Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education: A Didactic Approach for Sustainable and Living Learning [1st ed.] 978-3-030-01047-8;978-3-030-01048-5

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xxii
Front Matter ....Pages 1-1
Theme-Centered Interaction for Educating Future Leaders. Applied Social Psychology for Teaching Academics to Act Socially Sustainably in Organisations (Sylke Meyerhuber)....Pages 3-56
Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn: An Introduction (Matthias Scharer)....Pages 57-95
Concrete Methods and Case Experiences with Theme-Centered Interaction (Helmut Reiser, Hiltrud Loeken, Walter Lotz, Birgit Menzel, Christoph Huber)....Pages 97-128
Front Matter ....Pages 129-129
On the Psychology of Civil Courage. A Theme-Centered Interactive Teaching Experiment: Reflections on the Process and Insights into the Subject (Friedemann Schulz von Thun, Roswitha Stratmann)....Pages 131-155
Big Themes for Little Kids? Living Learning in a Teacher-Training Course Dealing with Flight and Migration (Stefan Padberg)....Pages 157-175
First Steps with TCI in a Class for Psychopathology: How Students, Topics and the Lecturer Gain from the Approach (Dora Pereira)....Pages 177-187
TCI Didactics in the Higher Education Context of Kerala, India: Experiences and Insights of Teaching English Language and Communication at the Tertiary Level (Joby Cyriac, Christudas Amala Lal)....Pages 189-206
Front Matter ....Pages 207-207
Theme-Centered Interaction: Intersections with Reflective Practice in North American Religious Contexts (Mary E. Hess)....Pages 209-220
Theme-Centered Interaction in the Context of Intercultural Education and the Constructivist-Inspired Pedagogy: Potentialities and Perspectives (Svetlana Kurteš)....Pages 221-242
Front Matter ....Pages 243-243
Theme-Centered Interaction In- and Outside of Academia: MOOCifying TCI (Annelies van der Horst)....Pages 245-268
Theme-Centered University Didactics: An Answer to Bologna (Sandra Bischoff)....Pages 269-279
Theme-Centered Interaction in Personnel Development Schemes in Academia: Good Reasons and Practise Examples (Sylke Meyerhuber)....Pages 281-308
About Evidence: A Commentary on Theme-Centered Interaction-Related Research from a Pedagogic Perspective (Helmut Reiser)....Pages 309-313
Back Matter ....Pages 315-328

Citation preview

Sylke Meyerhuber Helmut Reiser Matthias Scharer Editors

Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education A Didactic Approach for Sustainable and Living Learning

Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education

Sylke Meyerhuber  •  Helmut Reiser Matthias Scharer Editors

Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education A Didactic Approach for Sustainable and Living Learning

Editors Sylke Meyerhuber Researcher at the artec Research Centre for Sustainability Studies University of Bremen Bremen, Germany

Helmut Reiser Emeritus of the Institut für Sonderpädagogik University of Hanover Hanover, Germany

Matthias Scharer Emeritus of the Institute of Practical Theology University of Innsbruck Innsbruck, Austria

ISBN 978-3-030-01047-8    ISBN 978-3-030-01048-5 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018968274 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Greeting Note

We are pleased to present this volume as a further contribution to the concept of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). It is our hope that it will serve to enrich the present discussions concerning teaching and learning in the university setting. Theme-Centered Interaction does not offer swift and easy responses to the pressing present and future tasks faced in the working world or matters concerning holistic approaches to education. Rather, it challenges teachers and managers to direct their attention towards dealing with matters of attitudes, conceptions of human life, human visions and values. In an ever-changing world, we need people who have learned to be their own leaders, who can successfully forge new processes. At the university level of teaching, TCI is capable of supporting the desire to acquire self-­ reliance, to unfold potentials and to initiate living learning. Some find it irritating to imagine that all teachers are likewise learners, that learners are also managers. But with this volume, it is our hope that the idea of a sustainable, living, inspirational didactic will become firmly planted on its reader’s horizon. Theme-Centered Interaction according to Ruth C.  Cohn arose in a context of psychotherapeutic and educational thought. It was based on a multitude of experiences both with individuals and in groups. Reflection on those experiences enabled TCI to become an educational concept of its own accord. Whether working with individuals or groups, whether as part of counselling, in an educational or a teaching venue, TCI addresses how group processes function and how they are controlled, how disturbances are dealt with and how living learning processes are initiated – all based on a unique vision of human life and the development of moral responsibility. To do so, it is necessary to keep the four factors (I, We, It and Globe) in mind as much as it is to respect and balance the needs and skills of the involved individuals, the tasks at hand and the context of the organisation and its environment. Today, TCI is employed in schools, at universities, in socially oriented fields, in pastoral work as well as in counselling and organisational development. TCI was first launched in the United States and came of age in Germany and Switzerland. It has since grown such that, under the auspices of the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-­ international, there are now branches in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary and India. An important part is played by the v

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four international expert groups (supervision, management, school, theology) and the support programme for young adults. Numerous TCI trainings and seminars are offered in association with various collaborators, based on the quality standards set by the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international. There are also special educational and training formats for coaching and supervision according to TCI as well as intercultural and interdisciplinary learning formats. The Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international thanks the Ruth Cohn Foundation for the Support of Young Adults, which supported besides others the publication of this volume. And we thank each and every contributor to this book for their important contributions to the further development of the theory of TCI. May the lecturer in academia benefit from the ideas and understanding TCI is offering them for their work in seminars and beyond. It is our hope that the Ruth Cohn Institute, in particular, and scientific research in this field, in general, will be the benefactors of a fruitful discussion and thus will provide an impetus for furthering work with TCI. President of the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international Berlin, Germany January 30, 2018

Andrea Schmid

Preface

Which learning experiences are you thinking back to as the most positive? If I were asked to put my finger on it, I first would name situations where I was able to feel enriched on the humane level by the person who taught me something. Second, I would point out situations in which I could try and experience and achieve something by myself. Third, I would remember being creative in a unique way or discovering something utterly unexpected – what a joy! When one or more of these criteria meet, the accompanying feelings I would call curiosity, feeling energised, touched, happy, content and satisfied. In conclusion, it is mainly three things leading to great learning experiences: positive humane encounter with others, productivity by doing things by oneself, and productivity of one’s mind. Ideally, all three aspects come together. Institutions of higher education  – be it a university, a polytechnic, a college, etc. – are places of learning by definition. But what is learning? I would say, it is a process of and between human beings, never only cognitively but also emotionally and interactively. Learning in groups always includes certain dynamics  – within each person and within the group. Of course, as a lecturer, one could try to suppress group effects and stoically emphasise on a given topic. We have all experienced such situations sometimes as pupils or teachers, right? And I guess (if the reader nods, thinking of themselves as the participant or the speaker) such situations do not stir the happiest of memories or feelings! Something was amiss. Shared experiences in groups are not something that can be avoided or should be suppressed while learning. On the contrary, they are part of the living organism of sociality and, in this capacity, part of the human life – more precisely: of humane life! Therefore, university (etc.) lessons should, from my point of view, offer not mere content but ‘lessons of life’ in light of a content, providing adequate models of how an expert in a specific field can act as a ‘good, humane person’ and how learning situations can create vivid, enlightening, satisfying experiences. “I listen and forget. I see and remember. I do and understand”, Cicero is believed to have stated. I quote this phrase at the beginning of my university seminars in order to explain to students not used to interactive didactic why it is imperative to me as their lecturer to involve them during the term in discussion, problem-solving vii

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in small groups, self-reflection and other forms of encounter for a more-than-­ cognitive and only thereby memorable learning experience. Students cannot lean back in such lessons; they must ‘do’ things all the time – being involved personally, with other group members and with the subject matter at hand – in order to ‘understand’. Participants are challenged to open up, to become visible as a person, to act successfully or to err, which is at first demanding and then becomes a deliberating joy. For the lecturer, this means to withdraw from the role of a person who mainly explains things. Instead, they must create tasks which invite students to explore aspects of a topic by themselves. A university lecturer who thus opens up his/her content to students, letting them make it their own, finding importance in it, letting them question it? Yes. Late Ruth C. Cohn, founder of the Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) approach for ‘living learning’ experiences in groups, would hopefully agree and probably then involve all parties in the idea of ‘be you own chairperson’1! For a scholar in higher education, it might be difficult to refrain from sticking mainly to topic-related facts and instead ask themselves how their students can be involved in finding out personally what one could tell them in a fraction of the time – but without sustainable learning effects, referring to the above quote! The what is clear to the academic expert, but too often, the how remains a mystery. The authors of this book agree in their view of learning/lecturing in academia; it should allow for unlocking potentials slumbering in groups of students and their lecturers. This goal leads to specific demands for the teaching situation. A conscious and empathic group leading by reflected attitude and process design does not necessarily remain a black box to colleagues outside of pedagogy and psychology. Knowledge from these fields can be transferred into all contexts. TCI is the ‘art of leading oneself and others’ in a humane and fruitful way in all work groups. While group dynamic in all its colours is a given (one cannot avoid or suppress but steer it), the ability of a group leader in recognising, addressing and positively shaping this sort of underlying group process will broadly differ. Some lecturers in higher education might be experts in the field of group dynamic (like some psychologists or pedagogues) and therefore have more ideas and less insecurity of how to create a vivid and beneficial learning atmosphere. Some might have good contact within their groups due to their natural social skills – not being sure why their approach works and in search for a clue if it does not. However, others though lack these kind of skills, knowledge and training, shying away from everything beside their content while teaching, feeling insecure and anxious of students expressing themselves. Especially if emotions come into play, insecurity rises for many lecturers. They might think: “Who knows what then happens? The group might escalate or take over, making it impossible for me to continue with my 1  Theme-Centered Interaction as an approach of working in/as/with a group will be introduced in the first chapters of the book and referred to in all further chapters. A glossary at the end of the volume supports a reader new to TCI further in their grasp of main ideas and concepts of and around the approach. Please note that the spelling as Theme-Centered Interaction is used as a standardised term throughout the book, while some of the text use British English and others American English (due to the options of writer and copy editor at hand).

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c­ ontent!” Where does this peculiar fear (loss of control, a group that is disruptive or turned against their leader) come from? Own thoughts and feelings are part of any learning process, but how to include them constructively? Psychology understands human beings as deeply interdependent, as aiming for both autonomy and acknowledgement. Each individual has to handle this dichotomy, trying as a person and in a given role and situation to balance out these equally important human needs. If a scholar in academia wishes to empathise the humane side within their teaching-­ learning-­setting, fundamental truths of humanity become apparent. Ruth C. Cohn as the inventor or discoverer of TCI expresses this accordingly for the attitude towards groups she works with in the first of three axioms as one of the baselines of her approach: Human beings are psychobiological entities and a part of the universe. They are equally autonomous and interdependent. The autonomy of individuals is all the much larger; the greater they are aware of their interdependence with all and everything. (Farau and Cohn 1984, p. 357)

This is a book for scholars lecturing in the field of higher education; be it at a university, a polytechnic, a college or similar, according to their country and the educational system they are located in. The international authors of this book invite their readers to think from the standpoint: “What do my students need in order to learn the best they could?” instead of “How do I explain my content the best I could?” Learning in the best possible way addresses more than a subject matter alone, as mentioned before. It acknowledges the need for human encounter as part of the learning process, not only with the lecturer or facilitator but also between fellow students. If structures do not serve the social situation, trust between even the most willing people will decrease – “an experience also true in higher education and therefore reason for further consideration and didactical advancement”, as Arndt (2013, p. 61) puts it. Since not everyone teaching in academia received a didactical training, this book provides scientifically based answers by introducing the reader to the attitude, theory and methods of TCI by Ruth C. Cohn and its uses for academia lectur(er) s. It is an approach based in humanism, group theory, psychoanalysis, pedagogy and other areas of knowledge about the psychological needs of human beings learning in groups. Overall, it maps out a holistic way of lecturing and learning. Different readers are addressed by this book: –– Some might already be experts in TCI themselves. Such colleagues probably received training at a Ruth Cohn Institute (RCI2), mainly in Europe or India. Probably they are already applying their knowledge to their lectures and might find new ideas in this book of doing just that. –– Others already possess certain knowledge in the field of group dynamic and group facilitation from other backgrounds. They might use these insights in their teaching already but find it somewhat limited and unstructured. With TCI, they ought to find an integrating, systematic approach and fresh ideas, broadening their repertoire.  See www.ruth-cohn-institute.org

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–– Some will know about TCI foremost from books. Perhaps they already put to good practice what they understood so far and are supported by the content of this book to deepen their approach. Or the interested TCI reader might not yet explicitly apply their3 group understanding. They are encouraged by examples and theoretical background to transfer new-found ideas into their lectures. –– And others still might be entirely new to TCI and the idea of thinking in terms of human needs, group dynamic and group facilitation while having their upcoming seminars in mind. They are also encouraged to broaden their ability of leading oneself and others fruitfully in a group process by first steps with TCI. As editors and authors, we offer something to all these addressees and are sure they benefit from TCI in whatever field of study they may teach. We think of the book as a fruit basket with offerings for different interests, TCI knowledge levels and tastes. Consequently, our ‘basket’ contains texts from authors who are either TCI-trained and TCI-licensed, very TCI-affine, or positvely TCI-interested. Most of them write from their soul experiences with TCI in higher education, some compare ideas offered by TCI to other approaches, some transfer experiences from other educational contexts to the context of academia or discuss its merits from a more theoretical perspective. Accordingly, this is not one consistent textbook but a reader, a compendium of offers from different angles on TCI in higher education. In part I, the reader finds in-depth introductions into TCI from theoretical, practical, and methodical angles. Adding to each other, these texts offer an understanding of where the approach comes from and why it is of the utmost interest for postmodern higher education. Here, also first examples of how TCI can be used in support of academic seminars are given, as well as some insights on the effects for lecturers and students. The first contribution on ‘Theme-Centered Interaction for Educating Future Leaders’ by Sylke Meyerhuber (Bremen, Germany) discusses the university as a venue for appropriating skills that enable students as leaders-to-be to act socially sustainably in organisations: The author introduces Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) as an applied social psychology approach for university teachers. She argues that young academics are society’s leadership personnel of the future. In such roles, they will have a great impact on the wellbeing of others. How do they learn to act in a socially sustainable manner? University is not only a place for learning the contents of a chosen field of study. Additionally, the author points out an obligation to enable students to fulfil their future functions in areas of society with respect to social skills and consciousness. It is discussed in the text how resonant relationship experiences can be ensured during lectures. ‘Resonance in class’ as a concept by Sociologist H. Rosa is introduced, and its psychological implications are discussed in more detail with respect to specific approaches from therapy theory and industrial psychology. In more detail, cornerstones of the approach of TCI by Ruth C. Cohn 3  In modern English, language is to be gendered: where he/she could be set, a plural form (they) is used instead. The University of Bremen, where the author is working, encourages gender-equality language in academia by policy.

