Time: Wednesday, 28/Aug/2024: 13:45 - 15:15 Session Chair: Wilfried Datler Session Chair: Christin Reisenhofer |
Location: Room 011 in ΧΩΔ 02 (Common Teaching Facilities [CTF02]) [Ground Floor] Cap: 56 |
Research Workshop
Significance of Theory for Dealing with Uncertainties in Work Situations?
University of Vienna, Austria
Presenting Author:Since work situations in the fields of education and psychoanalysis are characterised by complexity, uncertainty, instability, uniqueness and an urgency to make decisions (Schön, 1983; Buchholz, 2006), the question of how to deal professionally with related challenges arises both in reflections among psychosocial practitioners as well as in academic discourse. One particular aspect of this topic relates to the question of how the ability to refer to scientific theories and concepts in understanding, decision-making and further action can be helpful in dealing with uncertainties in psychosocial practice situations.
Even if the reference to scientific theories can sometimes grant professionals a certain degree of security, relevant publications from a psychoanalytical perspective (Zwiebel, 2013; Datler, 2016) and in accordance with literature on pedagogical professionalism (Helsper, Hörster & Kade, 2003; Rottländer & Roters, 2008) point to the conviction that it would be illusory to think that the orientation to theories or concepts could lead to the fundamental elimination of the moment of uncertainty in processes of psychosocial practice.
While an overly narrow theoretical orientation in the form of 'clinging' to scientific theories may serve the attempt to completely devote the specificity of individual situations to certain theories, as it were, this hardly enhances the quality of professional practice.
Rather, theories and concepts come into focus that take account of the complexity and instability or dynamics of psychosocial processes and help psychosocial professionals to understand that and why the experience of uncertainty in various psychosocial situations is unavoidable in different intensities and colors.
To explore this furthermore, we will analyse empirical interview material that was conducted within TheoPrax, a research project of the Research Unit Psychoanalysis and Education at the University of Vienna, in order to consider in what way certain theories and concepts gain significance in the course of a person’s biography for dealing with uncertainty in psychosocial work situations. In my planned workshop, the exemplary analysis of an interview with a teacher and a psychoanalytically oriented counselling teacher will show that the individual biographical context and certain experiences of engaging with theory have each led to a characteristic way of dealing with uncertainty.
The following research questions are addressed:
1. Which theories and concepts seem to have become important for Mr M. and Mrs D.? What experiences of engaging with these theories and concepts do they describe in a narrative interview?
2. In what way do these theories and concepts seem to have become helpful for working with their students/clients and dealing with uncertainties in psychosocial work situations?
3. Which biographically related experiences and which inner-psychic forms of processing these experiences seem to have had what influence on the theoretical orientation of Mr M. and Mrs D.?
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used
1. Within the first data collection, over 200 persons working in different psychosocial fields (teachers, psychoanalytic oriented counselling teachers, early childhood educators, social workers, psychoanalytic psychotherapists and others) were interviewed. Using a rating system (scaling structuring of content analysis), we determined with what precision the interviewed persons were able to explain the practice-guiding significance of a theory or concept, if they are asked (a) to name a theory or concept that helps them to understand, decide or take further action in some work situations, (b) to give an example of a specific work situation and (c) to explain in what way this theory or concept was helpful in this particular situation.
2. In addition, biographically related affinities and individual experiences that people have with certain theoretical contents in the course of their professionalisation appear to be decisive regarding the question of whether and in what way theories gain significance for everyday work. This aspect is explored in the second data collection. Therefore, in the second data collection phase, six narrative follow-up interviews were conducted with participants of the first data collection.
In these interviews, the interviewees are asked to tell their professional biography and subsequently to reflect on which theories have become significant for them and their work in the course of their lives, but also what experiences they have had in engaging with these theories.
Structure of the workshop:
After a short introduction into the topic and research project TheoPrax, the participants analyze interview material in two groups: One group works on excerpts from the narrative interview with a teacher Mr M. and the other group works on excerpts from the narrative interview with a counselling teacher Mrs D. These two interviewees both achieved high scores in the rating of the first interview, in other words, they explained at a high level of precision how a theory or concept was helpful for a specific work situation. In the context of the conference topic and in the methodological tradition of analyzing Work Discussion Papers (Datler et al., 2008; Rustin & Bradly, 2008), the participants are going to examine the material in a phase of free association and in a second phase to investigate in which way certain theories and concepts became attractive to this person to deal with uncertainties and/or threatening emotions. With reference to the research questions, the results of the workshop are summarized and enriched with previous considerations.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings
Within the workshop, it can be shown that by engaging with certain theories both interviewees, Mr. M. and Mrs. D., have gained more confidence in dealing with complex work situations – but in very different ways:
According to his accounts, Mr. M. is guided by a concept that provides him with a framework that he can hold on to, especially in situations that seem threatening and unsafe to him. Orientation towards this concept seems to provide him with a way of rejecting threatening emotions (such as aggression) and gaining a sense of security.
Mrs. D. is guided by a psychoanalytic framework that does not offer specific instructions, but rather opens up ways of dealing sensitively with uncertain situations. As a result, she seems to have gained more confidence in dealing with difficult situations and her own emotions such as aggression – she no longer experiences these as so threatening, but is able to integrate them into her professional identity.
These findings are linked to aspects of the respective biographies as well as their specific experiences in the context of training and further education. The empirical analysis can be used as an example to illustrate how the engagement with psychoanalytic theories can be helpful for a more mature level of dealing with uncertainties and that psychoanalytically inspired formats for reflecting on work situations are particularly helpful for integrating threatening emotions and related insecurities.
References
Buchholz, M. (2006). Profession and empirical research in psychoanalysis. Sovereignty and integration. Psyche 60(5), 426-454.
Datler, W., Steinhardt, K., Wininger, M., & Datler, M. (2008). The current unconscious dynamic in the interview situation and the psychoanalytical question of the biographical: Limits and possibilities of working with a modification of the "work discussion" method. Journal for Qualitative Research 9(1-2), 87-98.
Datler, W. (2016). Obvious and hidden entanglements. On the professional handling of unavoidable dynamic processes in situations of early intervention. Frühförderung Interdisziplinär 35, 76-84.
Helsper, W., Hörster, R. & Kade, J. (Eds.) (2003). Uncertainty. Educational fields in the modernisation process. Weilerswist: Velbrück.
Rustin, M./Bradley, J. (Eds.) (2008). Work Discussion: Learning from Reflective Practice in Work with Children and Families. London.
Rottländer, D. & Roters, B. (2008). Connections in uncertainty? Pragmatic comments to the teacher training debate. Bildungsforschung 5(2), 1-14.
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
Zwiebel, R. (2013). What makes a good psychoanalyst? Basic elements of professional psychotherapy. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.