, along with proposed avenues for development. Lastly, the discussion will highlight the importance of factors such as time, administrative engagement and support, flexibility, experience sharing, professor/instructor support, as well as program development prospects

Transformative radicalization: Applying learning theory to Islamist radicalization

While a consensus has emerged concerning the role radicalization plays in persuading Westerners to participate in terrorism, little research investigates the cognitive processes inherent to radicalization processes. Transformative learning theory, developed from the sciences in education and rehabilitation, offers an interdisciplinary lens with which to study the processes of personal change associated with radicalization. Transformative radicalization explains how triggering factors lead to critical reflection of meaning perspectives and personal belief systems that guide and alter behavior. Using an autobiographical account of the radicalization process, this study offers a plausibility probe of an inherently interdisciplinary and novel theoretical framework

Homegrown terrorism and transformative learning: An interdisciplinary approach to understanding radicalization

Since 2001, a preponderance of terrorist activity in Europe, North America, and Australia, has involved radicalized Westerners inspired by al Qaeda. Described as 'homegrown terrorism', perpetrators are citizens and residents born, raised, and educated within the countries they attack. While most scholars and policy-makers agree that radicalization plays a central role in persuading Westerners to embrace terrorism, little research properly investigates the internal and cognitive processes inherent to radicalization. Transformative learning theory, developed from the sciences in education, health, and rehabilitation, provides an unconventional and interdisciplinary way to understand the radicalization process. The theory suggests that sustained behavioural change can occur when critical reflection and the development of novel personal belief systems are provoked by specific triggering factors. In applying transformative learning theory to homegrown terrorism, this study helps explain how formerly non-violent individuals come to condone, legitimize, and participate in violent behaviour