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are then introduced with respect to practice examples from seminars of the author. Building on the method, qualitative empirical data from the student’s perspective on experienced impacts of teaching with the TCI attitude and methodology at the university are presented. Conclusions are drawn and an outlook is given. In the second chapter, ‘Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C.  Cohn: An Introduction’, renown TCI expert, communicative theologist and TCI trainer, Matthias Scharer (Innsbruck, Austria) offers the reader an introduction into the biography of Ruth C. Cohn, deriving from it the genesis of ideas and further developments of our shared frame of reference ‘Theme-Centered Interaction’. Scharer shares his intimate knowledge of the historical and philosophical background underlying the TCI approach. Being honoured with the custodianship of the Ruth C.  Cohn archive in Berlin, Scharer’s introduction provides unusual insights into both the approach and its history, sharing his deep understanding of the biography of TCI’s founder. Due to the author’s profound knowledge and international experience with TCI, he explains with humane warmth the concept to the interested reader. In chapter three, as an expert for psychoanalytic and systemic pedagogy and former RCI lecturer, Helmut Reiser (Hanover, Germany) introduces in his text, ‘Concrete Methods and Case Experiences with Theme-Centered Interaction’, insights into modifications of TCI methodology for a variety of teaching situations, together with Walter Lotz and Birgit Menzel (Frankfurt, Germany), Christoph Huber (Tübingen, Germany) and Hiltrud Loeken (Freiburg, Germany). Different formats of the work with TCI in lectures at the university are introduced, developed by Reiser and his co-authors. The different ways of using TCI didactically are described; their advantages and drawbacks discussed; and conclusions for the context of higher education are drawn. What is additionally characterised is where each approach might be fittingly applied. Completing, their relation to nowadays standards of TCI and its leading theorems are shown. While Reiser provides a framework in this chapter, each co-author with their unique university teaching experience introduces a special example. Some of them are not only teaching at the university but are also accredited RCI lecturers and therefore also familiar with newer developments within the ‘TCI world’. In light of their specific expertise, this contribution closes with an overall conclusion. These three broader pieces are followed by distinct examples of teaching with TCI. In part II, case experiences with TCI in different fields of study and also in different cultures are presented. The authors here refer to aspects of TCI without explaining the approach all over again. They show how they find facets of TCI helpful in their work of academic lectures. The fourth chapter gives a detailed insight into a strictly process-orientated TCI workshop setting of a seminar at the University of Hamburg (Germany), where the communication expert Friedemann Schulz von Thun and his colleague Roswitha Stratmann taught together. First, ‘On the Psychology of Civil Courage: A ThemeCentered Interactive Teaching Experiment’ describes the framework in which the fortnightly course, held 1994, took place. Second, the readers follow a first draft and guiding thoughts in the development of an appropriate setting for their target group. Third, the seven sessions of the course and how the lecturers perceived them are

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described, giving insights into the ongoing creation of further steps based on the lecturers’ reflection of the group process, a most insightful description. Thereby, it can be closely observed how the lecturers perceived the group development and how they, guided by TCI principles and further communication methods by Schulz von Thun, shaped the process from session to session, observing closely the ongoing process and its results. Summarising in ten theses, also the knowledge on ‘civil courage’ gained throughout the course, and overall insights are discussed. Stefan Padberg (University of Wuppertal, Germany) shows in ‘Big Themes for Little Kids? Living Learning in a Teacher Training Course Dealing with Flight and Migration’ how he teaches students in a course for the primary school subject ‘Natural and Social Sciences Education’ (in German, Sachunterricht). In school, the subject deals with issues of the real world, allowing pupils a more specialised learning of natural sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), on the one hand, and the social sciences (geography, political sciences, sociology, economics, history), on the other hand. A third issue is concerned with technical learning (as the architecture of a bridge). Lecturing students of these university teacher training courses incorporates the initialisation and fostering of the students’ learning process on didactical approaches to social sciences teaching as an overall part of the primary school subjects mentioned above. The author first describes the normal situation of learning in teacher training courses at university in Germany. Second, he introduces the TCI approach in light of his target group, particularly focusing on the path of TCI-based planning in order to engage the teachers-in-training in a ‘living learning’ process. Here, the structuring of the collaboration and communication is of utmost importance, supported by the ‘eternal search for dynamic balance’ of the four TCI factors. This is illustrated by a course that took place in summer 2016, based on a real-life situation, here: the public discourse on a recent immigration wave into Germany. In other words, while dealing with the content of escape and migration, the class of future teachers explored different approaches of teaching and learning. Dora Pereira teaches clinical psychology at the University of Madeira (Funchal, Portugal). In the sixth chapter, ‘First Steps with TCI in a Class for Psychopathology: How Students, Topics and Lecturer Gain from the Approach’, the author describes her work as a teacher of psychology with undergraduate students after years as a practitioner of clinical psychology. As such, she sees her task at the university not only in providing knowledge. The task at hand is, according to her, to help students become future psychologists. In this light, teaching psychology must support personality development, the construction of a new identity as being a future psychologist. Therefore, classes planned should have this double aim in mind. But how? The TCI approach is known to Pereira only by literature and life examples gained while observing a German guest lecturer working with TCI in her class. These glimpses opened to her a meaningful and helpful way towards her goals, providing a humanistic framework and concrete ways of thinking about the process in the group she works with. Even with only cornerstone knowledge to date, TCI offers her ways to connect knowledge and personal growth convincingly. In her text, the author describes how she started applying aspects of TCI to her psychopathology class as an experiment. The text is organised along the four factors of the TCI model, reflect-

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ing the author’s process as a university teacher: (1) Globe factors – some thoughts on features of the context the class takes place in. (2) Individual aspects – on how she encountered TCI as a method for her class and why it spontaneously made sense to her. (3) Group factors – how the group of students did react to her proposal of an unfamiliar didactical setting. And furthermore in retrospection: How did the social climate in class change during the term? Here, feedback of students is also addressed. (4) The ‘It’ or subject matter – reflection on how the content ‘psychopathology’ is developing during the group process, with respect to individuals, the overall group and to theme and context. Thus, different challenges Pereira encountered as a university teacher are reflected. In light of the four TCI factors, she asks: “How did the course go, were the TCI principles helpful, when did I reach the goal of balance, or when did the process waver, and why?” Implications of these reflections lead to thoughts about the future shaping of her teaching/learning processes, for sure supported by TCI again. Then, the angle shifts to an even more intercultural perspective with contributions from three continents, starting with an experience of academic teaching with TCI in India. The seventh chapter introduces the reader to Joby Cyriac and C. A. Lal (Kerala, India) and their experiences with ‘TCI Didactics in the Higher Education Context of Kerala/India: Experiences and Insights of Teaching English Language and Communication at the Tertiary Level’. Cyriac and Lal draw from their background as teachers of English at the tertiary level in India, where they are constantly confronted with the need for a contextually appropriate way to teach the language. Cyriac describes ‘finding TCI’ as a defining moment in his professional development; since it conforms to his notions of teaching/learning and offers him the freshness of an experiential learner-centred process with a philosophical underpinning, deeply humane and fine-tuned to the needs of his students. The authors discuss their classroom experience of offering a TCI-based language and communication course for postgraduate students in Kerala, in southern India. The nature and rationale of the course, its participants and the process are each delineated in the chapter. An emphasis lays on the attempts to translate the system of TCI into academic classroom practice – the TCI attitude ingrained in the axioms, the four factor dynamics, postulates in action, various tools and techniques of TCI, as session timing, rounds, group configuration, activities, energisers, and how these animate the classroom process of teaching and learning English language and communication. The involvement, responses and feedback of students are discussed by the authors along with observations and insights as group leaders. Ethical and political aspects are issued – by means of chairpersonship. For example encourages TCI participating women to voice their own thoughts, often a socially unfamiliar terrain for them. The authors also reflect on a personal level: As a teacher in the higher education field of India, how does TCI influence me? How did it influence/did not influence my students, looking back on the classroom climate and process? In closing, perspectives on TCI didactics in the higher education context of India are discussed, making also quite apparent the  – by Ruth C.  Cohn well intended and hoped for  – societal-political dimensions of the approach.

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The two following texts in part III are focused on interdisciplinary intersections: how does TCI fit in the landscape of approaches supporting interactive didactics in higher education, besides what already was said in this respect? Starting with the eighth chapter, written by Mary E. Hess (Minnesota, USA), the author provides a methodology-comparative perspective, ‘Theme-Centered Interaction: Intersections with Reflective Practice in North American Religious Contexts’. For more than 20 years, Hess has worked to support reflective practices in theological and religious contexts. Using a spectrum of reflective practice highlights how this kind of learning is ongoing, never finished, and dynamic. This spectrum also helps the author to identify resonance and helpful patterns in a variety of disparate but nonetheless connected practices. The ‘Art of Hosting’, ‘Liberating Structures’, ‘Public Conversations’, ‘Circles of Trust’, ‘Civil Dialogue Project’ and ‘Common Ground Project’ – all of these grassroots efforts in North America include according to Hess frameworks for helping participants in learning events to listen more carefully, to speak more slowly and to participate overall more reflectively. This is an intersection in which the powerful work of Theme-Centered Interaction, Ruth C. Cohn’s psychologically grounded and astute theorising and practice, offers the author a substantial support as well as helpful critique to these forms of pragmatic engagement. Hess sees a clear resonance between strategies such as ‘being your own chairperson’ and ‘beginning in shared table fellowship’. Finally, from the author’s own specific theological context, she adds the socio-political angle of ‘Womanist Theology’, and further theologians, who are working in multi-faith contexts more generally, emphasise the importance of Kegan’s deconstructive propositions for characterising TCI and other similar practices of dialogical conversation both as aligned with each other and as truly transformative. Ultimately, it is shown that reflective practices support putting learning at the heart of higher education, rather than too narrowly falling into teaching-focused patterns. In the ninth contribution, the intercultural dimension in teaching and learning comes into focus even more pronounced. Svetlana Kurteš (Cambridge, UK) is an expert in applied linguistics and intercultural communication as well as vice-president of the European Network for Intercultural Education Activities (ENIEDA). Her contribution ‘Theme-Centered Interaction in the Context of Intercultural Education and the Constructivist-Inspired Pedagogy: Potentialities and Perspectives’ offers a concise reflection of the Theme-Centered Interaction approach observed specifically from the point of view of intercultural education and its requirements within the postmodern competency-­based education. Having demoratic citizenship, global dexterity, cultural literacy and internationalisation among the core values on its agenda, intercultural education requires a crosscurricular presence and a joint effort across educational levels. Looking specifically at its applications in the higher education contexts (in Europe and beyond), TCI is linked by Kurteš to the above-mentioned core values of intercultural education and discussed in comparison to the author’s hitherto teaching approach ‘Linguistic and Intercultural Education’ (LIE), leading to ‘best practice reflections’ for the development of interculturality and diversity consciousness. These important skills for future roles in academia and leadership can find support by TCI in higher education,

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providing immediate and ongoing training of social skills and attitude. The chapter ends with recommendations for the future development in these areas, looking into the potentiality and prospects of TCI in connection to LIE, not only in the context of intercultural education but – more widely – in the promotion of a tolerant and democratic society. In part IV, contributions point into the future, considering aspects of what would or should be with respect to TCI in academia, technically as well as strategically. Chapter ten is concerned with the future of TCI in the technology epoch. Annelies van der Horst (University of Maastrich, Netherland) explores ideas for TCI in and outside of academia; in the shape of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), reflecting first on teaching TCI online and second on online-based teaching shaped by TCI principles. As many of the other contributions in this volume explain, TCI is (or can be) a valuable aspect in the curricula of university studies and practices, be it in a specific course for students, as a pedagogical guideline for the faculty, or as a learning concept. Concentrating on the skills that academic students should acquire in their education – their ability to communicate and interact socially – the TCI-­ accredited author considers a TCI course an invaluable asset to all academic curricula. As TCI is a (self-)leadership enhancing approach, it could prove to be a crucial plus in their academic education. However, since TCI professionalism is still not very common among university staff, the theoretical possibility of developing a MOOC on TCI is explored by the author. Such a MOOC would be accessible for all parties interested – students, staff and beyond – for everyone who wants to become acquainted with TCI. The overall idea of van der Horst’s research is based on Mick Cooper’s (2016) question on the conditionality of micro-level communication skills for a fully functioning society. Van der Horst transforms this question into a hypothesis, stating that individual interaction skills are preconditional for an inclusive society. In her chapter, the content and methodological conditions for developing a TCI-MOOC are investigated, a concept she is developing currently in her PhD research. This research is inspired by the societal ambition of Ruth C. Cohn as the inventor of TCI. Van der Horst refers to the idea that TCI could function as societal therapy. She attempts to translate the ideas of Ruth C. Cohn to the present, meaning society’s need for basic communication skills, which are often no longer validly taught in family, school and church. The author attempts to draw a connection between TCI and social media, such as animation, gaming and other media (like MOOCs) that were unthinkable in Ruth C. Cohn’s days, reflecting that the concepts of MOOC may change the future way of academic learning and teaching entirely. For this reason, she starts exploring its chances of transmitting the concept, the values and skills of TCI to an audience of academic students and staff. Ultimately, the TCI community could decide, in cooperation with one or more universities, to develop a MOOC on TCI. This chapter may function as a first step of investigating the modalities of such an initiative, also in light of bringing the approach into the globalised world. In the eleventh chapter, Sandra Bischoff presents with ‘Theme-Centered University Didactics: An Answer to Bologna, a Summary of a Dissertation with the Same Title’, main results of her PhD paper. The author researched in theory and via

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interviews with experienced practitioners of TCI in university didactic how the approach is fruitfully adapted into tertiary education. Bischoff’s theory as derived from this process deals with the convictions and attitudes of university teachers as well as didactic design principles. She emphasises the interlocking of the various dimensions of university teaching. Important results of her study are, for example, the outstanding importance of personality development also at the university teacher level, and that a comprehensive understanding of competences can serve as a connection between Humboldt’s traditional teaching ideal ‘education through science’ and the Bologna reform (unifying tertiary education in Europe). Accordingly, specifics of Bischoff’s Theme-Centered University Didactics approach can also lead to ‘living learning’ at universities, even in times of the Bologna reform. In a finally assessing twelfth chapter, Sylke Meyerhuber discusses the possible merits of TCI as part of personnel development in academia. The author shifts the reader’s view away from the classroom’s ‘I’-‘We’-‘It’ focus over to the ‘Globe’ of it: the context, the environment in which the class takes place. She explores which role TCI can play from the angle of the university as an organisation – as a strategic means and in the systematic personnel development of universities. TCI seminars are suggested to be offered to academic staff members in support of their need for finding ways towards a good social climate and for social learning – in their seminars, teams and research groups alike. In this light, TCI could be promoted as a common didactical basis. Beside theory and its discussion, the author includes insights from talks with co-editor Matthias Scharer, as well as with Matthias Kroeger, a TCI’ler of the first hour in Germany and close friend to late Ruth C. Cohn, and with Gisela Liebens from RCI Niedersachsen e. V. (Germany). Their experiences and insights add to the author’s thoughts about TCI in academia from the ‘Globe’ perspective. Overall, the author promotes TCI as a socially sustainable group and leadership model with positive career effects inside and out of academia, equally for students and academic staff members. At the end of this contribution, a list of publications on TCI in higher education is offered. Ending this anthology, some further information is offered to the reader: In his closing commentary ‘About Evidence’, Reiser reflects about TCI-related research and introduces some interesting studies in this field. Since studies about complex social interaction settings are difficult to conduct, only some are available. Qualitative and quantitative studies concerned with TCI and its effects are shortly highlighted and a literature list is provided. With this orientation, readers interested in research on TCI will know where to look. A glossary is offered at the end of the book. It introduces concisely some main terminology used in Theme-Centered Interaction, humanistic psychology and group dynamic. As editors, we hope this will be of assistance especially to readers/lecturers from faculties of natural and technical sciences, who might be less familiar with these concepts and language from the social sciences. Finally, all contributors of the volume are briefly introduced at the end of the book. They come from four European countries, India and the United States. Consequently, the book mirrors that most of us use English as a lingua franca and access different points of reference in this respect  – most articles are written in

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American English and some in British English. Regarding gender equality, the ­contributors are quite well balanced. Even if most authors live in Germany, we are proud of the international and intercultural perspective achieved so far. As main editor of this book, as a social psychologist and personally, I am convinced that true experiences of humane encounters are existential and essential for good learning and living. I am sure that not everything people can learn is valuable: some kinds of learning can be actually bad for the soul and the body, while others are beneficial, satisfying and healing. This conviction leads to a normative view on learning encounters for me as a psychologist in accordance with the rules for the profession of psychologists in Germany: “You shall do no harm  – passively or actively!” Who does ask which kind of teaching setting is chosen, interaction offered, and if it might do actual harm to participants? Estrangement and self-­ estrangement as part of the role-taking process of students during their academic education should be avoided. Accelerated content bombardment and ‘bulimic learning’, as some call a purely test-oriented marathon of recording and reproducing of contents in exams, are not adequate in my estimation. As TCI expert Kroeger put it during our talk in December 2017: It is not enough to nurture selectively the intellect, people are consisting of soul and spirit also. In all stories of seduction there is a core of truth, from this derives the ‘appearance of truth’. We come further without TCI is one kind of truth: you can do more with a dead body, an examination you conduct as half a person, showing what you memorised, but not how you actually processed it, what it means to you!

In light of a globalising world shaken by economic dominance, north-south-­ inequality and other hardships, young academics as future leaders need education in humane values and enlightening encounters for a sustainable life and future for all of us. This is only possible if their lecturers nurture such a socially sustainable attitude by leading their seminars, viz. students and themselves, humanely. In this respect, a strictly humane way of working with groups in academia is also a political statement. Ruth C. Cohn intended TCI not only as a didactic tool for learning contents but as a psychologist definitely as a means of personal growth, supporting competencies as compassion, self-reflection, capacity of seeing the world from the perspective of others in social interaction, and civil courage (cf. Cohn 1989). As far as I see, TCI can be described as an approach, an attitude, a method and a theory. Different TCI practitioners will stress different aspects of what the approach offers.4 This is fine with me, as long as the overall humane attitude supported by TCI remains a core value. Our book gives interested academic lecturers from all fields of study first insights into the application of TCI in higher education. As editors, we hope that more international books on the issue will follow! We share a conviction that scholars in the globalised world can learn from each other not only content-­ wise but also interaction-wise, beneficial to themselves, their students and their lec-

4  For a timely overview, cf. Schneider-Landolf et  al. 2017. If you are interested in evidence of effects of TCI, cf. Reiser ‘About Evidence’ in this volume, where TCI-related research is introduced and a reference list is offered.

