Learning Beyond Reason

Dr Christopher Arnold worked as a local authority educational psychologist in the West Midlands for nearly 30 years. He now works independently and until recently was a research tutor at the Tavistock Portman NHS Trust in their programme for training educational psychologists. In addition to his qualifications from Cambridge, Nottingham and Exeter he wrote a PhD thesis on the applications of Chaos Theory in children’s development. He is a past chair of the Division of Educational and Child Psychology in the British Psychological Society. He is currently developing tools to aid communication with children and young people. He has contributed to conferences both in the UK and Europe as well as publishing a range of books and papers. Dr Dale Bartle is co-director of the Doctorate in Educational Psychology Programme at Cardiff University and a tutor at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Foundation Trust, where he gained a doctorate in child and educational psychology. Currently, Dr Bartle has a varied teaching portfolio, which includes contributing to undergraduate, masters and doctoral programmes, focusing primarily on groups, organisations and research methodology. He is particularly interested in psychoanalytic approaches to applied psychology and social research. He is actively engaged in knowledge generation, collaborating with a number of training courses across the United Kingdom, contributing to conferences, journal publications and various research communities.  Dr Xavier Eloquin is an educational psychologist, coaching psychologist and Human Givens therapist. He is an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society. Dr Eloquin has written a number of articles and chapters exploring the interface between educational psychology and psychoanalytic ideas. He co-edited the previous volume entitled Learning from the Unconscious and contributed an account of his family’s experience of lockdown in the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘In an era where educators and practitioners face increasingly complex developmental challenges, resources that illuminate the deeper, often irrational, aspects of learning are essential. This volume, Learning Beyond Reason, provides a vital pathway to that understanding. By presenting richly detailed psychodynamic case studies, the editors and authors succeed in cutting through surface-level behaviours to address the fundamental emotional and relational processes that shape a student’s inner world. For those committed to fostering genuine resilience and promoting positive mental health outcomes, this work is invaluable. It is a necessary and powerful contribution to applied psychology in educational settings, urging us to look beyond metrics and truly see the whole, complex individual.’

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsAbout the editors and contributorsIntroductionChristopher Arnold1. Going below the surface: Reflections on the use of psychoanalytic approaches to educational psychology caseworkGemma Ellis2. Emotionally based school non-attendance (EBSNA): A psychoanalytic perspectiveHannah Fleming and Katie Ellis3. Building on the use of projective techniques and therapeutic assessment to support interventions for children and young peopleZahra Ahmed and Aaron Reynolds4. The systems-psychodynamics of a school: Analysing trauma and the impact of change in a residential schoolXavier Eloquin5. Reverie groups revisitedDale BartleReflectionsGlossaryReferencesIndex