ABSTRACT
An important turning point towards contemporary psychoanalytic thinking began with the introduction of the structural model of the mind by Freud. This subsequently developed into a profound focus on relationships, both in the social world and as internalised object-representations, as key drivers of human action. Within education, psychoanalytic ideas offer profound ways of approaching its relational and affective dimensions, while challenging repressive and alienating practices. Within alternative education, psychoanalysis has had a wider impact, its influence on the thinking of A. S. Neill at Summerhill School being perhaps one of the best-known examples. However, Neill's model included ideas from non-psychoanalytic sources and few would thus regard Summerhill as a test case for psychoanalytic educational ideas. More generally, psychoanalysis has been used within critical theory and critical education studies, not so much as a utopian model for schooling, but as a means for interrogating ideology and opening up a reflective space on existing educational praxis. Such usage may be indirect or inexplicit.