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tures (I-We-It) and beyond (Globe). We want to encourage international colleagues in academia to learn from each other and to learn about and from TCI. What could the sensitised reader do now? Read about TCI, start reflecting on your own attitude as a group leader, and try balancing the four factors (individual, group, subject matter and, if fitting, also environmental factors) for the theme of your academic seminar. Go on from there. Perhaps you can reflect on your steps with a colleague who is also interested, or even work in a co-teaching setting as a team. Would your university’s personnel development department organise TCI courses for lecturers if you suggest it? Or can you invite a guest lecturer working with the TCI workshop method and experience first-hand how the approach can be put to good use with a group of your own students? Alternatively, you could go abroad yourself as a guest lecturer to an institution of higher education where colleagues work with TCI in their teaching learning settings. By experiencing a TCI workshop first-hand, the approaches’ value becomes particularly evident. Of course the best would be to attend TCI workshops in a licensed RCI institute.5 However, we encourage you to try working with the ideas TCI offers you and the groups you already work with. Last but not least, some thanks are in order: Foremost to the assembled contributors and their efforts in sharing their interesting and engaging experiences and insights in texts or interviews – overall a statement about the value TCI can have for committed higher education. Second, our thanks go to all the students we have (or had) the privilege to lecture, learn with and learn from in our teaching that is supported by the spirit, attitude and methods of TCI. Third, thanks to our universities for the freedom of working in the way each of us does  – individually and with TCI. Fourth, to Yoka Janssen, Natalie Rieborn and Astrid Noordermeer as our liaisons during the writing of the book with Springer as its publisher, thank you for your openness to the idea of the book, support in the process and the overall realisation. Additional thanks we owe to Vandenhoeck and Rupprecht for letting us include an English version of the text of Sandra Bischoff. Many thanks also to Dipl. Ing. Werner Wesling for proofreading, most of the figures and tables realised in this book, and also to several peer-review readers for their encouragement and really great advice in the process of writing. Representatives of the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international saw the opportunity this book idea provides and aided with funding one translation, as well did the University of Bremen Personnel Development Department and the artec Research Centre for Sustainability Studies; thanks to all these supporters for their appreciation. Since not for all the authors of this volume English is their first language, copy editors or translators supported the issue of printable Academic English  – American or British  – due to expertise of author and copy editor or translator! Special thanks go to our copy editors, Dan Smith (Language Associates Bremen, Germany), Katrina Stollmann (Fremdsprachenzentrum Bremen, Germany) and Edir Borda D’Água (Nazaré, Portugal) as well as to the translators, Deborah Barrie (Carlsberg, Germany) and Joseph Smith (Satzspiegel Nörten-Hardenberg, Germany). Last but not least, we  Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI-international).

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thank our beloved partners or spouses, families and friends who supported us authors patiently during the process of delivering our parts of this book into the world of Higher Education. Bremen, Germany 28 December 2018

Sylke Meyerhuber As initiator of the book and on behalf of the editor team

References Arndt, E. (2013). Wenn Struktur das Thema erschlägt. Erfahrungen und Reflexionen zu einer Hochschultagung. In: Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Begegnungen mit … 27.Jg, 2/2013, 52–61. Cohn, R.C. (1989). Es geht ums Anteilnehmen. Perspektiven der Persönlichkeitsentfaltung in der Gesellschaft der Jahrtausendwende. Freiburg i. B.: Herder. Farau, A., Cohn, R.C. (1984). Gelebte Geschichte der Psychotherapie. Zwei Perspektiven. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Mahr, A. (1979). Die Störungsprioritätsregel in TZI-Gruppen. Psychoanalytische und empirische Studien. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international, access 24 May 2018: https://www.ruth-cohn-­institute. org/start.html. Schneider-Landolf, M., Spielmann, J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Contents

Part I In-Depth Introductions to Theme-Centered Interaction in Theory and Practice Theme-Centered Interaction for Educating Future Leaders. Applied Social Psychology for Teaching Academics to Act Socially Sustainably in Organisations������������������������������������������������    3 Sylke Meyerhuber Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn: An Introduction��������������   57 Matthias Scharer Concrete Methods and Case Experiences with Theme-Centered Interaction������������������������������������������������������������������   97 Helmut Reiser, Hiltrud Loeken, Walter Lotz, Birgit Menzel, and Christoph Huber Part II Further Case Experiences in Different Fields of Study and Cultures On the Psychology of Civil Courage. A Theme-Centered Interactive Teaching Experiment: Reflections on the Process and Insights into the Subject��������������������������������������������������������������������������  131 Friedemann Schulz von Thun and Roswitha Stratmann Big Themes for Little Kids? Living Learning in a Teacher-Training Course Dealing with Flight and Migration����������������������������������������������������  157 Stefan Padberg First Steps with TCI in a Class for Psychopathology: How Students, Topics and the Lecturer Gain from the Approach��������������  177 Dora Pereira

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TCI Didactics in the Higher Education Context of Kerala, India: Experiences and Insights of Teaching English Language and Communication at the Tertiary Level����������������������������������������������������  189 Joby Cyriac and Christudas Amala Lal Part III Interdisciplinary Intersections Theme-Centered Interaction: Intersections with Reflective Practice in North American Religious Contexts ������������������������������������������  209 Mary E. Hess Theme-Centered Interaction in the Context of Intercultural Education and the Constructivist-Inspired Pedagogy: Potentialities and Perspectives������������������������������������������������������������������������  221 Svetlana Kurteš Part IV Reflections on the Future Theme-Centered Interaction In- and Outside of Academia: MOOCifying TCI��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  245 Annelies van der Horst Theme-Centered University Didactics: An Answer to Bologna������������������  269 Sandra Bischoff Theme-Centered Interaction in Personnel Development Schemes in Academia: Good Reasons and Practise Examples��������������������  281 Sylke Meyerhuber About Evidence: A Commentary on Theme-Centered Interaction-Related Research from a Pedagogic Perspective����������������������  309 Helmut Reiser Glossary: Terminology of Theme-Centered Interaction and Humanistic Psychology����������������������������������������������������������������������������  315 Contributors ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  325

Part I

In-Depth Introductions to Theme-Centered Interaction in Theory and Practice

Theme-Centered Interaction for Educating Future Leaders. Applied Social Psychology for Teaching Academics to Act Socially Sustainably in Organisations Sylke Meyerhuber

Abstract  Young academics are the leadership personnel of the future. In such roles, they will have a great impact on the wellbeing of their staff members. How do they learn to act in a sustainably manner? Academia has an obligation to enable students to fulfil their future functions in areas of society with respect to social skills and ethical consciousness. How the task of supporting socially sustainable interaction could be met is a question answerable by social psychology. The text combines the concepts of deceleration and resonance by sociologist Rosa with knowledge from therapy theory and in-depth psychology of the workplace in order to argue the introductory assumption and presents Theme-Centered Interaction by Cohn as a suitable answer in theory and by praxis examples. Keywords  Didactics · Resonance · Humanistic values · Applied social psychology · Interactionism · Theme-Centered Interaction · Social sustainability · Future leaders · Participative leadership · Role of academia in society · Ethics

1  Y  oung Academics in Need of Social Skills for Future Leadership Positions The place of unconditional consideration of all problems, the rightful space for their elaboration and reworking, must principally be kept open in the university and par excellence in the humanities. (Jaques Derrida 2001, 11f.1)

Establishing and maintaining social sustainability in organisations is to be recognised as a complex and manifold task of executives on all levels of the postmodern workplace. In light of demographic changes, it becomes a necessity for all managerial employees to know how to shape the social fabric of the workplace to the  All translations from German into English are done by the author.

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S. Meyerhuber (*) Researcher at the artec Research Centre for Sustainability Studies, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_1

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benefit of all members of their body of staff. This means diversity management as an enormous package of tasks: having a good knowledge of and skills in communication, group dynamics, and gender- and age-differentiated (not discriminating2) leadership; taking into account factors of a given situation as well as the degree of maturity; and being able to allow for and shape processes of participation, including the expectation and productive handling of resistance. How can responsible leaders-to-be learn to take on such tasks? Young academics have to be recognised as potential aspirants for future leadership positions. In this light, universities have the chance and the responsibility to provide future managerial staff not only with specialist and technical knowledge. Knowledge and skills concerned with the so-called ‘soft skills’, meaning social competencies, have to be enhanced as well. In order to gain practical knowledge, this calls for settings within university programmes which do not focus on content alone: Such competencies need to be gained by experience and reflection in real social situations. Especially critical social situations cannot be mastered based on theoretical knowledge alone  – only through fitting and authentic reactions at the right moments will future managers be able to act successfully, meaning in a socially sustainable manner. I consider it therefore not appropriate to narrow the task of training soft skills only to the area of General Studies, particularly as they often turn out not to be trainings but mainly another content-focused seminar. Besides content, the way in which learning processes are shaped and steered forms the basis for the training of social skills: Situations of social interaction and reflection in class must be allowed and supported by the lecturer. University teachers who do not feel particularly socially skilled themselves might avoid settings which are more prone to trigger social interaction. Which guidance can be given to them to take on the task of opening up for the chances and limitations of the social aspects in their teaching? Which ideas and design guidelines might support the development of their social skills as a prerogative of supporting them in students? Through change of perspective, for instance, lecturers might empathise with students and take into account their future roles. Socially sustainable behaviour in organisations, in this light, is to be defined as a goal and a guideline on different levels within an organisation. Social sustainability needs to be substantiated on the different levels of actions occurring in the context of work, that is, in the structural rules and processes of work, its social proceedings and interactions, and also its individual considerations and actions. In conclusion, the following definition of ‘acting socially sustainably’ should support the reasoning in this article: Socially sustainable actions in organisations are all actions on the levels of structure, interaction or individual behaviour that provide support, development of, or care for the sociality of a given organisation and all its members. All actions or omissions which influence the social fabric are socially efficacious, but socially sustainable actions aim on influencing the social fabric and it’s individuals positively, in a sense of a normative goal and in favour of a humane working environment. (Meyerhuber 2017, 139)  Cf. Schlick et al. 2013; Meyerhuber 2016.

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Following this definition, the education of future leaders for their fitness in ‘acting socially sustainably’ would be prudent to aim on all three levels: • First, systemic thinking and an understanding of organisational structures and procedures, with consideration for their impact on the social fabric • Second, psychological knowledge and skills of group dynamics and interaction • Third, an in-depth understanding of psychological human needs and perceptions of the individual at the workplace In this light, it becomes evident that a transdisciplinary and interactional approach to the issue at hand might be advisable. Such an approach should allow for first-­ hand experience and reflection as a goal of the teaching setting and in support of students understanding the interrelatedness in a systemic sense: their structural and interactional abilities and awareness, as well as a respectful and considerate attitude towards others and oneself, based on an understanding of the psychological basic human needs and their manifold ways of manifesting in everyday life. In conclusion, in order to support such skills, a lecturer will profit from a structural, interactional and psychological understanding in addition to the content of their teaching. For socially valuable learning processes, students must feel involved and ‘touched’ by what happens in class. This would be the biggest difference to just reading a text or listening to something being explained – the humane encounter with others and the fulfilling richness through true exchange of thoughts. But as far as I am told, many students experience hour after hour of frontal and PowerPoint-­ supported monologue with very little space for pertinent questions or further interaction. Sitting in rows, they do not see each other but the back of others, having contact at best with students on the chair right and left of them, sometimes not even asking their names, and being mostly with people they already know. As a consequence, students practise to ignore even people close by, focussing on content alone instead of on their social effects and personal perceptions. Socially speaking, by neglecting the social aspects of given classroom situations, they rehearse the wrong things.

2  C  oncept of ‘Resonance’ in the Classroom by Hartmut Rosa Once again speaking of the luck of hoping for luck, that still some might ask: When was that, when will it come again? (Fried 1981, Before I Die, 3rd verse)

From a sociological perspective, Rosa (cf. Rosa and Endres  2016) recently bemoans a lack of didactics in teaching at universities and in schools which allows for a ‘crackling fascination’ in class. The author’s reasoning is based on his realisation that our dealings with time are getting more and more out of hand – postmodern

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growth and acceleration lead often to estrangement (cf. Rosa 2005, 2016). This societal tendency reaches into postmodern universities as well – students feel under pressure to study from exam to exam by a tightly and externally set schedule. While the amount of the contents studied might not differ very much, instead of self-­ regulated learning and by setting personal goals, the structure of bachelor and ­master programmes dictates externally the student’s pace (cf. Ackermann and Schumann 2010; Bargel et  al. 2012). Psychologically, this makes a huge difference; what a person can do happily and willingly if done by choice can turn into a stressful burden if forced upon them. University teachers might feel the same kind of pressure in their work – pressure to acquire funding, to publish, or to meet the tight time frame of research projects, etc. – and thereby unconsciously support this tendency in the classroom as well. Rosa comes to the realisation that “if our time relations are not alright, then our relations to the world might not be alright” (Rosa et al. 2016, 12). Therefore, in his book researching “world relations in the era of acceleration” (cf. Rosa 2012), the author explores this idea further, concluding that “for our relations to the world, experiences of resonance and alienation are of the utmost importance, and they are influenced by acceleration” (Rosa et al. 2016, 13). What the author aims for here is how a true experience of connectedness to something or someone is achieved; this he calls ‘resonance’. He summarises: “To enter into a relationship with the world means to transform and adopt the world” in order to become confidential and familiar with it (ibid. 15). His idea of resonance as a main indicator of quality in class includes ‘being on fire’ for something. But that needs a spark. How can university scholars kindle such sparks in their students, and why should they bother? “If my efforts are without resonance, without reverberation, if nothing comes back, if I get the feeling of speaking into an emptiness, if there is no answer, the interaction stays mute”, Rosa (ibid., 16) observes. And I would like to add: If students during their studies at universities have mainly experiences like that, they rehearse and practise the wrong things! What by experience gets imprinted into a person, the person will express later on – this is a basic rule in all understanding of psychotherapy (cf. Rahm et al. 1993). And not only that, the relationship to oneself is shaped by such experiences as well: “I do speak to myself as you spoke to me”, philosopher Buber (1979) calls this dialogue-based principle of being a human in interdependency on one’s social environment. So, what is it that university lecturers want to get across, which kind of learning experience, of hierarchic experience, of interaction experience with superiors and in-group situations are to be cultivated? From my point of view, this needs serious consideration. Studying three–five years of professional content, competitively and cognitively, in disconnection to their lecturers and most of their fellow students, anonymously in big rooms … all this nurtures a disconnectedness as part of an incorporated expertise and role as an academic. Thus socialised students enter the labour market or an organisation as high potentials being put to work with others and (over time) in superior positions – how will they cope, how can they act humanely? Serious doubts might be in order. Rosa, a university professor himself, states: “In the hollow space of disinterest I am cold” (Rosa et al. 2016, 16). Resonance in the sense of sociologist Rosa means

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to get close to someone or something, to be touched by an idea or experience, and being perhaps also changed by it. The author muses, “It is not enough to own, to command or to handle things. Not until I make them speak to me I begin to truly connect, to transmute and to turn them into my own” (ibid., 17). Here, Rosa refers to two aspects of the teaching situation: the topic of (dis-)interest and the quality of contact between lecturer and student(s). First, in order to actually familiarise oneself and to connect with a topic, to really acquire it, people have to make a topic their own, turn it around a bit, perhaps change it by letting it in, or being changed by the process of letting it in. For this, engagement in the sense of intensive personal dealings with the topic is necessary. Second, this will mainly be based on some sort of co-respondency between people (lecturer-student, student-student) because learning mostly happens in social relations. Hence, the connections between learning, humane contact and content are to be examined further.

2.1  P  sychological Excursion 1: Contact-Encounter-Relationship-Bonding Psychology examines the occurrence and impact of different qualities of relationships, originally as a basis for the therapeutic process. But such knowledge is very helpful indeed for other areas of sociality and can in some aspects as well be applied to the topic of interaction in class. From the viewpoint of therapy theory, one might imagine a continuum of how relationships can be described and differentiated due to their quality. Rahm et al. (1993, 157) describe such an understanding for integrative therapy and speak about principles of ‘co-respondence’ as a practical form of intersubjectivity in everyday life. Particularly, they analyse how successful interactions differ from failed interactions in order to understand the aspect of interaction within the field of co-­ respondency as social acts between the individual and others. The medium of a person’s contact with the surrounding world is always their body. Therefore, co-respondence is always based on sensual corporeal experience: “All our relationships and contacts are ultimately corporeal” (Rahm et  al. ibid., 1033). This might be, in context of the university, an unpopular realisation – part of the academic culture is to emphasise on the cognitive mainly while often dismissing the rest of the body as a mere functioning unit. But the individual’s body remains the basis of and model for all experiences of borders: “Here I end, here ends my space, here begins yours” (ibid.). For example, through eye contact, people do connect or delimit, by gazes of rejection, by meeting through glances, etc. (ibid.). As Rosa said, “In the hollow space of disinterest I am cold”; bodily functions express disturbances in a relationship, even if sometimes people ‘unlearn’ to realise this

 Rahm et al. (1993) refer for these aspects to Mead 1968; Watzlawick et al. 1969; Garfinkel et al. 1977; Habermas 1981; Goffman 1985; etc.

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consciously. By allowing university scholars as well as students to realise and positively integrate such signals of the body as significant in classroom situations, they support a holistic and healthy attitude of social interaction while working on a knowledge base. In light of therapy theory, any individual has to be understood as an entity reaching over several social areas as well as over areas of time (past, future) while being in a present situation. Rahm et al. (ibid., 118) explain: “This becoming one with context and continuum creates the process of personality building, the inner dynamic of a person.” In this respect, experiences of positive and touching contacts to scholars and their topics can add to the fruitful building of a student’s personality as well as their professional role identity, while denial and reduction of these aspects of the social situation might inhibit personality building in a healthy, humane sense. Social reality as a shared reality is always a product of acts of co-respondency and of communication and negotiation, even if often not consciously. Conducted autocratically or with disinterest for the social aspects of one’s university teaching, interactions will show symptoms of dependency and powerlessness, and students act not as participants but become passive and receptive or get themselves sidetracked as a form of resistance. Such a dynamic can be described as co-respondent between lecturer and student, with the message: “I neglect you as irrelevant as you neglect me.” By focussing on a topic while avoiding the embedded social aspects of a teaching situation, the expertise is emptied of its social side. Philosopher Foucault (1998, 22f.) writes: Every pedagogical system is a political means of maintaining or modifying the appropriation of discourse, with the knowledge and power it carries with it, supporting it or changing it. What then is an educational system if not the ritualisation of the word, if not the qualification of some fixing of roles for speakers, if not the constitution of a (diffuse) doctrinal group, if not the distribution and appropriation of discourse, with all its learning and its powers?

