Transformed through the CARTA experience: changes reported by CARTA fellows about their PhD journey

ABSTRACT

Transformative learning occurs when a person, group, or larger social unit encounters ideas that are at odds with their prevailing perspective. This discrepant perspective can lead to an examination of previously held beliefs, values, and assumptions. The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) has since 2011 been training and supporting faculty from different African universities, to become more reflective and productive researchers, research leaders, educators, and change agents who will drive institutional changes in their institutions. As part of a mid-term evaluation of CARTA, an open-ended question was posed to the CARTA fellows asking them to describe any changes they had experienced in their professional lives as a result of the CARTA Programme. The 135 responses were inductively coded and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis. These themes were subsequently mapped onto Hoggan’s typology of transformative learning outcomes. CARTA fellows reported shifts in their sense of self; worldviews; beliefs about the definition of knowledge, how it is constructed and evaluated; and changes in behaviour/practices and capacities. This paper argues that the changes described by the CARTA fellows reflect transformative learning that is embedded in CARTA’s Theory of Change. The reported transformation was enabled by a curriculum intentionally designed to facilitate critical reflection, further exploration, and questioning, both formally and informally during the fellows’ PhD journey with the support of CARTA facilitators. Documenting and disseminating these lessons provide a guide for future practice, and educators wishing to revitalise their PhD training may find it useful to review the CARTA PhD curriculum.

KEYWORDS:

• Early career researcher
• Africa
• career path
• change agents
• research leadership

Responsible Editor Stig Wall

Responsible Editor Stig Wall

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the hard work of the CARTA Monitoring and Evaluation officer, Naomi Njenga, and the then research officer for the project, Rita Karoki, who collected or extracted the evaluation data used for this study and the wider mid-term evaluation exercise.

Author contributions

A.R.K., J.A., M.V.C., and S.F. co-designed the study. M.V.C. retrieved and cleaned the data. J.A., M.V.C., and S.F. performed a preliminary analysis of the emerging themes. A.R.K., J.A., and S.F. discussed the theoretical frameworks and the implications for the analysis. A.R.K. elaborated the first draft including the transformational learning framework. J.A. completed the theme analysis. A.R.K., J.A., and S.F. discussed the results. M.V.C. drafted the other areas of the draft and formatted the manuscript for submission. A.R.K., J.A., M.V.C., and S.F. reviewed the final manuscript and approved it for submission.

Disclosure statement

The authors are members of the CARTA programme.

Ethics and consent

The fellows responded to a programme evaluation survey, and anonymous data were used for this qualitative research. Fellows were aware that the data would be used for analysis and publication. All responses were extracted and delinked from emails, making them anonymous in the hands of the researchers. The data have been presented without institutional or country labels that could lead to the identification of the respondents.

Paper context

Transformative learning theory remains largely absent in discussions on higher education in Africa. We present and discuss the perspectives of the CARTA fellows on the changes they have experienced in their professional lives and worldviews enabled by their participation in the CARTA programme. Their experiences reflect a transformative learning process enabled by a curriculum intentionally designed to facilitate critical reflection. Such intentionality should be embedded in structured interdisciplinary PhD training across the continent to elicit similar transformative experiences.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2023.2272392.

Additional information

Funding

The Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center and the University of the Witwatersrand. At the time of the evaluation reported, CARTA was funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (Grant No. G-16-54067), Sida (Grant No. 54100113), Uppsala Monitoring Center, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Wellcome Trust [reference no. 107768/Z/15/Z] and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, with support from the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.