“Sometimes we think we're doing the right thing...”: Preparing for a less specific and more generic relationship with students in training, to better take care of them

Abstract

An apprentice teacher questions the ideal of maximum proximity and commitment to each pupil, and formulates risks for herself and her pupils. A wide-ranging extract from a research interview helps to put into perspective a turning point that would invite us to introduce more generic problematicity into our approach to work, in contrast to the more spontaneous tendency to see teaching as a relationship between individuals. Taking a collective interest in problems rather than people, within the framework of certain clinical and collaborative arrangements, would paradoxically reinforce the security and ambition of caring perhaps more than the reverse.

Keywords: beginner gender, clinical approach, professional problem, proximity ideal, teacher training.