In realising and accepting the political dimension of one’s university teaching, a scholar faces responsibility for the process. Being a psychologist as well as a researcher in social sustainability matters, the author’s choice is clear and somewhat normative: in favour of the humane and the social, in order to support personal growth and wellbeing of the human being. From this perspective, I ask how a university teacher can understand and create lectures in a socially sustainable way, holistic and humane. With therapy theory, the social contact between people can be understood as the basis of all co-respondence. If not in contact with someone or something, no exchange is possible (ibid., 164). Rahm et al. (ibid., 157ff) differentiate a continuum of being with others as follows: contact–encounter–relationship–bonding. This differentiation might be of interest as a background for ‘resonant’ lectures. Contact in this sense means to be attentive to each other and to establish dialogue: “Contact is a functional connection, less intense than encounter, less continuing than relationship, or bounding. Contact happens in the present and builds on immediateness and proximity” (ibid., 167). In contact, distance and nearness are regulated continuously and sensitively through sensual perception of the individual,

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based on personality, situation, interaction, and topic. Courses at the university are spaces of contact and should be therefore shaped by the lecturer to allow for experiences of connection through humane attentiveness and dialogue. Building on contact, the term encounter describes a short but intensive deepening of contact, an ‘existential’ (Buber 1979) moment of connectedness and intersubjectivity: Through intensity of contact, encounter reaches beyond the participants into the space enclosing the relationship to all humanity and to the world. The ­experience of encounter changes a person. By density of understanding and being understood, in moments of encounter, the parties meet as equals (even though not as the same). To allow in university teaching for such humane and touching moments, a lecturer must be able and willing to open up to such an understanding and interaction. Through the chance of encounter, students learn as part of their professional mindset that it is not weakness but strength to interact humanely. “What is imprinted in you, you will express” is a main rule for human life, according to therapy theory. Therefore, young academics who experienced for themselves the benefits of encounter in the hierarchy of the university (being dependent on their lecturers) might more likely allow for encounter with subordinates or students in their later career. Moreover, a relationship in this continuum is characterised by a further and deeper recognition and indicates more shared time together, allowing for a transformative basis of trust through meaningful and shared experiences. Therefore, in a single short seminar, the building of relationships becomes less likely than in a teaching project or other formats reaching over several terms of the study. Nevertheless, only based on the experience of the unique quality of relationship can a person(ality) develop the ability to form relationships. “Basis of the ability to form relationships – and therefore the feeling of stability and security in the social world – is to contain the ‘inner picture of the other in oneself’ including its emotional aspects” so Rahm et al. (ibid., 171). This might be possibly provided (with respect to a group but also for single individuals) to some degree in any class: relationship is rooted in an aspect of continuance. As such, it can only develop and remain if individuals are able to differentiate and to touch, to deal with conflicts and to negotiate compromise, based on reciprocal understanding and on a shared reference of reality (ibid.). These aspects can occur and be nurtured in short-term classes as well. Lecturers, though, have to be able to offer continuance, to differentiate and to touch, to deal with conflicts and to negotiate compromise, based on reciprocal understanding – they have to set an example. If afraid of such nearness, the attempt will most likely fall flat. Finally, bonding expresses an explicit and fundamental connectedness, mostly by deepening of a relationship and over time (ibid., 173). Often based on an ethical element of decision for the other, the quality of a relationship is enriched through deeper knowledge about the other and by caring for them. In light of a ‘carry-over effect’ through which an individual generalises early experiences of bonding,4 a

 Cf. Bowlby and Ainsworth here referred to with Dornes 1993, 205.

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lecturer should at least be careful not to mix aspects of the present and their personal past by way of projection. Being aware of one’s individual tendencies in this respect should be helpful. Overall, bonding with students is not likely. It might also be inappropriate. Anyway, aspects of the quality described in bonding – respectful handling of knowledge about the student, a sense of caring for the student – might be fitting to consider. In summary, good teaching in light of the continuum described with reference to Rahm et al. would at least aim for encounter, allowing for some true moments of recognition, by seeing and meaning a person, and by a touching of minds. Finding sparks of mutual interest and understanding, fascination or trust should be good indicators for at least chances of encounter in class. That would provide, ­psychologically speaking, a profoundly humane and therefore also potentially healing human interaction. Aspects of relationship and bonding may enrich the encounter situation further. Education which allows for such experiences can, in the long run, be expected to be very beneficial for the individual student as well as for society and its organisations. Also, the lecturer will be enriched and might be better motivated through humane, ‘resonant’ encounter.

−−−

After this excursion into therapy theory, the train of thought comes back to considerations about ‘resonance in class’ by Rosa. As a sociologist, Rosa does perhaps not differentiate the continuum of relations as a psychologist might do. However, he as well thinks of education as a space in which not only knowledge transfer but relationships are happening. For him, relationship is actually the basis of knowledge: “Education will be successful where we are able to make an aspect of the world speak. The idea of education is to make the world speak to an individual or cause it to resonate. Education, therefore, does not mean to acquire knowledge about the world, or to educate oneself, but means that education is relation-to-the-world-education” (Rosa and Endres 2016, 18). In this light, educating students how to relate to the world translates to ‘how to relate to people, topics, and tasks and how to be true to oneself’. That idea indicates a necessity that scholars themselves need to feel related to their topics as well as to their students, being excited about both. Sometimes, professors at universities in Germany avoid their teaching obligations by sending an assistant in order to cover their subjects. They might ‘burn’ for their subjects in research but do not feel really comfortable in the classroom situation. How deep does in some run the interest of sharing knowledge and of ‘kindling a spark’ in students, really? At best, Rosa imagines an axis of resonance, opening between a pupil/student and a teacher/lecturer, supported by the social relationship they share and triggered by a content which mutually fascinates them (ibid., 20). In this light, the author reflects the many dimensions education includes besides the content – like spatial

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aspects such as the building and the room a class takes place in, the influence of furniture and its arrangement, how encounters and interactions are shaped, the influence of social atmosphere and individual feelings, etc. – concluding that resonance is also a very bodily phenomenon (ibid.). With Rahm et  al., that has already been understood in more detail above. Therapy theory supports an understanding on how much social interactions influence a person, both body and soul (Rahm et al.). Social anxieties, depressions, and the harmful effects of mobbing at schools and workplaces indicate only the tip of the iceberg with respect to the social vulnerability of human beings.5 One might think of it as a continuum, based on the truth of social interdependency as human beings in sociality, ranging from deeply healthy and healing interactions to what therapists call ‘social toxins’ in case of actually harmful social encounters (Meyerhuber 2012, 119ff). Realising how much impact social encounters have on a person’s wellbeing brings into perspective not only the responsibility of young ­academics in leadership roles but also that of lecturers in a classroom. Social psychologist Lewin (1982, 160) points out how seismographic even children are to changes in the social fabric: “Every child reacts to even the slightest change in the social atmosphere, like the degree of kindness or of safety.” At work – being a student or an employee – this also is true. Therefore, one has to realise that structural realities – such as formal arrangements, hierarchical roles and practises – show a strong impact on how subjective experiences are shaped, with consequences for the wellbeing of the individual. In order to understand this connection better, in the following a model shall be introduced to enlighten how objective structures and subjective experience and processing are interwoven.

2.2  P  sychological Excursion 2: Dynamic Paradigm of the Psychology of Work With early psychoanalyst S. Freud, all work can be understood as a process of influencing the inner and outer nature of man, central for the identity building of the single person as well as for the development of society.6 Psychologically speaking, through the dialectical structure of work itself, individuals incorporate the societal aspect of work. Thus, they also find themselves estranged from their very personal societal aspects. In conclusion, a contrariety enters the psyche: On the one hand,

 Cf. Meschkutat and Stackelbeck 2008; Meschkutat 2010.  Freud, S. (2000/1974). Das Unbehagen in der Kultur (1930). In Siegmund Freud Studienausgabe – Fragen der Gesellschaft, Ursprünge der Religion. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 250ff. 5 6

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individuals develop in their family, which follows its own inner logic. On the other hand, secondary socialisation through the institutions of society takes place. “In both coordinate systems socialisation happens. Incorporated into the psychic structure of the individual and, by being utterly contradictory, they lead to ambivalences within the psychic structure of man” (Leithäuser and Volmerg 1988, 66). Such contradictions in the psychological structure itself are the foundation of many social conflicts with societal institutions, as well as of inner tensions. They are normality and have constantly to be balanced in the psyche of man. The dynamic of many phenomena in organisations as workplaces can be understood with in-depth psycho­ logy. Psychoanalysis7 particularly analyses the structural conflicts of the psyche. In the dynamic paradigm of the psychology of work, such an understanding is combined with socialisation theory and the analysis of the work structure. With social psychologist Jahoda et al. (1975), the psychological significance of work can be defined in five objective dimensions of experience: time structure, activity, collectiveness, identity and status, and a broadening of the social horizon. Objectively, individuals in the work society are constantly involved with these five aspects, their presence or absence. Based on these five dimensions, the model introduced here differentiates further the structure in which concrete work is constituted: Restricted or with more freedom of design, with an even broader scope for individualised action or without boundaries and subjectivised? By this, the objective dimensions of experience can be described in more detail and are fitting for a concrete situation. While in the 1980s humanisation of work was an issue, in postmodern work too much delimitation and subjectification of work become a problem for the individual (Pongratz and Voss 2000, 2003; Meyerhuber 2009). Besides the objective and structural aspects of work, the subjective dimension of experience is to be understood as a further analytical dimension in its own right. In this respect, the model describes the basic human needs of control and creativity, of affection and appreciation, and of self-worth and demarcation.8 In these three life-­ related areas of wishes and impulses, the individual can find at best satisfaction in their work and gain positive identity-creating experiences. Or they find their basic psychological needs more often offended through their work, by this being threatened and delimited in their identity. Thus, work weakening a person’s identity will, over time, reduce not only self-esteem but also wellbeing and productivity. I feel it important that the reader grasps this concept while having in mind that one’s own as well as the student’s ‘work’ mainly takes place at the university. Therefore, here the complex overall model is visualised (Fig. 1):

7  I do not differentiate here in favour of a specific psychoanalytical approach – there are about 35 sub-schools  – but name the main angle from which the thinking and understanding of human nature for this article draws, and basic ideas used in the model go back to S. Freud himself. 8  Leithäuser and Volmerg (1988) refer in this respect to S. Freud and his description of aggressive, libidinal, and narcissistic human needs. Being aspects of the human psyche, these three areas give insights into what an individual might crave or will probably avoid. By satisfying one’s psychological needs, the wellbeing and identity building at work can be substantially supported, or by offending them the opposite.

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Fig. 1  The dynamic paradigm of the psychology of work. (Basic version by Leithäuser and Volmerg 1988, 96f; further developed version including postmodern working conditions by Meyerhuber 2009, 102)

For the classroom situation, as well as later for academics in leadership positions, these principles – structure of work and its impact on the identity – in contemplating work are relevant. Based on the model, one might ask: How are aspects of a given work situation actually weighted in light of psychological human needs? Which objective opportunities and subjective abilities come together in order to realise or frustrate psychological human needs? Research in this area points out that under restrictive working conditions, the offending potentials of the situation rise much more than under a broader scope for individualised choices of action. Be it the work

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in a classroom or in an organisation, under restrictive working conditions, conflicts are prone to be actualised: …if the experience is one of powerlessness, of indifference, hostility and lack of appreciation, this will frustrate the aggressive, libidinal and narcissistic needs. Such hurtful insults of personal needs meet a psychological structure which developed its own ways of dealing with such offenses. The actualised conflict is therefore to be differentiated from conflicts in the earlier life of the individual. (Volmerg 1988, 101)

Analysing classroom situations with young adults as work situations – besides as a prerogative for work in the labour market – one might understand better why student’s experiences with university teachers and their subjects often raise strong emotions with lasting effects on a student, in a good or a bad sense. Furthermore, giving classes is essentially the work of the scholar. Therefore, quite different expectations, needs and hopes of students and lecturers might meet in class.

2.3  … And Back to Rosa’s Train of Thought At the university, lecturers carry their individual history of well met or frustrated psychological human  needs with respect to their work as well as with respect to authority figures. By reflecting them and with the will to make a difference, personal frustrations are not to be repeated but put to rest by acting in a socially more sustainable manner than subjective experiences suggest (at best healing experiences of distress9 in the process). Even better, good personal experiences might become guidelines on how to act positively in order to support the building of a socially strong and healthy identity as part of an expertise of their field of study in their students. By this, I suggest, students get the chance to not only gain content-wise from their field of study and its lecturers, but also extend their sociality and social skills as part of their professional identity. Thus consolidated, young academics will develop much better self-care and leadership skills. Since the Bologna process (implementation of Bachelor- and Master  programmes at universities in Germany, fully in place since 2010), recent data indicate10 that students might be more under stress, take more often antidepressants, and feel more frequently ill. Such demographic studies relate this to a tight exam schedule, more pressure to study within the standard period, overall dense curricula, and

9  Psychologically, this can be considered a form of transference, altruistic transfer, or projective acting: by sympathising with students and supporting the fulfilment of their needs in class, the “inner child” of the person who creates this better place may find peace of mind as well. 10  Cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2016; Techniker Krankenkasse 2015; Pfleging and Gerhardt 2013; Woisch et al. 2013.

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obligations of self-organised study. Furthermore, many students in Germany work for a living, some also have children and some have to cope with additional private stress factors. One could conclude that the estrangement Rosa indicates does not only take place in class but is an overall problem for many students. The social environment in which classes take place must be considered accordingly. As Rosa reflects in 2012, the connectedness to the world is endangered by acceleration processes. Here is the gist from the perspective of social psychology: Social processes cannot be accelerated by choice or arbitrarily.11 They follow their own inner logic and ways and pace. “It is social competence one needs in order to get into resonance with others … it is a cultural technique”, Rosa (Rosa et al. 2016, 22) consequently states. Such interactions, by Rosa defined as crucial for meaningful learning processes, demand their own time and an appropriate setting. For a lecturer to shape such an appropriate setting calls for consideration. The necessary consideration will not occur if not appreciation for students in general, as well as for the call of teaching them, is part of the mindset of the scholar. It is an effort one must undertake: The question of how to shape a good, a ‘resonant’ learning environment has to be taken seriously. It will not happen by chance. Rosa states that successful teaching needs a culture of openness for mistakes as well as for feedback without fear. “Even at the university students experience how difficult it is to give or receive constructive feedback. (…) For such a process an excessive culture of competition is very harmful”, he muses (Rosa et al. 2016, 84). As a lecturer, one has to show trust in students and give them tasks as well as space to grow. Support and feedback in a non-threatening way – at eye level between adult learning partners – are from my psychological point of view essential as well as transparent and achievable standards to live up to. By this, students have a chance to develop their personality and social skills, hopefully also helpful later on in their career in order to be able and willing to act with awareness and humanity towards others as future leaders. Overall, as a prominent sociologist of present times, Rosa argues in favour of a socially sustainable learning environment, even if he does not explicitly call it so. He describes very distinctively the suboptimal patterns of the issue. But it remains to be asked: How may classroom interaction provide ‘sparks’ and connectedness through ‘resonance’? This is a genuinely psychological and pedagogic question. The good message is that pedagogy inspired by social psychology and psychoanalysis can provide profound answers.

3  Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) by Ruth Cohn ‘I listen and forget. I see and remember. I do and understand’, Confucius states. Not everything I hear I will forget, and we will remember not everything we see. I think, though, that we understand best what we can actually do. (Moshé Feldenkrais 1987, 131) 11

 Cf. Rosa 2005, 148; Meyerhuber 2013, 170; Meyerhuber 2014, 160f.

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What I can do by myself, where I find myself engaged,  these things I will remember best; they gain meaning and I gain the most from them. The meaning becomes more valuable if shared with others, I might add. So, how may a classroom situation be construed in such a meaningful and supportive way? As Rosa suspects, that has to do with encounter, with the way in which social interaction takes place. The need to create actively a learning environment allowing for more than frontal knowledge presentation becomes evident. This is  a didactical and interactional issue.

