ABSTRACT
This chapter establishes that the psychodynamics of apprenticeship, from Socrates to Hollywood, are well appreciated, if not always well understood. It distinguishes two current deep structures of education, Revelation and Quest. If we could combine the best of the Socratic process of teaching by awareness-raising with the transformational power of a long-term relationship of tutelage, we should have the ingredients of a third option – 'education as Apprenticeship'. The chapter touches upon psychodynamics which we may feel nervous of conceding. The emotional trajectory of a traineeship is identical to a normal parent–child relationship, with issues of bonding, sibling rivalry, Oedipus and Electra complexes, adolescent rebellion and so on, culminating in separation and the empty nest. It is tempting to distance ourselves from them, and to take flight into structured curriculum and assessment methods. But we thereby play down the personal touch and renege on the central truth that the primary vehicle of learning is that very relationship.
