The Therapy of Education

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 1-6

3. The Kindly Apocalypse

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

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   2. Self-Esteem: The Inward Turn

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 9-24

   3. Diffidence, Confidence and Self-belief

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 25-37

   4. What Can be Said, What Can be Shown

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 38-50

   5. Reading Narrative

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 51-71

   6. Learning to Change

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 72-85

4. Coming to Terms

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 87-87

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   2. Practising Dying

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 89-108

   3. Room for Thought

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 109-123

   4. The Thoreau Strategy

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 124-138

   5. A State of Abstraction: Knowledge and Contingency

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 139-152

   6. Unfinished Business: Education Without Necessity

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 153-168

5. Redeeming Philosophy, Redeeming Therapy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 169-169

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   2. Beyond Cure

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 171-184

   3. Narrative and Number: What Really Counts

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 185-202

   4. Learning from Psychoanalysis

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 203-217

   5. Enlarging the Enigma

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 218-233

   6. Expectation of Return

      • Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, Paul Standish

      Pages 234-240

The idea of education as therapy goes back to ancient times. Today, it is understood that the role of the teacher comprises aspects of therapy directed towards the child. But to what extent should this relationship be developed, and what are its concomitant responsibilities? This book offers a challenging philosophical approach to these issues.

• child
• development
• education
• growth
• happiness
• learning
• philosophy
• psyche
• Self
• therapy
• work

'At a time when it seems that everyone, at whatever level of society, has fallen behind the banner of Business, blindly caught up in its ruthless and deadening rationality, it is such a relief to find writers so able to resist the trend. They remind us of a humane culture we seem to have forgotten, and their intelligent and illuminating understanding of the relations between education and 'therapy' sweeps away many of the absurdities that have over the past two or three decades invaded both.' David Smail former Special Professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Nottingham, and author of Illusion and Reality: the Meaning of Anxiety and Taking Care: an Alternative to Therapy.

PAUL STANDISH is Professor of Educational Studies, University of Sheffield, UK.

PAUL SMEYERS is Professor of Education at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

RICHARD SMITH is Professor of Education at the University of Durham, UK.

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