LEARNING IN A TRADITION-LADEN CONTEXT – A study of collective learning among psychoanalysts

Author(s):

Ida Bertell(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 02 B, Aspects of Mentoring

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-02

15:15-16:45

Room:

B033 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Valerie Drew

Contribution

This research aims to contribute knowledge about the conditions for shared learning processes in a professional group when new knowledge is developed in a tradition-laden context. The study is conducted in a professional context in which psychoanalysts working separately, in their own private practices, form a group that meets regularly for developing a psychoanalytical treatment for infants. The professionals involved are unable to see one another in action due to the confidential nature of the clinical work, an aspect that influences the processes of learning.

Research questions:

How do the psychoanalysts describe their work to develop a new method in clinical activities?
How do the psychoanalysts describe their work to develop a new method in joint meetings?
How can the relationship between the psychoanalysts' clinical work and the joint meetings and communication be understood as conditions for learning processes?

This is a ethnographic study, and the empirical material consists primarily of 17 transcribed qualitative interviews with psychoanalysts specializing in infant psychoanalysis. The research examines the conditions for learning processes from a constructivist and action theory point of departure.

My understanding of learning has a constructivist foundation. Bourgeois (2002) emphasizes that the constructivist model is a theoretical model whose function is to describe and interpret how learning processes can work, rather than a prescriptive model. In line with Bourgeois, I see the constructivist model as a model which describes learning in general and which is useful when identifying conditions for learning in different contexts. From a constructivist perspective of how knowledge is generated, we could see learning as a result of the individual's conscious actions, and in fact several studies highlight the action dimension of learning (Schön 1983; Ellström 2001; Döös och Wilhelmson 2005; Rönnström 2006; Ellström 2010, 2011; Nilsen, Nordström och Ellström 2011). For analysis of conditions for learning in this specific case, I make use of reasoning grounded in action theory. The context forms a basis for how an individual understands his or her task and carries out actions that have consequences, which in turn affect the context in a continuous process of interdependence. In the analysis of the case I use the concept ‘communicative action’ (Habermas 1996), that can be seen as the very framework of each learning and influence process, and so it is relevant to observe communicative action in pedagogical studies of social practices (Rönnström 2006). An important aspect of communicative action is that the participants in the discussion strive to attain a mutual understanding through intersubjectivity (Habermas 1996).

Further research on professional groups prevented from seeing each other in action is suggested in order to test the applicability of the suggested concepts “primary arena” and “secondary arena” and to investigate the nature of shared learning processes in other contexts.

Method

This research is a case study and focuses on the shared learning processes that arise when a group of psychoanalysts develop a new method of treatment. The study is qualitative and is based primarily on 17 interviews with a total of nine psychoanalysts. The interviews were conducted in two series over the period 2005 to 2012. In interview series 1, a total of ten interviews were carried out (2 of the psychoanalysts were interviewed twice), between 2005 and 2008. The focus of these interviews was infant psychoanalysis in practice and in theory. Primarily the interviews focused on how the psychoanalysts perceived working with infant psychoanalysis in practice. In series 2, seven psychoanalysts were interviewed once each, the purpose of these interviews was to understand the contextual factors which led to the changes in knowledge content indicated in series 1. This second series of interviews was completed within one month during spring 2012. All interviews had a conversational character. In line with the perception of Smith, Flowers och Larkin (2009) of a good way of interviewing, I asked questions of an open nature which encouraged the interviewee to provide descriptions and to feel that they could speak as much and as freely as possible on the subject of the conversation. All interviews were transcribed consecutively and as soon as possible after the session. During the first phase of the research, a number of different investigative activities such as case reviews with psychoanalysts, video recording of some treatment sessions, participation in seminars and a study visit with the infant psychoanalysis group, as well as literature studies. When this phase was over and I was to gather my impressions, I decided to focus on the significance of the shared learning in the material and analyzed primarily the interview material in the interaction between theory and empirical data.

Expected Outcomes

In the work there is a tension between tradition and recreation which affects shared learning processes. The psychoanalysts meet continuously in seminars where they work with methodological development by discussing and reformulating the method and what it entails. The work that takes place in this common arena is important for how the psychoanalysts think and act in their clinical activities with the patients. The psychoanalysts work individually with the method in their clinical activities at their private clinics. In the meeting with the infant and the mother, the analyst is faced with big challenges involving the strict rules of the psychoanalytical context which they must now come to terms with in new ways. There are similarities between how the psychoanalysts describe their work, but also differences which stem both from individuals' different ways of interpreting and implementing the method, and from the situation in which each treatment has its own context, meaning the psychoanalyst and the patient work together on what is important to them, at that moment in time. Some of the psychoanalysts experience similar difficulties in how to work with mothers and infants; there are a number of different attitudes or approaches the psychoanalysts can take. In this way, differences in the subjectively perceived discretion can be observed. In the shared context, the views of different aspects (focus, frequency and approach) of the method are successively discussed and changed. “Primary arena” and “secondary arena” are proposed as concepts to understand the relationship between the clinical practice (primary arena) and the seminar arena (secondary arena). The method has different meaning and significance in different arenas, which triggers learning processes. Collective learning processes enable the development of the method and ways of working.

References

Bourgeois, E. (2002). A constructivist approach to adult learning. Theories in adult education research. Bron, A. och Schemman, M. (red.) Münster, Tyskland, Lit Verlag. Döös, M. och Wilhelmson, L. (2005). Kollektivt lärande. Om betydelsen av interaktion i handling och gemensam handlingsarena. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige 10(3/4): 209-226. Ellström, P.-E. (2001). Integrating learning and work: problems and prospects. Human Resource Development Quarterly 12(4): 421-435. Ellström, P.-E. (2010). Practice-based innovation: a learning perspective. Journal of Workplace Learning 22(1): 27-40. Ellström, P.-E. (2011). Informal learning at work: Conditions, processes and logics. The SAGE Handbook of Workplace Learning. Malloch, M., Cairns, L., Evans, K. och O'Connor, B. (red.) London, SAGE Publications. Habermas, J. (1996). Kommunikativt handlande. Texter om språk, rationalitet och samhälle. Göteborg, Daidalos. Nilsen, P., Nordström, G. och Ellström, P.-E. (2011). Integrating research-based and practice-based knowledge through workplace reflection. Journal of Workplace Learning 24(6): 403-415. Rönnström, N. (2006). Kommunikativ naturalism. Om den pedagogiska kommunikationens villkor. Stockholm, Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm. Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. USA, Basic Books. Smith, J., Flowers, P. och Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Theory, method and research. London, SAGE Publications.

Author Information

Ida Bertell (presenting / submitting)

Stockholm University

Department of Education

Stockholm

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