Containing the containers: Work Discussion Group supervision for teachers – a psychodynamic approach

Abstract

Aims:Unlike many other professionals working with children and adolescents, teachers are not routinely provided with a safe space in which to reflect on the experiences and emotions they are left with in their day-to-day work. This paper explores how Work Discussion Groups (WDGs) based on psychodynamic theory might be used with teachers as a method of professional supervision.Rationale:The paper introduces some of the psychodynamic principles that underpin WDGs, in particular, Klein’s theory of Projective Identification and Bion’s concepts of Basic Assumption Mentality and Containment. We illustrate these theoretical principles with clinical examples from WDGs we have run in schools.Findings:WDGs are suggested as an emotionally containing space in which teachers might be supported in thinking about the paranoid and persecutory feelings resulting from their work in complex human organisations and their experiences of challenging interactions with colleagues and the children and young people they teach.Limitations:The paper considers some of the practical and theoretical challenges in the application of psychodynamic theory in educational psychology practice.Conclusions:Psychodynamic WDGs are proposed as a useful framework for supporting teachers to reflect on the emotional aspects of teaching and learning.