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In this position paper the worldview from which climate change continues to occur is identified as late modernism. This worldview is critiqued as being unduly economistic, reductive, mechanistic, and fragmented. There is a clear requirement for an inclusive and transcending transformation of this worldview toward one substantively more able to meet the challenges that climate change presents, as well as an understanding of the processes that facilitate such a transformation. This paper foregrounds transformative learning as a generic process that might well be key to this transformation. The paper addresses transformative learning both as an active process and as a feature of a regenerated worldview, identified here with respect to Griffin’s reconstructive postmodernism, which goes beyond deconstructive postmodernism in its proto-integral orientation. Transformative learning is exemplified by the seminal approach of Mezirow as well as Scharmer’s Theory U. The discussion of worldview is vertically differentiated in terms of principles, worldview perspectives, and sectoral practice with reference to the depth ontology of Inayallatulah’s Causal Layered Analysis. Principles addresses the regeneration of the philosophy of science, and explores the critical contrast between atomism acting as attractor for modernism, and complex integration acting as attractor for reconstructive postmodernism / the ecological worldview; it indicates the fecundity of Bhaskar’s critical realism for aptly addressing climate change. Sectoral practice is represented by higher education, specifically addressing andragogy, heutagogy, the transformative learner, and the transformative educator. Climate change is a complex, big-picture issue, one that requires a complex, integrative epistemology and transdisciplinary orientation.

Higher Education is currently undergoing relentless change worldwide in order to respond effectively to the aspirations of the 21st century. Consequently, prevalent literature in Higher Education calls for more emphasis on the studentsʼ learning process through increased metacognition and critical reflection. This paper starts off with the assumption that learning takes place through the integration of thinking, feeling and acting. As a result, this paper will present a model of teaching and learning in Higher Education through the integrated use of Vee Heuristics and Concept Mapping. This research will suggest that when using Concept Maps, Vee Heuristics along with an awareness of how students prefer to learn, the students will go through a metacognitive learning process which would eventually lead to critical reflection and meaningful learning. Using University studentsʼ work products, this study traces the effect of a learnerʼs mental operations on the learnerʼs use of Vee Heuristics and Concept Mapping as the learner embeds and retrieves new and scaffolded knowledge. The data collected reveals the powerful effect which this combination of learning tolos yielded on student achievement and transformation.

The Problem Given the unpredictable nature of organizational life, leadership development programs that rely primarily on cognitive processing and critical reflection are no longer sufficient. What is required is an integrated pedagogy that enables individuals to access and embody a “way of being,” an aligned presence and purpose that spans all contexts so that the individual and leader are not separate entities but rather a fully cohesive self. To develop this capacity, reputable organizations are experimenting with holistic learning methodologies, including mindfulness and somatics practices. However, these methodologies have yet to be fully grounded in adult learning and leadership best practices, empirical research, mind–body principles, and leadership performance. The Solution Through a critical review of relevant theory, practice, and empirical research, this article conceptualizes a constructive developmental learning methodology, which integrates mindfulness and somatics practices that transform a leader’s relationship with behavior from the automatic to the consciously chosen realm. The article presents a practical model of embodied leadership where individuals learn ways to deepen awareness to include both the mind and body as an interdependent system to remain open, grounded, and engaged in a way that builds resilience, and resourcefulness, and improves relationships in complex environments. The Stakeholders Human resource development professionals, executive coaches, and aspiring leaders seek a holistic and practical leadership development approach, which is conceptually and empirically linked to leadership and organizational performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated fostering political development (as defined in the report) through an integration of adult development, public issues analysis, and structured public discourse. Entitled The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues, that multi-session discourse methodology includes issue analysis and framing, deliberation, and organizing systemic action. Its issue-framing template helps users generate multiple approaches to issues that reflect different levels of complexity and incorporate the conceivable human and institutional perspectives and environmental life conditions. The small group used the discourse process to select a public issue of concern and to begin to address it. It was about how to change the community’s adversarial political culture. They conducted a deliberative action inquiry into their own tones and intentions toward that issue as the starting point to address it, and did deliberative decision-making on that basis. The political reasoning and culture of the group developed during the study, evidenced by the group’s work and changes that participants experienced. The study is the first of its kind in several respects, which are: (a) to use this public discourse process as part of the research methodology, (b) to perform this kind of empirical research on public discourse and deliberation, and (c) to foster political and adult development while addressing complex issues. This extended length research report departs from traditional journal article formats not only by its length but also by integrating its report of findings with analyses of the processes that resulted in the findings. It is complemented by a shorter article in this issue of Integral Review, which describes the steps of the process and the major themes evident in participants’ experience.

This study investigated fostering political development (as defined in the report) through an integration of adult development, public issues analysis, and structured public discourse. Entitled The Integral Process For Working On Complex Issues (TIP), that multi-session discourse methodology includes issue analysis and framing, deliberation, and organizing systemic action. Its issue-framing template helps users generate multiple approaches to issues that reflect different levels of complexity and incorporate the conceivable human and institutional perspectives and environmental life conditions. The small group used the discourse process to select a public issue of concern and to begin to address it. It was about how to change the community’s adversarial political culture. They conducted a deliberative action inquiry into their own tones and intentions toward that issue as the starting point to address it, and did deliberative decision-making on that basis. The political reasoning and culture of the group developed during the study, evidenced by the group’s work and changes that participants experienced. The study is the first of its kind in several respects, which are: (a) to use this public discourse process as part of the research methodology, (b) to perform this kind of empirical research on public discourse and deliberation, and (c) to foster political and adult development while addressing complex issues. This extended length research report departs from traditional journal article formats not only by its length but also by integrating its report of findings with analyses of the processes that resulted in the findings. It is complemented by a shorter article in this issue of Integral Review, which describes the steps of the process and the major themes evident in participants’ experience.