3.1  A  ttempts of Didactics Beyond Tedious Teacher-Upfront-Style In Germany, the scholarship of teaching and learning is still not always as highly regarded as the research and is therefore not seriously considered by some of the academics at the university. Who does the research and holds the chair must also teach but somewhat more as a by-product. Perhaps that differs in the Anglo-Saxon countries? However, key competencies in addition to academic expertise become more important – not only for students but also for scholars. Several pedagogical approaches in support of social skills in class are available: For example, the approach of ‘problem-based learning’ (PBL) is regarded fitting for academic teaching (Bould and Feletti 1997; Savin-Baden 2000; Schwartz et al. 200112). PBL originated in the context of medical education, where it has been developed as a method of training doctors-to-be in independent thinking, flexible application of knowledge, and their search for useful information on a problem at hand. As a pedagogical approach, it then found its way into the broader landscape of higher education. Also, ways to a sustainable and vivid learning setting at universities are discussed under the terms of ‘research-based learning’, ‘learning by researching’, ‘inquiry-­based learning’, and ‘exploratory learning’ (Boud and Feletti 1997; Brown and McCartney 1998; Huber 2003, 2004; Huber et al. 2013). At my home university,13 principles of ‘research-based learning’ are embraced and supported as a profile feature of the university. While some academics strictly interpret this as ‘learning by researching’ in the sense of research projects for students, I would like to suggest a broader understanding: All personal search for knowledge instead of listening to frontal knowledge representation and all forms of self-conducted appropriation of knowledge and its reflection in the social interaction of a learning group are to be

 See about this also A. van der Horst in this book.  The author is a member of the University of Bremen, Germany. See Huber et  al. (2013) and Tremp (2014)  about research-based learning as a profile feature of the University of Bremen, including ‘good practice’ examples.

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understood as forms of exploratory knowledge acquisition.14 In this light, it can be described as a student-orientated learning setting with emphasis on individual and social processes for learning. ‘PBL’ and ‘inquiry-based learning’ support the exercising of key qualifications, as stipulated by the German Science Council (2000) as follows: Such a competence profile shall include skills of communication and collaboration, presentation techniques … intercultural competences and foreign language skills, the ability to gather, condense and structure knowledge and information, and also to be able of further independent study. (Wissenschaftsrat 2000, 21f.)

In Germany and the Anglo-Saxon countries, such skills are also discussed as key competencies or capabilities. Important as they might be, however, the underlying assumption is particularly the goal of raising a functional and flexible workforce. Through the lens of psychology, this is not enough, though: In light of psychological knowledge as unfolded above – knowing that the wellbeing of people at their workplace is a prerogative for a long, healthy, and productive work life and life, and acknowledging their basic psychological needs – such skills are not only desirable from the viewpoint of utilisation. Moreover, they should be cherished in support of a person’s ability for self-actualisation, social participation, and experiences of success and happiness, thereby strengthening a person’s valuable social resources and their identity, as well as their health and wellbeing. Not every university lecturer obtained didactical background knowledge or is schooled in an understanding of group dynamic effects and in the fineries of group facilitation. The idea of ‘putting students in groups’ alone will not enable them to use such groups for their advantage; some might even lead to frustration, being counterproductive! Since the ‘what’ is clear, in order to shed light on the ‘how’ of humane group interaction in class, I will now turn to TCI as an approach well rooted in social-psychological, psychoanalytical, and pedagogical research and practise. TCI not only describes what to do but also how, and often as well why. By this, creating chances for ‘resonance in class’ becomes accessible.

3.2  T  heme-Centered Interaction (TCI) by Ruth C. Cohn for Higher Education Psychoanalyst and group researcher Ruth C. Cohn developed her humanistic and sophisticated approach of group pedagogy: I would consider it useful for everyone with a reasonable amount of reflectivity and practise, applicable in all contexts where people are working together in groups.

 In cognitive psychology, this also is differentiated as shallow vs. deep learning (aiming for the difference of just getting told something or engaging with someone or something in a meaningful way).

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Ruth C. Cohn, born 1912 in Berlin, is known as one of the most important head figures of humanistic psychology and pedagogy in the last century.15 Enabling groups to shape and experience holistic and vivid learning is of the utmost importance to Cohn. Her main insight is based on an understanding that each human being is part of the whole of the world. In her perspective, self-fulfilment is only possible in co-respondence as partners. Therefore, her approach named ‘Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI)’ supports cooperation, sense of reality, sensitivity, and self-­ responsibility of all members of a given group. In the 1980s, her approach was broadly applied and appreciated in schools, universities, and companies in Europe, the USA, and India, but it seems to me that it is still not commonly enough known. Colleagues I spoke with at German universities and abroad had not heard of it. Being very well-rooted in psychological and pedagogical group research, the approach is of great value and therefore is described here in more detail from my own practise experiences.16 Cohn developed the TCI approach for ‘living learning’ since 1955, when “it spontaneously started developing during my psychoanalytical training groups” (Cohn 1989, 15). She lived in America then, being a Jewish psychoanalyst migrated from Europe in 1941 and staying there for decades to come.17 Philosophically, the TCI system is holistic: As a human being, a person is to be acknowledged as “a psychobiological being which perceives and feels and thinks and believes” (Cohn 1989, 25). The author, in alignment with humanistic psychology, does strongly believe that every person as a unique entity is valuable. She searched for ways of creating an inspiring learning environment, allowing for acknowledgement of this uniqueness, and for sharing and enjoying a learning setting. 3.2.1  Living Learning / Dead Learning A meaningful term in Cohn’s terminology is ‘living learning’18 in differentiation to ‘dead learning’. A detachment or separation of living and learning, too often to be found in classrooms, and is not acceptable to the author; she explains:

 R. Cohn is the founder of the “Workshop Institute for Living Learning (WILL)”, later known as the Ruth Cohn Institute (RCI) for Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). In the first chapter of this book, she and the approach are introduced in much more detail by M. Scharer. 16  Cf. research on the TCI method: See H. Reiser ‘About Evidence’ in this volume as well as his literature list, as well as Mahr 1979; Cohn 1975, 1989; Cohn and Klein 1993. For recent applications and developments: Schneider-Landolf et al. 2010; Löhmer and Standhardt 2015, SchneiderLandolf et al. 2017. 17  See more detail about the life and work of Ruth C. Cohn in the contribution of M. Scharer in this volume. 18  The term “living learning” was, according to Cohn (1989, 13), first used by Norman Lieberman during the foundation of the “Workshop Institute for Living Learning” (WILL) in 1966. Accordingly, the first name of the approach was “WILL method”, but this was later changed to TCI, thus empathising on the humane interaction more than of the approach’s methodological aspects (ibid.). See also Cohn 1971 particularly about Living-Learning Encounters. 15

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This diverting of living and learning is a nasty cultural habit but not a naturally given necessity. For a baby, living and learning are not yet divided. Later on, our civilisation forces children to adapt to forms of learning and behaviour which are aggressive and competitive instead of individualising and cooperative. What should be a lively process of learning and growth becomes an experience of ‘I am better/not as good as you’ with harmful effects, alienating and damaging the values of life. (Cohn 1989, 13)

According to Cohn (1989, 12), people act in favour of ‘living learning’ while discussing vividly, while moving mentally a topic or task, or while trying to find out something more about each other besides pure functions (like “ah, you are a bus driver”), acting on a path that might lead to a true or touching moment. Thus, living-­ learning encounters may occur, “a daily and wondrous privilege in light of being part of a living cosmos and to get in touch with one another” (ibid.). For Cohn, ‘living learning’ is: … an expression of the everyday celebration of life, by a human being willing to take in, to change, or to create something new. It means to feel happiness about images, perceptions, emotions, new relationships, thoughts, movements and abilities, the happiness of freedom and self-control and calmness and adventure – alone and with others – surprise about the unexpected and curiosity about the here and now and after. (ibid.)

Overall, TCI is a systematic way of enabling a group to experience the liveliness of living-learning encounters in a learning setting or work group (in schools, universities, groups at a workplace). In attitude and methodologically, the approach derives from the principles and techniques developed for group therapy and group training, scientifically appropriated ways of social learning and of communication. While group therapy and group training support specifically the personal growth of the individual through attention of all group members for the contribution of each single person, TCI as an attitude and method in work groups aims to transfer the principle – development of the potential of growth as a person – to all topics and tasks people might work on together. By varying the setting due to specific situations, group members and tasks, the approach is suitable for all sizes of work groups, different ages, and all areas of society (ibid., 14). The underlying humanistic conviction is that any work on a topic or task will be better if the psychological needs of the group members involved are met. These are in short, as explained further above with respect to work, an individual’s needs for activity and productivity on a task, for positive social contact and interaction with others, and the need for acknowledgement and individuality as a person. On this background, one might ask: What exactly makes learning a ‘living learning’ (Cohn) or ‘resonant’ (Rosa) experience? A group structure and dynamic, as shaped and supported by TCI principles and attitude, creates a prerogative for ‘living learning’ by relating the situation reliably to the – above explained – psychological human needs. Developing her approach, Cohn reflects: “Such structures, developing sometimes spontaneously in a family or a therapy group, have until now not been developed systematically in educational institutions or in organisations. They are amiss in academic programmes, clinical and pedagogic counselling centres” (Cohn 1989, 25). Since the author wrote this, some fields have adapted her method and attitude, putting them to good ‘living learning’ use. Additionally, con-

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siderable research on how TCI and its components work has been conducted.19 Thusly established, the method and its uses for the issue here – resonance in class at the university as a prerogative for leaders-to-be developing their social skills through personality growth and a humane group attitude – can be described further. 3.2.2  Four Factors in a Dynamic Balance – I, We, Topic, and Globe What makes a teaching situation vivid, invigorating, and lively? Cohn (1989) found that different factors have to come together in order to allow for ‘living learning’: –– A positive and accepting attitude of the leader of a group (including acceptance of negative emotions like anxiety, aggression or depression) in order to become a role model for socially sustainable interaction –– A positive stimulation of all group members by all other members –– A clear structure of the session (time, room arrangements, goals, functional division of tasks, etc.) organising the work process –– An invitation to all participants to find their personal connections to the topic at hand and to follow their own inner motivations (ibid., 22) These are good first hints for structure and conduct in a lecturer’s teaching situations. To distinct them more clearly, Cohn conducted some research in her groups. Findings show that a productive climate in a work group is achieved best by allowing the following four interconnected aspects to be given space in a balanced and dynamic way (Fig. 2): The subject matter

“It”

The surrounding environment

“Globe” Leader as guardian of balance

“I”

The individual

“We”

The group

Fig. 2  The four-factor model of TCI: group facilitation in good balance of the four factors

19  Exemplary, see Heigl-Evers and Heigl 1973; Vester 1974; Mahr 1979; Kuebel 2002, SchneiderLandolf et al. 2017. The interested reader finds more in the introductory chapter by M. Scharer about the literature on TCI and the biography of R. C. Cohn. About TCI related research see ‘About Evidence’ by Reiser at the end of the book.

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First, individuals need to feel that they are safe and appreciated and that they are orientated in the social situation. Addressing each group member as a valuable individual while acknowledging the need for personal orientation and offering adequate space for self-articulation builds an important foundation for the group situation with respect to the factor ‘I’.

In my class at the university, I start by giving each arriving student a name tag and accordingly start addressing them by their names. As well, students sit in a circle of chairs, in order to see each other and to be seen, everyone is ‘in the first row’, and nobody speaks to each other’s backs or anonymously. The agenda of the session is displayed on the board in order to give the individual upfront orientation about the forthcoming steps of today’s class, best formulated to steer curiosity and interest.20 Starting from the first session, participants are involved in tasks which encourage voicing of personal thoughts and feelings in the plenary. From the first session on, I support that by showing myself as a person and by other examples on how that might be done.21 Psychologically building on the effects of being a role model by hierarchical function as a lecturer, I feel that encouraging and respecting of any sharing of individual experiences related to the subject is valuable. Thus, students gain trust in the setting, the group leader, and in  themselves right from the beginning.

Second, the group as a social entity has to be seen, acknowledged, addressed, and supported – the ‘We’.

 Developing a “living” wording for headlines, leading questions, etc. on the agenda and in tasks I would call an art in itself. I differentiate between what I call a pure stage direction (like a dry: “Work group phase”) and a “living headline” (like curiosity steering: “What are my solutions? in trios”). 21  Students assure me that my self-presentation not only as a scientist but as well as a person – with glimpses of my private life (marriage, horse riding, singing, gardening) – is experienced positively as a “humane” insight in the otherwise more anonymous university setting. I swear  – because especially younger colleagues ask me that – that sharing these insights does not at all undermine my authority. 20

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In plenary rounds, I find the encouraging of statements of all members about aspects of the subject matter useful, as well as TCI methods as ‘snapshot’ or ‘flashlight’22 in order to support an exchange of insights in the different thoughts and feelings of participants; particularly in the beginning or at the end of a session. By working together in different small groups – formed based on interest for an aspect, on how well participants know each other or not yet know each other, by chance, by choice of task, by choice of the same chocolate bar or colour, etc. – participants are getting to know and appreciate one another. Trust and sympathy build with shared accomplishments. Working together on tasks allowing for experiences of self-worth, acknowledgement, and competence,23 good group cohesion builds and strengthens. The didactical objective of the lecturer is to create interesting tasks for small groups and the plenary in a supportive, appreciative climate which enables students to become active and competent partners in their individual learning process, instead of being merely passive recipients.

Third, the subject matter itself must be interesting and tasks coherent for all group members. The ‘It’ needs a connection to the psychological need for activity and productivity of people. The group comes together for the topic at hand (by choice, or otherwise), and TCI as a background for working with groups supports a ‘theme-centered’-ness by attitude and methods for interaction. As such, an interesting topic alone will not ensure ‘living learning’! No, it has to be prepared in an engaging way and with respect to human needs on the levels of ‘Subject matter’, ‘I’, and ‘We’ in order to support balanced work on the overall ‘theme’. Of course, a presenter performing with a clear and vivid attitude triggers the attention of more listeners than otherwise. But, as Cohn explains, that is not enough! She writes: A speaker with interesting thoughts, a vivid and a convincing attitude meeting the interests of his listeners creates manifold ‘topic-I-relations’ between himself and the listeners. Many an isolated ‘I’ may be connected to such a speaker. A ‘We’ cannot be developed though, because of a lack of communication from listener to speaker and between the listeners. … I call this a ‘star-relationship’ because the attention of each person in the audience is

 R.  Cohn invented the “snapshot” for making explicit to all group members where everybody stands in a given moment. For example, sometimes before the end of a meeting, she asks for emotions and thoughts participants would not want to take home unspoken: “What would you regret not having said, what would you be sorry for not having asked if we would close our session now? Imagine being … in the bus back home  – what would you regret not having said or asked?” (Cohn 1989, 54). 23  …that means: supporting in groups the three dimensions of psychological human needs, as in part 2 introduced and psychoanalytically defined (the task-related need of be creative and productive, the social need of sharing affection and appreciation and the personal need for self-worth and demarcation, as explained above with regard to everyday work interaction). As it becomes apparent now, these three psychological dimensions for a humane life show a striking structural similarity to the dynamic factors in the TCI triangle and its globe. 22

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focused on the speaker and the topic; all lines of attention go to this one point. The ‘We’ does not get attention and space; no group atmosphere can be developed. (Cohn 1989, 23)

The author calls such a star-relationship talk, “a laboratory of cultural indoctrination in small” (ibid.) with respect to a teaching culture which is thusly reduced. Being honest, at universities, such talk is often well cultivated. Naturally, it is one kind of talk a scientific lecturer should be able to conduct. But for a lecturer only thus socialised, it might be difficult to not present a subject but make the students work on it and explain it to each other themselves. For such a setting, knowledge similar to that of an expert is needed, perhaps even more so in light that students new to the subject matter in question need guidance in order to perform well. Also, the time frame for a topic changes due to tasks set for students and their presentations. What could have been a neat speech from the lecturer changes into an interactive setting in which unexpected ideas or discussions might occur. This makes a class much more engaging but also more challenging for a lecturer as well as for the participants. It also needs time.24

For my seminars, I organise my lectures always as 3-h workshops. Then, I set examples for the group in the first sessions: Students experience new ways of shaping and visualising an ongoing process,25 how to engage in tasks on a topic, and how to give short content-wise inputs instead of long recitations. Further workshops of the term are then created and conducted by small groups of students (3–5). These find their topic and group in a transparent and fair choosing process. Later on I counsel, back up, and feedback these groups at defined points. Suitable upfront homework reading, best defined together, supports that participants thought about an upcoming subject and do not start blank. All presentations or inputs in student’s workshops shall be short and followed by situations in which participants engage with aspects of the current topic (or even better, from own experiences to theory, one of my favourites). Students should convince me in a preliminary counselling meeting that their group tasks will be realistic, engaging, and interesting for all participants. Overall, inputs ought to fill maximal 1/3 of a workshop’s time. This is the most difficult aspect for students  – presenting only main points and then letting (continued)

 In my opinion, in Bachelor and Master study programmes, the presence in class time should be reserved for interaction and discussion, for experiences and thoughts students cannot create on their own alone. Self-study in the sense of reading, however, should be background for this kind of conduct in class and not occupy their time. 25  While PowerPoint or Prezi presentations provide only transient images, I use flipchart and Metaplan techniques on the whiteboard (ibid. Lancker 2017): Contents, discussion, and group results stay visible on the board. Students see how the steps build on each other, where their own contributions are, they can think by themselves looking to and fro. At the end steps and results are visible for all. 24

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participants use the time for their own thinking process. During discussions in a workshop, I see that my own expert contributions are short and to the point (an example, a clarification), not ‘taking over’ content-wise. If I estimate that students as workshop facilitators tend to speak more to me (the lecturer) than to participants (in search for approval, out of insecurity in front of a group26), I upfront relocate from near the board to the middle of the 3/4 circle of chairs. My position in the centre of the group supports the facilitator’s better contact into the group and therefore more engaging questions or discussions, building up to a more happy and confident speaker.

