ABSTRACT
The previous three chapters have attempted to lay much of the theoretical groundwork for what follows, introducing some of the theories drawn from psychoanalysis that I think may be helpful to practising teachers (indeed, to us all) – at the same time arguing for the general benefits of adapting aspects of psychoanalytic theory by way of achieving more helpful understandings of ourselves and of others. I have suggested that this usefulness arises in no small part from the fact that it impels us toward critical and constructive considerations of the often ignored, overlooked or simply unseen effects of affect on how we experience life and how we construct and experience our sense of self. In relation to reflexivity, which is a central concept in this book, I have proposed two kinds or aspects of reflexivity, referencing these to William Pinar’s conceptualisation of currere. The first of these (‘Reflexivity 1’) is essentially (though not exclusively) therapeutic in nature and purpose, aimed at helping us to overcome emotional difficulties we may experience in relation to our professional and private lives, but at the same time, through the richer understandings of our own subjectivities that reflexivity can bring, helping us to develop more helpful, perhaps more sympathetic understandings of those we work with, including, as teachers, our students. This kind of reflexivity draws quite heavily on Freudian notions of repetition and transference (Freud 1968) and on Kleinian notions of projection, as well as on Lacanian conceptualisations around identification.
