The Psychical Dynamics of Learning: Sigmund Freud and Education

This chapter discusses the work of Sigmund Freud in relation to education. Freud’s development of psychoanalysis – his theory of the mind – was a monumental innovation, shifting how conceptions of the self, consciousness, and the psyche are viewed in relation to the modern world, and his contributions as a thinker and writer contain numerous implications for the project of education. This chapter focuses on the unconscious, the ego, and transference, showing how these concepts provide new ways of approaching teaching and learning.