BEYOND THE INSTRUCTIONAL MODE: CREATING A HOLDING ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE USE OF SELF

Abstract

This paper provides a narrative account of a sequence of teaching and learning about the ‘use of self’ in professional practice, set in the context of a Masters programme of qualifying social work training. The processes of teaching and learning are described and analysed, focusing in particular on students' evaluation of the process, and on the ways in which the facilitators aimed to engage directly with the challenges and difficulties raised. These difficulties included anxieties about personal disclosure and discomfort with the challenge of working on personal material in an educational setting. A number of themes are identified from the ensuing evaluation and discussion, including firstly the need to manage anxiety and disclosure in the group; secondly the need to work with ‘process’ and to engage directly with student evaluation and thereby to identify ‘turning points’ in the learning; thirdly questions about ambiguities in the role of teaching staff in this work; and finally the value of the concept of the ‘holding environment’ as a facilitative structure for learning.

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