In conclusion, for using TCI didactically and with respect to group facilitation, a university teacher needs as well expert knowledge of a topic as group dynamic knowledge. A humanistic attitude and social skills are adamant for this kind of teaching. Benefits like  one’s own competence  development might as well  be an outcome besides the personal development of participants. Overall, the surrounding ‘Globe’ – the facts and dynamics of the environment a learning session takes place in – is an influencing factor in any given social situation. TCI supports a conscious consideration of the interdependency of all structural factors of an ongoing process (Cohn 1989, 26). A group is never isolated but exists in an influencing environment. In a workshop created in TCI style, the facilitator of a group functions as ‘guardian of the method’ (ibid., 29). This includes an awareness of the ‘Globe(s)’ in which the interactional triangle (as explained above) is embedded. “This task starts well before a meeting of the group, preparing the workshop in conscious consideration of time, space and environment factors, and aiming for an optimal adjustment and adaptation of topics and structure for the purpose of a session” (Cohn 1989, 29; 1975, 206ff). The author points out that based on ‘Globe’ information, one plans the workshop but also prepares for alternatives in the knowledge that one never holds all facts and that in the workshop, unexpected aspects will call for adjustments. Having a workshop well planned with considered alternatives, as well, a lecturer will be more flexible and able to adjust spontaneously. “It is helpful to have different possibilities in mind, and to use them in the process as needed” (Cohn 1975, 206).

 This can be the case if students are not accustomed to being a presenter or group facilitator. Here interpersonal but also intercultural differences sometimes become evident, since in Germany students presenting in front of a class is much more common than in other countries. The lecturer’s indirect support by a subtle change of the setting is for such students very helpful in order to live up to the unfamiliar challenge without feeling further exposed. In a more personal feedback after class, the intervention and its effects can then be beneficially reflected.

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The seminars I offer at my university are part of a Study programme (lately, Sociology), in which I award students ECTS points and grades in a frame of rules defined by the department and interpreted by me as the lecturer. For transparency, besides setting examples, I talk with my students alongside a ‘handout requirements’ and oral explanation of what is expected of them in my seminar. A proficiently filled content management system gives students access to all information regarding the seminar and offers contact on short notice. Also, I ask my students at the beginning of each session about ‘Globe’ factors not everyone might be aware of but which might occupy their thoughts or feelings in a good or a bad way. This might be factors the students share – a political situation at the university, some anxiety about an upcoming exam in another seminar, and the happy anticipation of a student party. Or it can be ‘Globe’ factors students want to talk about – like an upcoming nice event they want to let the others know of, an intellectual concern they developed, or a bigger personal or political issue occupying their mind. Such exchange of thoughts is welcome at the beginning of each session: They lead to a shared awareness that the group does not take place in empty space but is embedded in a larger context which might influence their thoughts, moods, energy level and ability to engage in today’s session. By addressing such issues, the need to talk about them gets space and perhaps some resolve. It becomes easier for all members of the group to arrive in the here-and-now and participate fully. Perhaps the plan must be changed due to a pressing matter (like a current political or private situation). With respect to the present theme, ‘Globe’ factors have to be reflected as well. Therefore, I tend to involve my students in tasks which invite them to connect their individual life experiences and thoughts to a given content.27 Additionally, the overall experience of receiving ‘resonance’ and ‘response’ in class, experiencing personal ‘responsiveness’ as a group member and from the lecturer while referencing to ‘Globe’ factors, all this creates a ‘We’ encounter and is therefore for its part valuable.

A careful thought on the ‘Globe’ a university constitutes  be permitted. Cohn describes that a compulsory seminar, where participants are obliged to attend, can lead to a dynamic wherein students perceive the lecturer as an enemy to be resisted and fought against. In this case, only if such ‘Globe factors’ are openly reflected, ‘living-learning’ encounters can be achieved. “Most difficulties in interactional

 This succeeds probably more obvious in the social sciences but is also valid for many applications in engineering and natural sciences. In my seminars about “Acting socially sustainably in organisations” on topics like work and health, identity and work, conflict management, intercultural understanding in organisations, etc., personal relevance and connection can be quite obviously established. I would think that any academic topic has at least some references to the “real world”, right?

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workshops do not arise from open interactions but from hidden, emotionally influencing constellations and real or imagined manipulations through external secret influences”, Cohn explains (1989, 27). Such issues, as soon as awareness occurs, are to be remedied. This invites to have a closer look at the role of leadership in TCI workshops. 3.2.3  The Leadership Role in a TCI Workshop In a workshop designed according to TCI principles, the facilitator of a group functions as ‘guardian of the method’ in favour of a fitting balance and in support of the overall theme. Aspects of such a role have been described with a good balance of ‘It-I-We-Globe’, giving space with respect to these factors more or less equally (in a dynamic way). Cohn writes: Group leaders are foremost participants; that means people with their own interests, likings, thoughts and feelings, and second they are group leaders with specific functions. These functions are primarily to observe the dynamic balance between I – It – We and their interconnectedness with aspects of the Globe. (Cohn and Farau 1984, 368)

Additionally, the attitude and awareness supported by TCI and based in humanistic psychology is: “It is about compassion” (Cohn 198928). Plain and simple that means taking care and showing empathy. Taking care is part of being human by partaking in the world, an honestly participatory act (ibid., 8). Where and how we take part may be based on personal abilities and individual biography, on perceptions, motivations and actions, related to personal values, thoughts, interests and emotions. Cohn states: “As partakers we answer to happenings – we are responsible and able to respond29” (ibid.). Such partaking and authentic responding is about the human(e) dimension of interaction. Leading groups implies living and working with other human beings. Thusly, TCI in support of ‘living learning’ can be understood as a contemporary holistic approach in order to “personalise an impersonal world of mass pedagogic and mass communication”30 (ibid., 20). Cohn writes: TCI aspires to help the individual to unfold one’s sensual perceptions, feelings and thoughts. Also in work relationships human beings should not be reified. Even objective tasks cannot and should not be experienced as humanly senseless. Each day at school and work can be meaningful – if the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual uniqueness of each person is respected. (…) The Theme-Centered interactional group seeks for awareness and support of the potential of the individual, for cohesion as a group, and for the fulfilment of their subject matter. (Cohn 1989, 20)

 Book title 1989 (translated from the German: “Es geht ums Anteilnehmen”).  The author makes a play with words not easily translated, aiming for responsible, as well as responding, and response sensitive, all wrapped in the one associative word play. This might remind the reader also of what was said earlier with therapy theory (Rahm et al.). 30  To me, here the analogy to what Rosa bemoans and wishes for with his concept of ‘resonance’ in a cold, accelerated world becomes very much apparent. 28 29

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In the role of leadership in a seminar group lead by TCI principles, this humanistic aim ought to be acknowledged and embraced. Personally, I cannot imagine that a purely technical approach to working with TCI is possible. Based on this assumption, though, the leading role becomes the role of a participant with additional functions. Such participation does not undermine one’s authority but makes it more authentic.

For example, my students know that I give the grades, even if I lift my finger before talking in a workshop they facilitate, and even if I do not make a speech but try to make own contributions short and to the point (not ‘taking over’ as an expert). As an outcome, student’s feedback emphasises their appreciation of such inputs as constructive, supplementary, integrating, or descriptive, as by giving a short practical example if something seems too abstract. Another example for the ‘additional functions’ also mentioned by Cohn is: I tell my students to use me as a backup if they feel insecure about something. Also, I may ask upfront the allowance to intervene politely or to offer a different angle if I consider something really off (like a topic-wise too narrow perspective, which other research describes more openly or integratively than the angle chosen by the students). Counselling each work group before their performance, I hope to stumble over such aspects in the meeting and advise them to broaden the concept. But if it does not come up during the upfront meeting, I need a constructive way to clarify things during a session in class. Conducting this in concert with the students instead of against them, they appreciate it and welcome it as helpful instead of patronising. In conclusion, supported by TCI attitude, cooperation on eye level in class even works if lecturers have to deploy their expertise as a correction.

Psychologist and communication expert Schulz von Thun (2010, 10) points out: “TCI is not a dogmatic guideline but opens up to the peculiars of a topic and of the personality of the leader, etc. (…) Therefore, principles and leading ideas of TCI are not a normative given, but open up a spiritual horizon, offering options for consistent conduct.” Such a consistency should regard the ‘truth of the situation’ (Globe) and the ‘inner truth’ of myself; therefore, “leadership should be inherently and situative” (ibid., 11). By these thoughts, TCI can be elaborated as the art of leading oneself and a group, as Löhmer and Standhardt (2015, 1st edition 2006) so nicely put it.

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3.2.4  Axioms, Postulates and Auxiliary Rules of TCI in the Seminar The task of leadership and participants alike in class is balancing the ‘Subject matter, I and We’ in the frame of the considered ‘Globe’. This serves to gain personally as a social being and supports intellectually and content-wise productively the ongoing session. These goals can be supported by guidelines and rules developed as part of TCI, based on three axioms, which lead to two postulates and nine auxiliary rules.31 I actually find them useful, as the reader will see. Three Axioms: Philosophical Reference Points and Invitation to Ethical Reflection The axioms can be seen as fundamental assumptions. Humanistic psychology shares these assumptions in favour of human beings, their psychological needs and welfare. Cohn (1975, 120) designates three axioms as leading ideas in her approach: 1. The anthropological axiom: Human beings are to be seen as psychobiological beings. They are autonomous as well as interdependent (ibid.). In discussion with students I make sure they connect to the thought that a group work should, therefore, allow autonomous decisions and actions of group members, as well as shed light on and support respectfully the reality of social interdependence between group members.

2. The ethical axiom: Reference is due to everything living and its growth. Respect for growth leads to assessing decisions; the humane is valued, the inhumane is threatening such values (ibid.). Reflecting this assumption with students leads to a shared awareness of respect to growth in our work group. Also it becomes evident that persons in a leadership role (like the lecturer or a student/facilitator) set examples by a respectful attitude to the individual and in considerate balance to others and their needs, as well as in light of own needs as an authentic person.

 I show how I use the axioms and postulates of TCI in class. More generally, M. Scharer explains these cornerstones and their history in his introduction to TCI in this book. The interested reader is well advised to read the original works of Cohn (1975, 1989), Mahr (1979), and Cohn and Klein (1993). In English recommendable: A compendium by Kuebel (2002); and Schneider-Landolf et al. (2017) with profound insights in current status, developments, and fields of application for TCI (albeit without examples in higher education).

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3. Pragmatic political axiom: Free will occurs within conditional  – internal and outer – boundaries. Expansion of such boundaries is possible (growth) as well as respected (ibid.). This axiom leads to vivid discussion in my groups: Free will has its borders where the will and need of others are concerned. In the leadership position of a work group, needs of the individual and needs of others and the tasks at hand have to be balanced in the framework set by the context (the university, the department, the study programme, the seminar sequel). Conditional boundaries sometimes can be reflected, questioned, and perhaps rephrased. These three axioms as main assumptions build first cornerstones for a conscious attitude as a leader of work groups at the university (seminar group, research group). They also allow, if explicitly introduced into a class, for students to explore their own ethics and values and their assumptions and attitudes, in light of the statements and in comparison to what actually happens in the seminar context. By conscious acknowledgement of these descriptions of fundamental human realities, also my attitude as a lecturer first to my work and me, and second towards my students, finds an inner compass to align with. Deriving from the three axioms, Cohn formulates for the TCI-work group situation two fundamental postulates. These should be respected and practised by all group members if fitting, including person(s) in a leadership position: Two Postulates in Support of Personal Growth 1. Be your own chairperson. The so-called ‘chairperson rule’ has, according to Cohn (1975, 120), a double meaning: On the one hand, you are the leader of yourself, your own chairperson. On the other hand, you are a spokesperson of the group, a member who will partly express interests or feelings of the group as a whole. The chairperson rule emphasises an awareness of one’s own inner realities as well as one’s surroundings. Deriving from this, one can understand each situation as an offer for own decisions, as Cohn says, “to take and give as you responsibly can, deciding for yourself and in light of others” (ibid. 121).

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In class, this principle can be explained and encouraged (supported, for example, by the auxiliary rules introduced further below). In my experience, it is not easy to be at all times aware about these aspects of life. Inner realities as well as outer realities are not always perceived precisely, and assumed social expectations stand not seldom in the way of expressing what one really feels or thinks. Nurturing in a seminar a social climate that invites personal growth in the sense of taking and giving in a responsible and aware way is – in my experience – a very positive goal. A seminar group of university students is not the same as a sheltered RCI training group. Nevertheless students can be encouraged to reflect what is really theirs, to express truth instead of merely the expected. Students can be given a space to experience taking on responsibility for themselves and for a group they are part of. Overall chairpersonship seems to me a daring and not easily develop competence but worth trying. 2. Disturbances take precedence. Disturbances in groups do happen  – such as anxiety, happiness, confusion, annoyance, unspoken interests, and so forth. Staying hidden, they can block the social process and frustrate. Therefore, one should be aware of disturbances on one’s own part and that of others. Without resolving such issues, progress might be hindered or even prevented. This is true in class and at the workplace – therefore learning to deal with them constructively is imperative for students. In Cohn’s words (ibid., 122): “To acknowledge disturbances and emotions means to acknowledge the reality of being, as a human being, the carrier of body and soul with its individual thoughts and actions. If this carrier stumbles, all actions and thoughts become as insecure as their foundation.” In an ongoing seminar session, I try to sense such disturbances – a lack of concentration, side talks, giggles, muteness, etc. As lecturer, I think about them and make a change in the dynamic balance of the four factors, or I encourage a reflection of their meaning, their ‘hidden message’ in order to integrate the findings in the group process, not always but if I think it might be important. A simple example is ‘a  lack of concentration’, this can be addressed and the group perhaps interprets it as a reaction to stale air and the need of a break. Acknowledgement of this need will do all participants good, as will opening a window and starting fresh a bit later.

Cohn (ibid.) explains that deriving from the humanistic axioms, the postulates clarify existential phenomena instead of being changeable rules. Postulates enable group members to acknowledge reality instead of authority, with positive effects for all.

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In light of these basic values and their clarification – a given group, its size and composition, the time, the seating arrangements, the group members and their backgrounds, interests, and age, and also the topics and how to work on them in the actual group – have to be taken into account by the lecturer or student facilitators in order to achieve a good balance of the four dynamic TCI factors. By these postulates, the inner compass for group facilitation grows stronger. Why Some Auxiliary Rules Can Be Useful in the Seminar Besides consideration of the axioms and postulates, the group work can further be supported by so-called auxiliary rules. They should be seen as guidelines which might help in a social situation, not as irrevocable. Shortened forms of these rules can come in quite handy, as far as my experience goes, since they give facilitators and group members orientation and examples of how to act in a socially adequate manner.32 1. Make I statements (instead talking of ‘one’ or ‘all’). Making I statements indicates you take responsibility for individual viewpoints, as well as granting others space to express themselves differently. It is a way of strengthening one’s responsibility, not hiding behind “they all think…” or “one must…” (Cohn 1975, 124). Experiencing acceptance for thusly expressed thoughts is an invigorating and encouraging experience for group members. Giving space to different ideas supports further contributions.

2. If you ask a question, explain why and what it means to you. Speak about yourself and avoid ‘interviewing’ others. According to Cohn (ibid.), real questions aim for pure information in order to understand things better. They can be understood and answered more precisely if the background to the question becomes clear. Questions different from information seeking can indicate forms of avoidance or a power struggle. More awareness about such differences supports a more adequate dealing with them.

 No flipchart did I write so often in my occupational life as the one holding TCI rules for a good social climate in a group: student groups and external clients alike asked them off me – keeping the chart for further own use. This summer, a group of students told me how beneficial they found it to practise their communication skills throughout their years of study among themselves, based on TCI rules I introduced to them in their first semester.

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3. Be selectively authentic in what you share. This rule asks group members to reflect carefully their personal thoughts and feelings and select what of it they want to share, and how. This is different from what you ‘should’ say or do; in that case you would not act on your own accord but based on some sort of obedience. In light of TCI, obedience neglects the personal value system and is a way of evading own choices and responsibility. Equally problematic is stating unfiltered opinions while neglecting the social situation and the momentary level of trust and understanding. Therefore, ‘selectively authentic’ reminds all group members to filter own statements according to a given situation, as advised by Cohn (ibid. 125). Training of such an awareness supports in my experience the chairperson-­ rule and thereby positive personality development. It seems demanding for my students though to be not obedient or rebellious but selectively authentic – if the balance is momentarily achieved, it leads visibly happy and proud students (this I call resonance/encounter).

4. Speak of your personal reactions while restraining from interpretation of others. Direct personal reaction to the actions of others often leads to spontaneous interaction (especially if conducted as recommended so far). Interpretation of others, on the other hand, often has the opposite effect: If perceived as not timely, fitting, or tactful, it might cause defence and decelerate the social process, so Cohn (ibid. 125f). During the facilitation of a discussion, as lecturer I can easily support that contributions are formulated from a personal standpoint. In case interpretations occur – which might aim under the beltline of others – I support clarification and if need be even an apology (“sorry, it was meant differently…”). The chance for a positive resolve then is releasing for all. With acknowledgement and humour, such a sequence can be put to rest in a light-footed way.

