'I don't know', a subtle thread: the role of differing intersubjective forms of relatedness in the learner teacher relationships of children looked after by those other than their parents

Abstract

In this inquiry I investigate how the nature of a learner teacher relationship is involved in the limitation and demonstration of complex thought through pulling on a thread heard in the words ‘I don’t know’ in answer to a teacher’s question about what was taught. As an empirical, qualitative inquiry working within an overarching psychoanalytic framework and socio-cultural paradigm provided by Alfred Lorenzer’s (1986) In- Depth Hermeneutic Cultural Analysis method(ology), I seek answers by considering the nature of the intersubjective relationship that supported, or fail to support, the demonstration of complex thinking for learners looked after by those other than their parents.

I consider how, when the learner operates within a schema of ‘traumatically skewed intersubjectivity’ (Schechter, 2017) and attempts to connect and communicate with a teacher who does not operate similarly, there results misunderstanding, miscommunication and a relational field of ‘Being-at-Odds-With-(An)other’, (adapted from Stern, 1985/2000). As part of these intersubjective relational attempts, an affective-relational dynamic (The Shame-Agency Dynamic) articulates a process from doubt toward shame in the learning relationship that acts as a limiter for demonstrating complex thought, while clear recognition of these affective states with certain relational qualities in the teacher contribute toward supporting developing self-agency, which in turn supports complex thought and its demonstration.

With the centrality of the learner teacher relationship in Relational Pedagogy, this offers a different paradigm through which to consider how early developmental trauma impacts relationships, educational achievement, underachievement and for developing a learning culture beneficial to children who experience(d) being looked after by those other than their parents.