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A developmental metaphor
Chapter Nine – An Ending – Page 284
Child developmentalists suggest that one of the most difficult tasks for parents is
dealing with their first child during the arrival into the world of their second. In
considering the interaction in and around the group from the perspective of Foulkes’
Transference Level (see Page 74), and making substitutions by use of metaphor and
metonymy, such as using child to represent group and parent to represent tutor, Heidi’s
question and my response can be seen as indicative of dynamics that are under the
surface. Heidi comes to represent the group(/child), literally by speaking on behalf of
the others but also symbolically by being the one present when the request was raised,
and I come to represent the staff(/parent(s)), because of my role where I am required to
be responsible and respond, but also symbolically as the recipient of the group’s
concerns.
At the same time, it seems clear to me now that there was intense activity in all groups
associated with the course (including first and second years, and staff) at the Projective
Level, and probably too at the Primordial Level. Starting school has an archetypal
quality in almost every culture in the world, and memories of this first major separation
from home for many children will be evoked by the start of a new adult learning
experience. Therefore, as parents, and for me particularly as parent-in-chief, we and I
were having to manage a cultural event (the start of a new year of teaching) at the same
time as the birth of a new baby and the reaction of my/our existing and fractious child.
Later in the year, one member of the first year group had a surgical operation on their
foot, and was unable to go upstairs. Therefore, for the second semester (the period under
study), the study group got their wish, and effectively had to be allowed to stay in their
room throughout the evening of the course. The operation and the injury that it sought to