TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING IN POLICY DELIBERATION: PROBING SOCIAL MEANING AND TACIT ASSUMPTIONS By Frank Fischer University of Kassel, Germany Key Words: Policy learning, social meaning, deliberation This proposed paper examines policy learning, a concept which has taken on particular importance in recent times in planning and policy analysis. Much of the current work has focused on the technical dimensions of policy learning, neglecting a deeper attention to the policy paradigms of which they are a part. For this reason, the paper seeks to first draw out the implications of policy paradigms and then goes on to explore the ways that these underlying beliefs and values can be part of the work of the planner and policy analysts. Toward this end, the discussion then turns to the theory of transformative learning as it has emerged in progressive adult educational theory. This work assists us in better understanding the process of attitudinal and cognitive change and suggests ways that it can be facilitated. Two brief examples of facilitation are offered. The paper then closes with a discussion of the implementation of the transformative learning for professional education and practice.