5. Restrain from generalisations. Generalisations show a tendency to break up a group process. According to Cohn (ibid. 126), they are only helpful at the end of a discussion or in order to change the subject. The connection to rule number 1 should be obvious. For closing a discussion or work step, group facilitation can use the effects of a generalisation consciously and in a constructive way.

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6. If you speak about another group member, explain what this means to you. This rule should prevent black sheep phenomena. Any statement about another group member is to be understood as a personal opinion, which might be expressed but bears no claim to universal validity. If you as a speaker explain what your question or feedback means to you, real dialogue can be supported (guided by all rules before).

As a group facilitator, I tend to explicitly point out that “this is your point of view and there might be others in the same light”. This is also true for my own statements as lecturer  – one way of explaining something, not a holy truth! Also I ask about implications for the speaker: “What does that mean to you (implication: why do you need to interpret the other)?”

7. Side talks take precedence. In a group, side talks may disturb but are often important; otherwise, they would not occur. As Cohn (ibid.) explains, they happen if a person feels a need to share a thought, perhaps in need of a second opinion, or too shy to say it aloud, or because other speakers are faster. Perhaps a person lost the connection to the group process and tries the bilateral way to reconnect. Anyway, this rule is meant as an offer and not compulsory! Often, unexpected viewpoints can be gained by including side talks.

I sometimes ask politely and in an interested manner if a side talk has a connection to the topic at hand, by this reconnecting their content and the side talkers themselves back to the group process.

8. One at a time please, and converse to regulate this. No one in a group can listen to more than one person at a time. Group cohesion is a result of concentrated interest for each other and their contributions. Therefore, sometimes speakers need to regulate how they want to continue in their flow of shared thoughts before they can actually continue (ibid. 127). During sessions, I let discussion occur without much intervention on my part but via encouragement by acknowledgement. If too many contributions are offered at once, I suggest a speakers’ list based on occurrence. Students agree or discuss the best way to continue before going on. In other situations, I ask for more contributions to a specific point and continue then to the next upcoming aspect, at best in accordance with the interests of the students. A short exchange about how to continue is not a waste of time but helpful, indicating the difference between leading vs. facilitating a group in support of practicing chairpersonship (first axiom).

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9. Metarule: the rules can be broken if a situation demands it. The auxiliary rules are but helpers for realising the postulates in favour of humane social interaction. Cohn states accordingly: “Their absolutisation would be a misuse; serving a spirit the rules are meant to combat” (ibid. 128). They are meant as guidelines and support. These rules are guidelines, not graved into stone. I tend to offer them as an orientation. Students find that helpful, and in difficult situations, these guidelines can support finding constructive solutions. As a lecturer, one might know the rules and have them, over time, incorporated into one’s thoughts and actions. If I teach the TCI approach explicitly to my students, they get to know all the rules in detail, work with original text material, discuss their meaning and effects, etc. But besides that, in my other seminars at the university, I visualise at least a short version with some of the guidelines in all sessions. At the start of the semester, I explain that as their lecturer, I try to abide by these as guiding  principles and that accordingly my actions hopefully will be ­transparent. Moreover, I mention the source and theoretical background; students get access to a TCI text via our university’s intranet forum. Later I invite students to orient themselves towards these rules during group discussions, as participants, and in their own facilitation roles. By this, students get comprehensible guidelines, transparent leadership, a role model and situations to train themselves in ‘resonant’ and socially sustainable ways of dialogue and interaction. They also experience a form of leadership that might differ from other experiences, being explicitly based in humanism – leadership foremost as support and acknowledgement instead of as display of superiority. If it fits in a session, spontaneous reflection of communicative training effects can be encouraged, and the closing evaluation at the end of each term supports an overall assessment about the student’s personal perception of their individual development. This is a short version of TCI-based rules I found helpful over time (Fig. 3):

Fig. 3  TCI based guidelines for good communication in seminars of the author

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‘Humor is welcome’ is a rule I developed over time; at university students find the permission liberating, in contrast to seriously joyless seminars. Löhmer and Standhardt (2015, 117) but also mention humor as an important addition in their TCI settings. Overall, I observe in my seminars that TCI rules are helpful to heighten mindfulness for oneself, for others, and the process. The described TCI principles also strengthen group cohesion as well as personality building of group members (cf. Otto 1968; Mahr 1979). This observation can be supported by recent research findings conducted in the context of academic teaching with the newer approach of ‘problem-based learning’ (PBL) by Hendry et  al. (2016): Group cohesion, these authors state for teaching with PBL, is to be understood as a process or activity within a group, not the result of characteristics of group members or a prerogative of group work. The authors illustrate via video-analysis of student groups how students discursively construct their group as a unit through shared experiences, by social interaction, and through differentiation from others. In TCI groups, the group cohesion is considered a main goal, not only because of better work results in such a group but because group cohesion can also be understood as one vital sign of ‘resonance’, of being in contact as human beings, and of successful humane connection, in short of ‘living learning’ experiences in the spirit of R. C. Cohn. I sometimes let my students develop their own rules. These tend to be quite reasonable and to some degree similar to the TCI rules; students are mostly quite astute knowing what does them good. But what they do not suggest and what therefore is always added by me are two aspects: First, ‘disturbances take precedence’, and, second, ‘humour is welcome’. Over time, I found that empathising humour – the explicit allowance to take not everything too seriously, to having fun in the oh so serious context of academic learning, can be quite liberating for all sides, with positive effects on social climate and the learning process. Humour in this light is not at all meant in the way of mockery or ridicule but in the way of a playful and joyful attitude. It helps to overcome human everyday insufficiency and adds to a feeling of wellbeing. So far, in answer to the question ‘how’ resonance in class can be secured and based on the TCI approach, I exemplarily described some of the structural elements and how I put them to good use in my seminars – structures developed in light of TCI thinking, in support of a living-learning process and of trust building. I gave examples for the attitude I try to live up to, and I explained some methodological aspects I find useful. Thusly equipped, my students and I create workshops on different topics, always trying to balance the four factors, with overall satisfying results. 3.2.5  About Difficult Group Decisions and ‘Attention for the Shadow’ A lecturer in higher education has to handle many decisions in order to make their seminar successful. Often, there is not ‘the one best solution’ but many possible solutions. TCI logic can provide a compass for navigating such treacherous currents of a group process with more skill and elegance (Table 1).

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Here is an example: Only just before the semester started, I found out that in one of my seminars, due to an irregular holiday, a whole session of 3  h could not take place as planned – instead of seven, this seminar group would only meet six times. Since in the seminar 20 students were interested in working in a team, on a subject they like, and on the training ground of workshop preparation and facilitation, how not to disappoint some of them? How to balance the burden of a shorter time frame? I played in my mind several options on how to deal with the situation. I then judged each possible solution in light of TCI values. This exercise might be of interest for the reader in order to see benefits of the normative orientation and understanding of group dynamic according to TCI and the four factors it provides.

Table 1  Finding the best solution for a problem in the value framework of TCI, example by the author Possible solution One of the five topics could become a written homework. That would mean that four students do not prepare a workshop but write a paper instead Only four topics for students and a fifth student in each team in order to compensate the lack of one more session

In two of the sessions, I could give up ‘my own time spot as the lecturer’ which I like secured for deepening steps on a topic. Two hours (from two sessions) would add up to a fifth workshop time frame comparable to that of other groups

The whole seminar group prolongs one of its session about 90 min, and I give up one of my ‘lecturer’s hours’

…judged through the lens of TCI These students would become ‘second-class students’, riding on the backseat of an otherwise active team life in the seminar. All others would share their ideas and interact as facilitators as well as participants but these four. Resulting in winners/losers in the group. In TCI logic: effects not at all acceptable Each team would have five instead of four students. Would make it more difficult to organise themselves as a group. A larger team in the same time frame might lead to more time pressure for its members. Also, one topic would disappear, giving all students less choices. Overall, all have more stress, fewer interesting topics and topic-wise choices. In TCI logic: effects not desirable Students use to demand for time to experience the expertise of their lecturer and time to react flexible to occurring needs within the group. But this situation is also a need within the group – I would gladly give up ‘my time despot’ in order to give a fifth team space to perform. The idea would mean that one workshop would be stretched over two sessions (2 weeks apart) which might be a burden for that team but could be manageable. One team would have ‘the double effort of performing during two sessions, for all participants the topic/workshop would occur less dense’ – might be good or a burden? In TCI logic: solution could be acceptable if the team is okay with it In this solution, we would have two workshops and topics in one longer session (4.5 h instead of 3h). In the middle, a break longer than usual (30 min) would take place and separate the two topics. My ‘teachers’ hour’ and one ‘gift-from-all hour’ would make way for a second workshop coming to pass on that date. In the middle, the group could create a real dinner break. All parties together would handle the inconveniency of a lost session. All would have one longer evening but also share a nice dinner. And in comparison, the fifth team has no handicap. In TCI logic: solution very good

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With respect to this reasoning, I presented exactly these choices to my students as an example for transparent leadership. I told them that due to the assessment (as explained above), solutions 1 and 2 I would not give them as a choice. Solutions 3 and 4 would be acceptable to me, though. On them I invited participants to a discussion, giving especially the affected teams space to voice their wishes. At the end, all participants voted for solution 4. This they did due to information and discussion, not because their lecturer pressed them to put in more hours. Additionally, they enjoyed making dinner for each other.

Benefit of such a solution is a non-regressive group acting consciously on the chairperson-rule and in consideration of the four factors. In this example, also the ‘integration of the shadow’, as C. G. Jung might have put it, can be reflected. Subdued and as a hidden agenda, in my lecturer’s wishful thinking, I might hope for harmony and a friendly atmosphere in my seminar. In light of TCI, though, I am quite aware that ‘harmony at all costs’ might deny a group most important chances of learning! Such pseudo-harmony is doomed to fail sooner or later. Therefore, the viable question is how I, as a lecturer, can give space for fruitful integration of less desirable aspects, like disagreement, power fights, or other disharmonic tendencies. A group denied the integration of such impulses might get stuck in a pseudo-friendly attitude but without real fire. The atmosphere feels recognisably heavy, unproductive, boring, or paralysed. That shows how life energy can get literally ‘stuck’ even under the best of intentions. TCI experts Löhmer and Standhardt (2015, 78) point out that the productive triangle of ‘structure – process – trust’ supported by TCI-guided attitude and methods is a coin with a backside. The backside or ‘shadow’ they describe as counterparts of the former as ‘chaos – stagnation – mistrust’. To my understanding, structure frames the process and also supports trust – therefore I interpret the dialectic as shown in the draft33 (Fig. 4):

Fig. 4  Shadow triangle by Stollberg (1992), interpreted by the author

 Normally the shadow triangle is drawn under an upper light triangle. The “shadow triangle” was first introduced by Stollberg in Löhmer and Standhardt (Eds.) 1992. I suggest here a horizontal version as less judmental but more descriptive. 

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With this in mind, a lecturer is aware that light and shadow are part of life, not wondering if both aspects occur. Löhmer and Standhard (ibid.) give advice on how to deal with it: Perceive without fear all aspects of life – light as well as shadow – inside of you as well as externally. The shadow contains a lot of valuable life energy. Therefore, it will be mostly far less dangerous than one might think; particularly if you are looking into its eyes. Only if denied or suppressed, the shadow can become uncontrollable or destructive. Being whole in a vital sense includes an awareness of one’s shadows and responsible dealings with it.

In my experience, the ‘chairperson postulate’ (self-expression in light of interdependence and autonomy) supports such dealings in a constructive way. Additionally, the postulate ‘disturbances take precedence’ supports an early discovery of otherwise suppressed but still true and influencing aspects within the group process. So, if something frustrating and unexpected occurs in a group, do not look away as lecturer. I suggest to make sure the issue gets a spot on the group stage. Perhaps not right away but latest then in your next session – which allows for some time to think about how to address the issue productively, since again structure supports process and trust! Therefore ask which frame by wording, time frame and further setting can productively address and contain the matter? After all this is said and explained, one might wonder: How do my students feel the overall setting supports their learning, personal growth, and their development of social skills?

4  E  mpirical Experiences with TCI in Teaching/Learning at the University I must say it repeatedly: I have no doctrine. I only show something. I show reality, I show something at the reality that has not been seen yet, or has not been seen enough. (Martin Buber 1979, Das dialogische Prinzip)

The following insights from first-hand experiences – described so far from the angle of the author as a lecturer/group leader and now by impressions of students/ participants  – might support further ideas on how to use TCI for the benefit of socially sustainable interaction and personality building in seminars at the university. Let young academics experience, at best as a normal part of all their studies, socially humane encounters in support of their honing of social skills and of personality development and thereby also in promising preparation of their challenging roles as socially responsible future leaders – a win-win situation. In the pages above, I included some examples from own experience with TCI at the university in order to make the theoretical and philosophical derivations more descriptive. This empirical part will shift now to insights from the student’s perspective: How do students appropriate a seminar process based on TCI principles? Are these methods really supporting a different, more ‘resonant’ learning experience? “The proof of the pudding is in the eating”, a British expression states, and I would

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add that after the eating, one might ask the diners how their course was. For the empirical aspect of this contribution, I follow a qualitative and descriptive approach, letting subjective statements of all participants in a seminar speak for themselves. In over 20 years of seminars, I experimented with forms of evaluations at the end of a term.34 At universities it is considered a standard to evaluate lectures, but the ways in which that is done differ. Some try an online evaluation, never speaking about the results. Some try to discuss directly with students. Some hand in forms and collect the anonymously written answers for later inspection. I always found that dialogue cannot be exchanged for an electronic click or a cross on a form. That is because any answer is interpretable and therefore must be understood through explanation by the person who provides it; otherwise, understanding falls short. Also, unhappy persons might go overboard in their criticism, while happy persons do not find it necessary to express in detail what they liked. This might lead to an inaccurate overall impression. Besides, out-of-contact evaluations tend, psychologically speaking, to support regression: By not talking, the individual can feel devaluated or free to projection, due to the fact that the superior will interpret the answers anyway as they see fit. Dialogue supports a more adult approach and an attitude according to the chairperson-rule. In my experience, upfront discussions in small groups can help to protect an individual from the full impact of ‘being my own chairperson’ through the filter of a group opinion. But even then, I think I would consider direct talk as the best way in support of rationality and an adult shared responsibility for the teaching-learning situation. At the University of Bremen, we gathered good experiences with students trained as evaluation facilitators. Their facilitation is based on some dimensions typically included in teaching evaluations and discussed in small groups of students, before bringing the group’s impression about evidently good and difficult aspects back to the plenary and in the open, where the student facilitators help to visualise the overall impressions and then lead a discussion between the lecturer and the student group, as well as between students. Acceptance of this setting is quite good, and most lecturers and students feel that the procedure supports both sides to say what is important but also protects the feelings of the parties involved. During the last years, I did not enjoy the luxury of such a trained student facilitator. Derived from this experiences, I developed a way guided by my interpretation of TCI and with respect to the chairperson-rule. In a mixture of written and oral evaluation, my students are invited to consider their learning-teaching experiences supported by TCI methods and attitude. Discussions in groups as well as upfront consideration as homework support their reflection on something not normally in the focus of students’ conscious thinking: the impact of experienced didactics. In order to make sure that students as young leaders-to-be are able to recognise, reflect and express differences in attitudes and actions arising from the social setting, they are not only guided to experience but also consciously designate these differences.  I strongly recommend continuous evaluation steps accompanying the seminar process, conducted by snapshots (Cohn) and feedbacks (Antons 1996, 98ff) during the term. This allows for readjustments in the ongoing process as needed and helps to avoid unpleasant surprises at the end.

