Emotion in nursery work: Work Discussion as a model of critical professional reflection

Abstract

The importance of attention to children’s emotions has been emphasised widely in early care and education research and policy. Enabling such attention has been seen as achieved primarily through attachment interactions with nursery staff. However, there is increasing awareness that faciltiating such interactions in a way that is optimal for children depends in part on staff’s critical professional reflection about how these interactions are managed with children, with family members and between staff themselves. Such professional reflection is seen as needing to include attention to the emotional experience of staff as well as children. This paper reports on Work Discussion as a model of professional reflection that is attentive to emotional experience as it is evoked in professional work. Work Discussion and its theoretical underpinning, a psychoanalytic view of organisational ethos and interaction, is introduced and explained. The paper then reports on a Work Discussion group with nine nursery managers, the issues brought for discussion, the managers’ reports of their experience of the group, and the value of Work Discussion in helping them think about and manage interactions in their nurseries.

Keywords:

• emotion
• professional reflection
• nursery

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express his appreciation to the LA in this study who commissioned the continuing professional development work, to the Froebel Research Committee for funding the evaluation, and to the managers who so willingly gave of precious time and personal experience.He would also like to express his sincere thanks to the LA senior adviser who facilitated the work and to the co-facilitator in the study who brought group relations expertise to the discussions.Finally, he would like to thank anonymous reviewers and the journal editors who gave valuable feedback on the paper.