The aim of this paper is to analyze transformative learning in Higher Education spaces. Thousands of students from universities in the “Global North” engage with communities in the “Global South” while conducting fieldwork and mobility programs. However, there are not many courses offered to provide students with a transformative learning approach. “Transformative learning can be described as a process of changing deeply held assumptions (i.e., frames of reference or meaning perspectives) about the world and oneself, thereby strengthening one’s capacity to contribute to social change processes” (Singer-Brodowski, 2023 p.2).

One of the objectives of this paper is to study how courses at universities deal with how different power structures - based on colonial, racial, gender, wealth and knowledge inequalities - benefit the Global North, and what this implies from a personal and academic perspective. Taking an anti-oppressive approach (Stein, 2015) entails identifying power structures and transformations regarding social and cognitive justice, which requires taking into consideration different epistemologies (Escobar, 2006). These diverse epistemologies refer to processes of producing and valuing different forms of knowledge based on the practices of social groups that have been historically discriminated against, especially in the Global South.

Developing competences on transformative learning to overcome disciplinary boundaries, encompassing elements that are essential for researchers such as grant writing and participation in cooperative and international teams. These competences are essential for educators and researchers who aspire to be “transformative intellectuals” who combine mutually interdependent roles as critical educators and active citizens (Giroux, 2013). At the same time, it is possible for academic institutions to alienate potential 'organic intellectuals' from communities (Mayo, 2015). This can occur through the use of a type of language or behaviour that creates a gap between the researcher and the community. Consequently, this hinders the development of organic intellectuals with respect to the struggles that communities are engaged in (Mayo, 2019).

Although there is a growing interest in more critical and decolonial methods in the field of higher education, the number of publications analysing empirical cases of learning environments at universities using such methods are still very limited (Hayes et al 2021). There is still a lack of opportunities to engage with these critical competences inside university curricula and practice (Sklad et al., 2016). 

In order to fill this gap, this paper proposes Theatre of the Oppressed as a methodology that fosters critical thinking, teamwork, dialoguing among different epistemologies and proposing ideas of critical sustainability based on more equitable participation in decision-making and, more importantly, the ability to identify power dynamics, co-production of knowledge and transdisciplinary work. Such competencies are crucial for developing international research projects that take into account power inequalities and aim to contribute to the scientific debate.

Developed by Boal (1985), Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) is a method, inspired by Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1971), which is particularly interesting as it approaches reality in a more complex way. In order to take into account, during fieldwork, the intersections of different variables with the object of study, TO can help embracing how we relate with reality through our emotions (Méndez de la Brena, 2021). In this regard, it is fair to claim that disembodied academic research can lead to unconscious auto-ethnographic processes (García-Santesmases Fernández, 2019). In this regard, TO proves to be a useful participatory methodology to challenge the "common sense" of the student body.

This paper will be based on the participatory observation of one transversal course on competences on global citizenship aimed at graduate students of a European university where Theatre of the Oppressed is adopted as a methodology. The observation work will be complemented with a systematic literature review on transformative education in higher education. For the literature review, we will select a set of transversal courses in European Universities that focus on dimensions of transformative learning such as Global Citizenship Education and Education for Sustainable Development. This paper discusses how higher education programs are able to foster critical thinking, teamwork, dialoguing among different epistemologies and proposing ideas of critical sustainability based on more equitable participation in decision-making and, more importantly, the ability to identify power dynamics, co-production of knowledge and transdisciplinary work. Such competencies are crucial for developing international research projects that take into account power inequalities and aim to contribute to the scientific debate. One of the sharpest critics to GCE and ESD is the lack of critical analysis of power relations and global inequalities (Trechsel et al., 2021). These educational practices could unintentionally reproduce power relations (Tarozzi & Torres, 2016). Experiencing and not only studying different contexts can be a key element to enhance the development of GCED competence.

The analysis of transformative education in the Higher Education context will invite academics to reflect on how the choices that are made not only at an academic level but also in the workplace and as citizens are based on ideologies and social structures that require analysis and critical reflection in order to act consciously and respectfully towards the rest of society. Based on the participatory observation of one European university and the systematic literature review, the findings will show possible instruments and methodologies (such as Theatre of the Oppressed) that discards an ethnocentric approach by promoting a transformative and collaborative approach. This analysis represents a contribution to scholarship on transformative education as it identifies useful elements in order to develop reflexivity and self-analysis in the university curricula as a basis for bringing organizational transformation of higher education institutions.

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