Session Information
19 SES 05, Ethnografic Research and the Tavistock Approach: The Investigation of Young Children's Developments in the Nursery
Symposium
Time:
2009-09-29
08:30-10:00
Room:
JUR, HS 17
Chair:
Wilfried Datler
Discussant:
Katy Dearnley
Contribution
This paper will present the findings of an intensive case study of the relationship between children’s interactions with staff and peers and differing patterns of nursery priority and organisation in four different English nurseries.
There is a debate about whether it is necessary to promote attachments in nursery. However accumulating evidence shows that even nurseries that say they are committed to attachment working and have the resources to do so, nevertheless in practice they tend to avoid it. One possible explanation is that staff may be anxious about the implications of personally close interactions in a professional context.
Using a psychoanalytic conceptual approach to organisational functioning and observations adapted from the psychoanalytic methods originating in the work of Bick, the study aimed to explore whether nurseries that were explicitly attentive to staff emotions were more likely to be nurseries where staff initiated emotionally closer interactions with children. The findings show a positive link betwen attention to staff emotion and the consistency and sensivity of staff interactions with children. However the data also shows the importance of peer interactions and nursery routines and procedures in promoting children’s security.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
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