This dissertation explores the changes that are said to be taking place in the students of the program and the factors that have influenced the changes in their lives. Some aspects of the program that effected change were emotional healing, trusting relationships, and authentic actions by role models.
Introduction
Which aspects of the WCA program have had an impact on creating change in the participants. The aims and objectives of the study were described and the central research questions posed.
Literature Review
It aims to explore what is going on in the WCA programme, rather than to evaluate the impact of the programme. Much of the mature learning theory in the third theory-building period, which brings us to the present, has provided broader conceptions of Mezirow's theory. Taylor (2007) does point out that there is very little in the way of critical evaluation of the theory.
However, there were also cultural dimensions that shaped their process of change, such as the role of the metaphysical world.
Design and Methodology
However, I must be aware of my position in my interpretation of the data. 47 A life history approach could therefore capture the depth of the lives of WCA program participants. The people selected for the life history aspect of the case study (successful former students) were purposefully chosen as people who had gone through the entire WCA program and had been particularly successful in the program (Data Source 4).
The pilot group helped to improve the quality of data collection for the second group, as some key lessons were learned. Give them copies of the informed consent form to read and discuss during the week. In each case, informed consent was first obtained and the rights of the respondents were understood.
The life history aspect of the case study is the source of data from which I expected to be able to answer the. All data sources were used to create the thick descriptions of the organization and the program in Chapter 4. The next chapter discusses the findings of the study through thick descriptions of WCA and the life stories of three successful students.
Stories from the study
For the rest of the afternoon they have free time and then there are activities in the evening. The community service phase of the course is therefore considered as important as the lecture phase. One of the goals of the WCA leadership course is to build leaders of sound character.
Although it is also encouraged in the Life Skills course, it is most effectively applied by the Leadership course due to the residential component of the lecture phase. I first met Kosan as the coordinator of the Leadership Course and he facilitated the first session I observed. 74 On the second day of the Life Skills course, the topics were about goal setting and about world view.
At the end of the Life Skills course, Mandla had to make a number of choices about his future. However, later that same week, the Life Skills course facilitator contacted him and he was given a second opportunity to participate in the Leadership course. Nothando was one of the facilitators of the Life Skills Program in schools, and having been through the WCA program herself, she was a potential participant in the Life History portion of the study.
Analysis and Discussion
On the other hand, the students who were taking the Leadership Course at the time of the research (data source 1) were still in the process. Their stories illustrate that changed action (lifestyle) has been a long process for some WCA students. However, analysis of his story seems to indicate that emotions were an integral part of the process.
Some WCA students appeared to embrace critical thinking and discomfort with challenging the assumptions of their existing beliefs and ways of operating in the world. What Mezirow (1991) called testing was evident in the experiences students gained during the volunteer phase of the Leadership course. The examples discussed above show that many stages of transformation were seen in the study.
We have seen that one of the changes in students who go through the WCA program is the development of an outward focus. She was able to use the knowledge she had gained through 'healing from the past' in the grieving process for her mother. The WCA program's focus on developing and building authentic relationships with the students appears to have had a beneficial impact on lives.
Conclusions, Limitations, Reflections and Recommendations
My first impressions of Kosan and Nothando were of people with a high level of self-confidence. Mandla seemed to come to the WCA program with more confidence than Kosan and Nothando, and even spoke well in public on the first day. From the beginning of the WCA program, he realized his strength in public speaking, but by participating in the program and receiving affirmation and positive feedback from others, he developed and furthered this skill, allowing him to grow in self confidence.
Additionally, just after completing their community service, the leadership students (Data Source 1) seemed to have gained self-confidence from the experience. These findings corroborate Hazell's (2010) study, in which she reported that an increased sense of self-confidence was observed among the WCA Leadership students. I see growing self-confidence in this context as part of the learning process or, in Mezirow's terms, one of the phases of transformative learning.
Mezirow's (1991) ninth stage of transformative learning is building competence and confidence in new roles and relationships. As students progressed through the program, it was possible to see the step-by-step process of trying out new roles (for example, performing a small presentation in class). These last two examples show that the process of healing and forgiveness is not easy and that it is a process that requires time and constant effort.
97 One student's answer showed that the treatment is still ongoing, that it is a process and that it is not yet finished. Anger - It's not easy to forgive, but the more we learn about forgiveness, the more challenging we are to forgive. A vivid and creative portrayal of emotional hurt (and then healing and hope) came from Nobuhle, who was featured earlier.
In Artifact 1, she wears dark glasses, which she said is because people see through the eyes into your soul, and that the dark glasses are to hide behind so they can't see you. 98 Nobuhle said that this is a picture of a heart which is red in places but should be completely red. There is a spear through the heart and it has bled, causing it to turn pink.
Around the devil is blue, which is peace, but the devil enters the places of peace and destroys them. Nobuhle's description is a vivid depiction of a range of conflicting emotions, from pain and fear, to an element of hope because peace is also present. This is a picture of a tall tree with grass and flowers on the bank and a peaceful stream running next to it.
99 Returning to the life history students, emotional healing formed an important part of the journeys of Kosan and Nothando, who each referred to "Healing the Past" as a factor in the program that facilitated healing from their respective hurts. Learning through emotional and spiritual healing are aspects of the newer concepts of Transformative Learning Theory, which will be discussed more fully later in the chapter. When students returned to their communities during the community service phase of the Leadership course, they were asked to volunteer in that community for a six-week period.
The focus of the volunteer phase is about 'giving back' to this community, although there are also personal benefits such as gaining work experience. While 'giving back' to the community may simply be part of the course and something that is no longer considered after the program is completed, the findings seem to indicate otherwise. When he finished the program, he turned to volunteer work to keep himself productive and out of the drinking lifestyle.
Many students of the Leadership course expressed their intention to volunteer after the course. Kosan likes to see people develop and grow as he does, and wants to be a part of the process of helping people in that process. The outcome or results of change for many students indicate the development of an outward focus and giving back to others and their communities.
One of the reasons for using multiple data sources in the study was to improve quality by allowing triangulation of data. In this last section of the chapter, I propose a model of the catalyst for change in South Africa. Mezirow who first coined transformative learning, there have been reviews in the literature that show the varying nature of the catalysts for change (Taylor, 2007).
These factors would have directly affected the students' families and their current living conditions. However, there were 'hints' that some students see this as a negative aspect of the programme. In particular, the authenticity of the leaders of the organization was an influential factor in the students' lives.
It is often difficult contexts that precipitate transformative learning, and most students have grown up in difficult contexts. Because this is a small-scale qualitative study in the interpretivist paradigm, a limitation is that the study cannot make generalizations about all students who go through the program. It was assumed a priori that the students chosen for the Life History section of the study were purposefully chosen as candidates who had been most successful in the program.
The study gave me the opportunity to put into practice what I had learned during the taught part of the program. The findings of the study were positive and illuminating, perhaps not surprising given the WCA program's selection of exemplary students.
