Freud's Contributions to Education: Authority and Seduction in the Pedagogical Relationship

Abstract

: The present work consists of a research of a basic nature with a qualitative-descriptive design of the experience report type. The experience reported was the result of the assignments as an undergraduate professor in Psychology at the Federal University of Mato Grosso. Three Experience Reports were heard, later three Teacher Profiles were elaborated, based on the types of experience referring to those collected, in sequence, bibliographic research was undertaken to support the theoretical discussion. The unconscious psychic elements that structure the pedagogical relationship are discussed, in order to show that they can favor or hinder the exercise of teacher's authority, when this is replaced by seduction. The dichotomy between intellection and affect in the teaching-learning process is problematized. Based on the key concept of Identification, conceptualized by Freud, the child's prototypical relational experience can impose an overlapping of pedagogical authority by parental authority, in the field that links transference and countertransference. The teacher will be able to act with a predominance of affection and respect, creating favorable conditions for the transference field and the seduction that emanates from it to favor teaching and learning. Thus, the seductive domination of original authority is broken when the teacher does not react to the student's ambivalent transference expectations and evokes his tender affections to help him work. In these ideal situations, the teacher emphasizes the knowledge that legitimizes his pedagogical authority. The decisive question of the pedagogical relationship is posed. Even if he seeks to deny his own relationship — working to overcome the student's intellectual dependence — The teacher always moves on the thin border between authority and seduction.