The Creative Self - Psychoanalysis, Teaching and Learning in the Classroom

Introduction; The origins and meaning of wellness; Becoming a person - Winnicott's developmental story; Communication. Maybe; Creativity and play - listening to oneself; The roots of compliance and non-complicance - true and false self structures revisited; All the good girls and boys - compliance and its vicissitudes; Defiance - insult or sign of hope; Hate and being a good enough teacher; Instructions - both mad and maddening

he Creative Self engages with the work of the psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott to develop alternative ways of thinking about key issues at the heart of pedagogy; specifically pedagogic relationships, creativity, defiance and compliance. These issues underpin the desires and defences of professionals located in educational institutions, such as the desire to know what is best, to know how to reach all learners, normalised expectations of behaviours and outcomes, and sometimes challenging engagements with students and the curriculum.