ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how some of W.R. Bion's key concepts are profoundly germane to both the attitude and technique of the teacher, and to the provision of a facilitative setting for learning in the classroom or seminar room. After the central period of his work on thinking and learning, Bion became more preoccupied with the nature of transcendent or ultimate reality. The chapter explores some of the links between Bion's ideas and those of Paolo Freire, the great educationalist whose thought was shaped by his involvement in literacy campaigns in the 'Third World'. A growing, strengthening container/contained, made possible through evolution of thought and interaction with other thoughtful minds, and which remains flexible and adaptable, provides the basis for continuing learning from experience. Bion was a psychoanalyst who was essentially a philosopher. His theory of thinking and learning penetrates deeply into the nature and structure of mind.
