A Stereoscopic Approach to the “Blank Space” of Transformative Education

Sammanfattning

How can we better understand transformative education, and what is the importance of examiningthe lived experience of the individual during this process? By first examining Gert Biesta’s critique oflearnification alongside his three domains of educational purpose: qualification, socialization, andsubjectification, I establish why the importance of existing as a subject is central to the world-centeredapproach. This provides a conceptual basis for understanding Jack Mezirow’s transformative learningtheory, where the central focus of transformative education shifts towards a learner-centeredapproach, through the field of psychology. Instead of simply placing two contrasting approaches indialogue with each other, I build on Marianna Papstephanou’s conceptual idea of using stereoscopicoptics and argue for a more robust understanding of transformative education through both a worldand learner-centered view that not only accounts for, but also provides a new platform for examiningthe inevitable emotional, lived experience of the subject’s transformative process. Both approacheshave their limits on their own, but when theorized intertwined through stereoscopic language, thereis a new opening: the “blank space,” as I refer to it. This space reveals a hidden illusion of depth: onenecessary for exploring the lived experience of transformative education, but not yet discussed withinthe field of educational theory. I explore the temporal dimension of transformation as a lifelongprocess, arguing that it is a retrospective yet continuous practice.