Transmissional, Transactional, and Transformational Views of Education

In short, the transmissional view is traditional, in that students are expected to master information delivered by the teacher. This reflects a teaching method that was standard around the world until the twentieth century. The transactional perspective is more egalitarian, and people with a transformational orientation believe that a curriculum should represent the actual lived experiences of diverse groups of learners.

The goals of a transmission-style curriculum, in which the teacher typically stands at the front of the class delivering information, are efficient whole-group instruction, sequential presentation of information, and transfer of information from teacher to student (Smith, 1996, 2000; Tyler, 1949). The method does not allow much room for individual learning styles or rates of learning, as all children are expected to master the same material in the same amount of time.

A good analogy for the transmission style is an assembly line, where the “product” is uniformly prepared students. This approach is derived from and mimics the factory model that made America so successful following the Industrial Revolution and throughout the twentieth century (Miller & Seller, 1990; Sears, 2003; Toffler, 1970, 1990). While most early childhood classrooms today no longer reflect this approach, your own schooling experiences or those of your parents may have been primarily based on this view.

The goal of a transactional teacher or curriculum is to promote individualized learning through process-oriented experiences and activities that are meaningful and relevant to both students and the teachers (Smith, 1996, 2000). Transactional classrooms are often organized with different activity areas and blocks of time when children are free to choose to work alone or with playmates and to direct their own activities. Teachers work with students individually and in small groups. Curriculum is often organized around topics or themes into units of study that integrate different areas of learning.

Transactional curriculum originated with progressivism and is heavily influenced by constructivism (Fenwick & Anderson, 2005; Miller & Seller, 1990). Early childhood classrooms and curriculum today reflect this highly interactive, collaborative style of teaching and learning.

The primary goal of transformative teachers and curriculum is to ensure that multiple perspectives are reflected among children and families in increasingly diverse communities (Bredekamp & Rozengrant, 1992; Miller & Seller, 1990). In early childhood, this view is promoted by a group of researchers and educators who call themselves reconceptualists and interpret and develop curriculum from a social justice perspective (Cannela, Swadener, & Chi, 2008). A teacher with a transformative orientation emphasizes curriculum focused on inquiry, driven by questions relevant and important to the students rather than predetermined goals or outcomes.

Table 1.2 provides a succinct comparison of each view. As you work through this text, keep the 3 T’s in mind, as all are represented across the wide variety of early childhood curricula. Teachers often find it helpful to be able to recognize their own world view and how it compares/contrasts with the curriculum they use.

Table 1.2: Three T’s Comparison Chart
	Transmissional	Transactional	Transformational
Source of instruction	Teacher directs lessons & activities	Teacher coordinates activities & themed studies	Teacher manages curriculum that emerges over time
Learning via . . .	Practice	Experience	Open-ended inquiry
Assessment focus	Products	Process & progress	Process & products
Desired outcome	Mastery of information	Attainment of individualized goals	Authentic representation of learning