Conference Agenda

In the call of Network “Education and Psychoanalysis” one focus is placed on the meaning of interpersonal relationships in training programs. The questions are raised whether interpersonal relationships are a crucial condition for professionalization within such training programs and what effects interpersonal relationships might have on such processes.

The workshop addresses these questions. It is based on the assumption, that learning processes always take place in and through interpersonal relationships. It is therefore assumed that relationships always have an impact on professionalization processes (Hover-Reisner et al., 2018). Due to curricular orientation, the setting of training programs or the attitude of the teachers, specific relationship dynamics can arise and can either promote and/or hinder professionalization processes.

In the research workshop we want to focus on some of these specific dynamics. To do this, at first there will be a short presentation on a newly established bachelor’s degree program for early childhood education and care professionals (Lehner & Lehner, 2026). Within the presentation, we will focus on two characteristics of this program:

(1) Dual training – which means that from the beginning of the first semester on every student is engaged in a paid work in one of the early childhood education and care institutions (ECEC institutions) which are cooperating partners of the university. Modules and courses are implemented from the first to the last semester, serving to intertwine theory and practice.

(2) The whole curriculum was developed against a psychodynamic background. This means that students learn about psychodynamic concepts (for example focusing early childhood development, intra-/interpersonal dynamics, learning processes) and learn to reflect their practice in the kindergarten as well as their own learning processes against this background. To establish and maintain such kind of professionalization processes it needs strong and reliable interpersonal relationships between students and teaching staff at university and ECEC institutions.

In connection with these specifics of the study program, we would like to discuss the following questions in the workshop:

• From the beginning it was the aim of the teaching staff to build on strong and reliable relationships between the students and themselves. This means to form stable working alliances and establish positive transference processes within a secure environment. In line with Bion, one of our primary focus is to get the students into working group mode (Lazar, 1994). This is challenged to some degree due to the fact that at the same time the teaching staff members have to give grades and are in exchange with other teaching staff members at the university and ECEC institutions about the learning progress of the students. Thus they also have to execute a kind of controlling and assessing function. We would like discuss, for example, the extent to which stable learning groups over several semesters, the role of leadership and clear processes and structures are important in this regard.
• Due to the dual nature of the program, students face the challenge of finding their feet in two places, at the university and at the ECEC institutions, especially in the first semester. One could also speak of transitions (Fasching, 2019), which are often emotionally very challenging. Under certain circumstances, this can strengthen the students' unconscious desire for care, resulting in regression tendencies. Or it can result in tendencies of devaluating members of the study program to unconsciously soothe their own feelings of uncertainty or anxiety. Here we see dynamics that can hinder or block learning processes. In the workshop, we would like to discuss this by asking, for example, what significance the triadic relationship (students, teachers at the university and teachers in ECEC institutions) could play in this context.