Education û An 'Impossible Profession'?: Psychoanalytic Explorations of Learning and Classrooms

This book will provide a way of using psychoanalytic psychologies to think about some of the processes and experiences of learning and teaching. It will provide a basic introduction to a range of psychoanalytic theorists focussing on the ways in which their work might be useful within education. Grounded in the classroom experiences of children and teachers, it will be written in an accessible style drawing on the author's own research and making academic use of primary and secondary sources. Building on the traditions of critical psychologies, it will both provide a critique of the traditional, cognitive psychologies drawn on in educational texts and policy, and provide an introduction to a variety of psychoanalytic theories that might enable educators to consider some of the less rational and conscious processes that pervade learning and teaching contexts. While it will be set in schools it is intended that the discussion will also be useful for those working in other educational settings.Overall, this book aims to provide a grounded and contextualised introduction to psychoanalytic theories. Those that will be focused on have been chosen to provide a variety of ways of conceptualising pedagogic events and relationships. Rather than suggesting that psychoanalysis is monolithic, it will explore the similarities and differences that exist between the theories. All discussion of theory will take place in the context of real situations that arise in classrooms exemplified by data from research. Its more specific objectives are to:conceptualise classroom experiences through a critique of technical/rationalist policies and an exploration of the work the policy metaphors do;draw on empirical research (particularly observation and interview data) to provide vivid and grounded illustrative examples of common classroom experiences;use psychoanalytic theories to provide theoretical lenses with which to illuminate different common classroom experiences and to begin to conceptualise and understand these.