ABSTRACT

Making sensitive pedagogic relationships in the nursery is a deeply human activity evoking joy and satisfaction, but stress and uncertainty too. From an international perspective, strong local reflective spaces are required if early childhood provision is to be culturally and context responsive, counter-balancing globalising pressure to standardise provision. Further, nursery practitioners are entitled to a formal space where their subjective experience of the work, its demands and dilemma, can be expressed and understood.

This paper is about ‘Work Discussion’ (WD) as such a reflective space. Professional reflection is now included in early years policy frameworks internationally for the reasons above. WD, distinctive in including explicit attention to emotion in pedagogy, is one model of a reflective space.

This paper arises from a longitudinal evaluation of WD in nursery funded by the Froebel Trust. The methodology of the evaluation and the positive findings of impact for children have already been published. The aim of this paper is to theorise WD, drawing on the work of Wilfried Bion, a psychoanalyst and theorist of thinking in groups. Empirical data if offered to illustrate the explanatory power of Bion’s theory including what may be discussed openly and what is avoided in pedagogic reflection.

摘要

在托儿所建立敏感的教学关系是一种深层次的人类活动，会唤起快乐和满足，但也会带来压力和不确定性。从国际的角度来看，如果幼儿教育要在文化和背景上响应，平衡全球化对教育标准化的压力，就需要强大的本地反思空间。此外，托儿所从业者有权获得一个正式的空间，可以表达和理解他们对工作的主观体验、工作的要求和困境。

本文是关于“工作讨论”（WD）作为这样一个反思空间。由于上述原因，专业反思现已包含在国际早年政策框架中。WD 的独特之处在于在教学法中包括了对情感的明确关注，是反思空间的一种模式。

本文源自 Froebel Trust 资助的托儿所 WD 的纵向评估。评估方法和对儿童影响的积极发现已经公布。本文的目的是对 WD 进行理论化，借鉴心理分析学家和群体思维理论家威尔弗里德比昂 (Wilfried Bion) 的工作。如果提供经验数据来说明 Bion 理论的解释力，包括可以公开讨论的内容以及在教学反思中避免的内容。