ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the use of work discussion groups (WDGs), offered to teachers, as one important method of helping teachers address, explore, and contain a range of anxieties within school settings. WDGs in schools offer teachers a regular opportunity to share and think through any anxieties, dilemmas, or challenges that are preoccupying them in relation to their work with students and class groups. The chapter aims to illustrate the ways in which WDGs can provide teachers with a unique space—not usually offered elsewhere—to process intense anxieties evoked when the student–teacher relationship and learning environment is disturbed by matters relating to sexuality. At the most basic level, the very essence of any learning environment involves the management of effective levels of anxiety. Teachers frequently report their relief on discovering that it is possible to explore anxiety-provoking issues non-judgementally within the WDG.
