Transformative education: Pathways to identity, independence and hope

Abstract

In 2008–2010, the Australian Government’s social inclusion agenda and the Bradley Review of Higher Education profiled the importance of education for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This education needs to be transformative in both its nature and its outcomes. The Clemente Australia program is presented here as a means of providing such transformative education for people who are disadvantaged or socially isolated. This case study of Clemente Australia shows how the program is built upon a psychology of hope and provides pathways not only to new hope but also to a new sense of identity and independence. 
 
 Clemente Australia (CA) is an example of community embedded, socially supported university education (CESS). Essential elements of CA are respecting people for who they are and for where they are within their individual life journeys; building student capacity to be more proactive in reflecting upon and engaging with the world; learning with and relating to others; and promoting educative justice through the recognition of the students’ human rights to participate in tertiary education in a way that meets their personal and academic learning needs.
 
 For the students, the university (Australian Catholic University) and other partners in CA, it is evident that there has been an ongoing shift from dependence upon the provision of materials and services to empowerment and enhanced capabilities in identifying the supports and processes required to meet the personal and professional needs of students, staff and community agencies. This shift has occurred through the scaffolding processes provided, the establishment of innovative partnerships and purposeful reflection. It has involved listening to one another, welcoming people into new worlds and challenging one another in the provision of transformative education to realise the fulfilment of hope for many Australians experiencing disadvantage.
 
 key words: transformation; education; community; hope; homelessness; disadvantage

Promoting personal agency and social inclusion through the Clemente Australia Program

“…The account in terms of hope and personal agency advanced by Howard, Butcher, and Egan (2010) is closest to the model proposed here and indeed overlaps it. The difference lies in a greater specificity in the present model, both in terms of the link from the structure of the program (Panel 1 in Figure 4) to the participants' changed world views such as an increased sense of hope (Panel 3) and in terms of the situational versus global reach of the cognitions occurring at the levels described in Panels 2 and 3.…”

“…An important addition to theorising about the effects of Clemente-Catalyst was the proposal of Howard, Butcher, and Egan (2010) that Clemente Australia recruited hope and a sense of personal agency in participants. Drawing on Snyder's (1995;Snyder et al, 2000) theory of hope, they argued that key to the success of the program was the development within marginalised people of a sense of their own agency to set goals; and a belief in their ability to choose pathways that will help them achieve those goals (p. 3).…”

Yearning for learning: Engaging the disengaged through socially inclusive university-community partnerships

“…Over time, the national program has gained in strength to now become 'an example of community embedded socially supported university education' (Howard, Butcher & Egan, 2010). Through the adoption of a life-based and strengths-based learning approach, the Clemente Canberra program, including both the Pathways Program and Clemente Certificate course, reflects the findings of the national study.…”

Yearning for learning: Engaging the Disengaged Through Socially Inclusive University-Community Partnerships

“…A recent inter-university paper focused on issues of homelessness and highlighted the value of the national Clemente Australia program in supporting adults experiencing multiple disadvantage 'by bringing those who are on the margins back into the mainstream' (Snapshot, 2011). Over time, the national program has gained in strength to now become 'an example of community embedded socially supported university education' (Howard, Butcher, & Egan, 2010). Through the adoption of a life-based and strengths-based learning approach, the Clemente Canberra program, including both the Pathways Program and Clemente Certificate course, reflects the findings of the national study.…”