The paper aims to present, analyse and discuss the so-called Group Relations model, which has been built up over the decades by the pioneering work of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations in London, which has created a precise method for studying the dynamics of groups and organizations, as well as the processes of authority, leadership and membership in groups. The model of the Group Relations takes its cue from Lewin’s method of the T-Group and from his idea of the group as a Gestalt totality. It considers psychoanalysis applied to organizations as a fundamental instrument for the in-depth understanding of group and institutional movements.

From the very beginning, and in particular after the 1950s, the study and work group of the Tavistock Institute used the methodology of research-action, developed by Kurt Lewin, as a way to carry out research in the field that involves the participants in the first person. The researcher enters the field of research as a consultant who  plays a professional role in relation to a client-system. Therefore the method thanks to which the research data are generated (Miller, 1989; Jacques, 1951; Trist and Bamforth, 1951; Rice, 1958 and 1963) is represented by the consultant who observes, analyses and interprets the dynamics of the organization and the phenomena of the group in progress, at exactly the time when they are implemented, and with the active contribution of the participants in formulating hypotheses and interpretations.

The research question: to analyse the impact on education in term of inclusion and exlusion of the participants of the Group Relations model. We also question the educational and transformative impact of the organization as a whole and its capacity to repair exclusion. 

The research-action that takes place between the consultant and the members in a precise setting, with clear-cut borders, plays a formative role in relation to the participants, who acquire great awareness of their unconscious dynamics and develop critical and reflective thought. They learn from experience while the experience is taking place. Furthermore, they then take the learning they conquered in the 'working conference' into the working contexts and the organizations they belong to.

The methodology used to carry out the analysis and the discussion consists both of the study and the critical and conceptual analysis of literature and of the experience in the first person by the author of this paper. Specifically, the conceptual instruments of psychoanalysis will be used to interpret the phenomena observed in the Working Conferences

The findings are related to a deeper understanding of the profound impact on the education of the participation in Group Relations Working Conference. People are deeply touched by having observed their kind of contribution to the temporary organization of the conference, their unconscious movements, their positive and negative emotions and acting out. The conclusions want to state that it is very crucial to highlight personal emotional dynamics when in a group and institutions, in order to contribute to an authentic and democratic active and reflective citizenship. This understanding pushes individuals to change their behaviour, showing its educational impact.

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