About the Transformative Education Lab
The Transformative Education Lab (TLab) at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development is a dynamic hub for research and innovation focused on holistic, formative human development. It curates and explores educational approaches that help young people grow as whole persons, discover purpose, find belonging in community, and contribute to a more just and humane world.
What is Formative Education?聽
Formative education facilitates the development of the whole person. Young people are developing along multiple dimensions鈥攍earning, for example, how to think, how to connect with others, how to manage feelings, how to make ethical choices, how to participate in a democratic society, and how to live a meaningful life in community. These different aspects of development are interconnected; thus, educators must attend to more than narrow academic or instrumental goals. Formative education is also concerned with purpose鈥攚ith helping young people discern who they are called to become and how they can contribute.
Initiatives
The following initiatives reflect the Transformative Education Lab's commitment to educational transformation grounded in dignity, purpose, and social responsibility. We believe that by focusing on the whole learner and the systems that support them, we can create a more just and flourishing world.
Advancing Formative Education Research
TLab advances interdisciplinary reserach on whole-person learning and development.
- Conduct and curate formative education research at Boston College and beyond.
- Examine educational practices that support intellectual, emotional, ethical, and spiritual growth.
- Connect research with policy and practice in schools, communities, and universities.
Designing Transformative Learning Tools
TLab collaborates with educators, youth, and community partners to design tools that put formative education into practice.
- Develop and pilot tools that support whole-person learning and development.
- Create frameworks to support the development of formative teachers and leaders.
- Refine tools through user feedback and share them for broader use
聽Advancing Professional Learning for Educators & Leaders
TLab develops professional learning experiences that support educators and leaders in the moral, spiritual, emotional, and relational dimensions of their work.聽
- Offer professional learning rooted in whole-person development.
- Facilitate school-based learning cohorts and leadership retreats.
- Support educators and leaders in applying formative practices to guide systems change.
Hosting Interdisciplinary Convenings & Conferences
TLab brings researchers, practitioners, and policymakers together for dialogue and shared learning about formative education.
- Host conferences and convenings that explore formative education across contexts and disciplines.
- Participate in national and international conversations on whole-person education.聽
- Create opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange and ongoing collaboration.
Building Strategic Partnerships
TLab cultivates partnerships with schools, universities, and community organizations to develop and strengthen formative educational approaches.
- Build cross-sector and community-based action research partnerships.
- Collaborate with schools to design and refine formative education practices.
- Sustain networks for mutual learning and shared innovation.
Establishing TLab as a National Hub
TLab aims to serve as a national hub for research, resources, and collaboration in formative education.聽
- Bring together scholarship and practical resources on whole-person learning and development.
- Share tools, stories, and insights with educators, researchers, and wider audiences.聽
- Connect people and institutions to advance the field of formative education.