Mothering, caring and educating: learning from experience and psychosocial pedagogy

Abstract

This article takes its starting point from aspects of the author’s biography and her experiences of supervising students who have in common experiences of being so-called ‘parental’ or ‘parentified’ children. Bion’s work and biography are used to understand how working autobiographically on difficult experiences can offer containment based on learning from experience and how these efforts link to key aspects and practices of psychosocial studies. Experience, theory and practice are presented as intertwined. The premature development of parental children, with its gains and losses, provides a thread through the article that also leads to aspects of psychosocial pedagogy as a relational practice. Ethics of care are seen as providing a facilitating environment where autobiographical writing and reflexive practice add depth to learning and development. Winnicott and Benjamin’s work contribute to outlining a relational pedagogy suited to psychosocial studies, which brings external circumstances in relation to the internal world of both learner and educators, in terms of theory, ethics and practice.