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I found that in a direct plenary discussion, the students first speak about topics or contents they found most beneficial or interesting. This stage aims for a more overall impression of group members. That changes if they have a chance to talk to others in smaller groups, supported by a handout with aspects that could be considered. The thoughts expressed by such smaller groups cover a broader scope of aspects and in more detail (perhaps noted on cards for later visualisation and clustering with results from other groups). An interesting third angle turns up if students have a chance to prepare their personal thoughts at home and write them down, again supported by some leading questions in good TCI tradition (as a handout). Overall, as a lecturer, I express my sincere interest in this evaluation for the further development of my seminar. This motivates, I think, earnest consideration on the students’ part. Having this explained, I present as an example the results from the different angles of an evaluation of my summer 2016 student group.35 The seminar was held in English and about topics selected by the participants, although all related to my research field ‘socially sustainable interaction in organisations’. The seminar took place fortnightly in seven sessions of three hours each. The group of 20 students was composed of international Erasmus36 incomings from 7 different countries and of one third German students. About half of the group’s participants studied Sociology; the others came from adaptable fields of study, like Psycholgoy, Personnel Management, Management and Tourism, Economy, and Social Sciences. It was the last session and a hot summer evening in July 2016. We decided to sit outside on the lawn in order to evaluate the seminar. I always apply for rooms which allow me to work outside if the weather is good enough. Students appreciate this as an aspect of the conscious effort to arrange a good and stimulating atmosphere for living learning. Many of the materials and methods used in the seminar – like visualising results on flip charts, presenting keywords of a content on Metaplan cards, conducting role plays, group works, and discussions  – work outside as well as within the room, in this respect an advantage. So, for our last seminar hour and after a break, we went out on the lawn and first sat down for an open exchange of impressions. Then, students discussed further in trios and brought back cards with some additional feedback to reflect on. Third, they handed in some thoughts written down at home. Here are the results:

 I present the statements of students as given by them. Statements have only slightly been clarified if context-related aspects were incomprehensible for a third party or if the grammar was too far off. I did not change the wording, tenses or the overall direction of statements. 36  The Erasmus programme is a European student-exchange scheme. 35

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Variation 1 – open discussion (not very structured, one general leading question) Leading question: “Overall seminar results from my perspective”. Students express their thoughts in an open discussion. Here is what they said individually: –– The seminar covered a large extent of topics in only seven sessions, quite impressive and always very interesting. –– To me, the most interesting topic was the ‘manipulation’ part; it was new, useful and quite psychological. –– Understanding more about the issue of ‘manipulation’ I found particularly interesting. –– Studying work and personnel, to me the most beneficial topics were ‘identity and work’ and ‘manipulation’ at the workplace. –– I liked the topic ‘identity and work’, as well as aspects of the reflection about ‘work-life balance’. Both topics are highly helpful for the contemplation of my own future roles. –– I liked reflecting about ‘stereotypes’  – occurring especially in the topics ‘gender’ and ‘age’. That I found stimulating and it gave me new ideas. –– The ‘stress and relaxation’ topic nudged me to think about the caring for myself. –– Overall, responsibility in the context of work became clearer to me. –– It became to me more substantial what it means to care about society.

This sequence illustrates how members of a TCI-accustomed students’ group express their individual insights related to one another, as well as with respect to different angles. The open exchange of impressions starts with seminar topics of impact and after that shifts to the meaning of experienced topics for oneself and then opens up to future roles and society. Different results can be found in a more structured form of evaluation. Variation 2 – exchange of thoughts about organisation, group climate, and outcomes in small groups (structured by nine dimensions as an offer for consideration) Students reflect in small groups about their experiences and results of the seminar with respect to nine typical dimensions of evaluation.37 There is no need to cover them all, being more an offer of different aspects for consideration (continued) 37

 Indicated by the nine headlines under which the statements are clustered.

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(hence not each group covers them all). Students write what turns out to be important to them on cards and later explain their findings in the plenary. Here is what the students in groups came up with: 1. Contents and results –– –– –– –– ––

Many different and interesting contents and topics. Variety of topics was good, extended, and related. Own choosing (5 out of 12) of the topics was a very good idea. The ‘chance of choosing’ a topic as a student was very well received. Having attended another seminar of the series, the theoretical framework came as a repetition.

2. Organisation and structure –– Seminar is always well structured and organised. –– Good and new way of learning by TCI methods. –– Good to meet every second week for a longer time frame (instead of weekly, shorter). –– The organisation fits well to the needs as an Erasmus student. –– Services of the lecturer were very helpful (text material and information in Stud.IP,38 printable course certificate in Stud.IP, forms being graded and sealed for last session). 3. Methods and media –– The seminar covers a broad variety of methods and media. –– Different ways of presenting (not only PowerPoint but foremost Metaplan techniques). –– The methods were colourful and students enjoyed being creative with them. 4. Support by lecturer –– –– –– ––

Lecturer was always accessible, reliable, and helpful. We got good feedback and support. Lecturer appeared always interested in the students. Overall lecturer created a trustworthy work climate on eye-to-eye level. (continued)

 Stud.IP is a content management system the University of Bremen offers for the organisation of lectures and seminars. Teaching staff puts information and material in it and send messages to enrolled students. Students with an account apply in the system for a course and find there all information provided by the lecturer. In my seminars, I use Stud.IP expressively also in order to give students chances to contribute actively, for example, with interesting materials they found, by raising questions, or contacting each other or their lecturer (blended learning).

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5. The group atmosphere –– –– –– ––

Overall friendly atmosphere. Always good to talk to each other. It was good to share own experiences and reflect on them. A lot of trust developed in this group (opening up, reflecting on things).

6. Worth as a general studies seminar: key competencies –– TCI method will surely turn out being useful when working with groups in the future. –– How to talk in groups and how to manage them became much clearer. –– It was possible to discover different backgrounds of people and to appreciate them. –– Seminar encouraged in me the idea of self-employment – want to be my own boss. –– The demand of making competencies of group members count, instead of being just a presenter: That turned out to being not a trivial task but especially worthwhile. –– We experienced ‘real teamwork’ and beneficially so. 7. Field exploration task39 –– The field explorations added well to the content found in literature. –– It was interesting to talk to people and to hear their experiences and opinions. –– The challenge of talking to experts ‘outside’ of the university was demanding, then it made proud to have done it and to present some insights from that perspective. –– For the first group, the task was tighter due to a short(er) time frame (1 month). 8. Additional ideas and remarks –– The offered homework readings – if more reliably done by everybody – could lead to even more informed discussions. –– In the future, a class about conflicts at the workplace would be interesting. –– The link to the overall concept of ‘social sustainability’ should be observed more in all workshops performed by students’ groups (sometimes it was implicit). (continued)

 This is part of the task of students: Not only read theory and studies in order to create an interesting workshop about a selected content but also find an expert outside of the university and talk to them. Findings should be included and presented as part of the workshop and the overall documentary.

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9. English as lingua franca40 –– We understood each other mostly very well. –– Basically, the use of the English language worked out well. –– Sometimes words were missing by a student at the end of sentences. Considering this, it might have been worth exploring what was amiss. –– More specific vocabulary (explicitly): Lecturer set an example and made vocabulary lists available for her classes, but later the student workshops groups did not provide vocabulary lists. One can read later the documentary (including the vocabulary used on a topic), but perhaps in the future, an open list/visualisation of ‘interesting and new vocabulary’ would be helpful for each session?

As the lecturer, I give my thanks for the group’s feedback, the friendly advice and encouragement. I also show gratitude for the openness shown and reflect – due to the chairperson rule – on the fact that some wishes (like ‘a list of today’s interesting or new vocabulary’) came up at the end and therefore cannot be put to good use for this group. Nevertheless, I express my willingness to carry the ideas on to the next group of students, so that good ideas will be valued and might live on. This kind of evaluation shows where small groups highlight similar impressions, in which aspects their perspectives add to each other, or differ. Summarising, the statements give good insights into the overall experiences of students during a term. Participants also offer sound advice for the future development of the seminar – to me a sign of eye-level communication and the wish to give something back to each other and the lecturer. The nine dimensions offered as an orientation for their group discussion were used well. Overall, own benefits, group-related experiences and leadership experiences were positively included. Aditionally, the worth of orientation by structure and the positive effects of given choices are expressed. I also tried a third angle of evaluation, in order to see whether results would be different if students did not discuss but wrote down by themselves aspects they find important. In addition, I wanted to experiment with leading questions expressly concerned with the framework of my seminar – leadership skills and TCI in support of their training.

 Working at a German university, classes are mostly held in the German language. A seminar held in English is still unusual. By nearly all students – German residents and Erasmus incomings – English is used as the lingua franca, based on individual levels of competence. Therefore it is important to investigate how this diversity affects students, how well the issue of language works out or hinders.

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Variation 3 – individual impressions, written down at home and handed in.  Experiences of participants with the seminar, its contents and methods were reflected along four questions. Students filled in their answers at home and handed them in during the last session of the term. This could be done anonymously, but most students signed their paper anyway. Here are the questions and the students’ answers: 1. Do you take specific ideas or topics as important for yourself out of the seminar? –– The topics were all very interesting, close to reality and real-life situations. –– My favourite topics were gender and work, age differences at the workplace, and manipulation. –– The topic of manipulation was especially interesting to me. –– Manipulation was a really interesting topic – perhaps more than some others because I can recognise it as an issue in my everyday life. The message is people can be manipulated in various ways. Watch out for it. –– It became clear that work has an important influence on the identity. –– It is now clear to me that I want to aim for a good work-life balance. –– I found the topic gender and work very interesting, as well as manipulation – both useful for my future working experiences and in everyday life. –– I learned that without prejudice, different generations resp. age-groups can benefit much better from each other’s specific facilities. –– It is the many small and little things, like the role that a workplace plays in the everyday building of identity, or things we spoke about in the interview of our field exploration. –– Very important to me was to experience how the lecturer was making the participants feel overall welcome and also appreciated during their presentations. 2. Do you see any advantages in the experienced workshop methods? –– The workshop methods are totally different and offer more visualisation and interaction, which makes a class much more interesting and vivid than normal. –– I think the workshop method is a very good way of learning. One of the deficiencies is probably a lack of a stronger theoretical emphasis. However, as a General Study seminar, it is meant to aim to the practise, and the methods cover several advantages: more practise with the organisation of the workshop itself and effects of learning by doing, besides the theoretical content. –– Everyone is included; the whole seminar is much more interactive than normal. (continued)

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–– Openness to talk about the topics was always there. –– The workshops gave space to voice opinion and discussion to everyone. –– Cooperation between participants and presenters in each workshop was astounding. –– Sessions every two weeks are much better because much more intense and much more time to get into a topic, as well as adaptations to the foreign language. –– I know all names of participants in this group and talked to everyone; this is unusual. –– Through workshop methods, the sessions about a topic become richer because we all share experiences and one gets to know one another in a respectful and ‘sharing’ way. –– Good group atmosphere is supported by the circle of chairs and facilitation methods. –– Not only reading a text about a topic but to really going into it and to think about it by oneself actively, that was quite a treat (and much too seldom). –– The workshop method makes it easier to learn and to remember things. –– Creating a workshop was a challenging task, but I remember all the contents really well now because I taught them to others during a longer session (not only some-minutes presentation, like often in other seminars). –– Speaking in front of the whole class: At the beginning, I felt ashamed of speaking in front of so many people, but thanks to this seminar I practised; I learned how to manage the situation. Now I feel much more confident. ☺ –– The workshop methods and the interactive parts helped very much to understand theoretical concepts better. 3. Did you observe any effects of a balance of I-We-Topic during our sessions? –– At first I needed some time together to get used to this new form of interaction. Then it became obvious what to expect from the sessions; this gave a reassuring footing and familiarity. –– The balance of the three TCI factors was supported by a broad variety of methods; this allowed for different angles of tackling a topic. –– There was always time for some discussion, whether more personal or strictly related to the topic at hand. –– Different perspectives got space and appreciation  – that provided a much better overview and allowed for different points of view which made me thinking. –– Personal experiences were invited, welcome and appreciated. (continued)

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–– I very much appreciated the group work and activities; they made me aware of my role and perceptions within the group in a new way. –– I understood better what working in a group means and how my behaviour is affected by other people I am speaking with. 4. Did you make any leadership-related observations you consider interesting? –– I felt safe because I always knew what was expected of me (in terms of grades as well as in terms of interactions and trusting the teacher). –– There were no wrong answers – this really is an encouraging experience, especially in a foreign language. Also, I remember much better. –– The teaching person showed how very supportive a superior can be: always available when questions came up and not patronising. –– It was good to get a detailed feedback for a workshop held by oneself that helped reflecting the experience and putting into perspective things one could not quite understand (like a social situation in class, and the supervision feedback help reflecting it). –– It motivated me that the teacher took the time to plan the workshop with us: We were expected to do a lot, but she also cared and supported us. –– It is positive that there is always some time for a more ‘private’ chat. This is breaking the hierarchical distance (like “Are you well?” or remembering an information from two weeks before, like “You were moving – is it all done now or still a lot to do?”). –– I realised by example in class how much socially sustainable leadership affects the social climate of a group and the good results such a group is able to achieve. –– My conclusion: Collaboration facilitates a more active and productive approach and provides a socially warm work environment. Also it helps to achieve transparency, I suppose. –– I observed several acts that can be selected to socially sustainable leadership. Conversations were held horizontal, not top-down, with eye contact and signs of appreciation which I could actually observe. There was a clear appreciation and commitment with what we were doing, which does not neglect the high standards we had to live up to at the same time. –– A long and detailed feedback after the workshop we had to perform signalled appreciation by the lecturer. –– Differentiated feedback is always appreciated. The feedback here was always on constructive terms and not simply saying that things were good or bad. Thank you! ☺

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As the reader might recognise, the four leading questions aim for aspects important in the TCI attitude: raising personal interest for a topic, the overall communicative setting, a good balance between the ‘four factors’ of own issues, interaction as a group, aspect of the theme and the overall environment, and experiences with humane leadership. These are also aspects of my research field ‘socially sustainable interaction in organisations’ with a focus on the interconnectedness of individual wellbeing, group dynamics and leadership style. To me these leading questions transport manifest contents important in class as well as latent aspects supported by TCI methods. The overall picture these written statements portray is quite elaborate, not contradicting but complementing insights from the other variations of evaluation. They also show that students recognise very well the ‘important’ things of TCI didactics: the worth of “resonant” experiences to them, the role model aspect for ‘socially sustainable leadership’, and the overall positive impact of this humanistic approach on one’s own wellbeing in class and beyond. The level of the student’s awareness for these aspects is, according to their statements, much higher than one might expect, which is very encouraging indeed from the lecturer’s perspective. I assume, though, that a dialogue-based eye-to-eye evaluation and a written form at home (invited to be anonymous) might differ more from each other if students do not feel as trusting and positive towards their teacher (Sennett 199041) as was the case in this example. Therefore, I would caution a colleague from using the introduced mix of methods as a standard. Please, take it more as a good practise example. In your own situation, think of what the connection in the group and to you as a lecturer actually is, and decide from there what might be the most appropriate way for constructive evaluation. Psychologically speaking, inviting students to ‘kick from afar’ what they do not dare to say to you directly invites regression and projection.42 At the end of a term, nothing can be done to correct a situation but acknowledge it, with unsatisfying effects for all parties. The deed done, students might feel guilty later to have expressed negative thoughts in written form, or they get anxious about meeting again for an exam or thesis discussion. Such personality weakening

41  In his book Authority, US sociologist R. Sennett shows how manifest and latent aspects of perceived authority lead to distinct perceptions and behaviour in people. Triggered by the authoritative role, assumptions about this role are awakened in subordinates and connected to individual biographic experiences with supportive or abusive sides of the authoritative role. 42  Recommended background reading on group psychoanalysis e.g. W. R. Bion (1961): Experiences in Groups and Other Papers is considered a landmark in conceptualising the unconscious functioning of human beings in groups. The author differentiates between the rationality of the work group on a manifest, cognitive level and an irrational, emotional level, the latter always present as a latent sociodynamic. On this background, a scholar might understand better why/how TCI methods support the rational aspect in a group and why they invite psychodynamic latent aspects in a guided way into the group situation – on the table – and handled appreciatively, ‘the shadow’ can thusly be constructively integrated in the group process (be your own chairperson; disturbances take precedence). In light of group psychology, a person as part of a group often expresses aspects important for the whole group. Understanding this is crucial for not individualising an issue raised by one member of a group.

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dynamics should be avoided or, if occurring, resolved and not come up at the closing point of a group.

−−−

In conclusion, the introduced variations for an evaluation and their results show distinctively how differently the same students answer, according to the context and wording in which one asks more or less the same thing: individual writing guided by some ‘leading questions’, in small groups by talking and writing aspects down supported by typical evaluation ‘dimensions to think about’, and in a plenary by talking based on ‘one general question’. In the example, the presented feedbacks add up to providing overall differentiated insights into the learning experience and how they were perceived and processed by the students. Additional result of this example in class is that it becomes obvious that lecturers act in their seminars at the university as a role model for leadership, just as Cohn predicts. The feedback of students indicates that aspects of ‘socially sustainable leadership’ shaped by following the TCI attitude and methods can be observed by students and also trained in own actions, be it as a workshop facilitator, a group member in interactional tasks, and a member of a plenary discussion. Though it seems to me that the chairperson-rule, also in the best of social atmospheres, is the most difficult to realise for students in the plenary – in comparison – here they hold back somewhat more or tread lightly. Nevertheless, by explaining cornerstones of the TCI methods and attitude at the beginning of a seminar, referring to them repeatedly over time, and having main rules visualised in each session, the role model aspect is supported by an understanding of what happens, how it supports making a difference in favour of a supportive social atmosphere, and why it is done by the lecturer in this specific way and later on by students as workshop facilitators. In conclusion, not only experiencing socially sustainable leadership but also transparency of the underlying rules and a vocabulary which allows a description and reflection on the effects are helpful in order to train young academic’s skills as ‘humane’ future leaders-to-be a satisfying, resonant living-learning culture in TCI style. Especially the personally written reflections show that ‘the message came through’ and was well received.

5  Summary, Conclusions and Outlook The shaping of humane situations under the guiding star of consistency, based on the teachings and philosophy of TCI, is always a versed and creative act. Encouragement to original creativity might be a disaster for multiple-choice trials of Bachelor students – but it does not invalidate TCI. (Friedemann Schulz von Thun 2010, 11)

To recapitulate, first, this article reflected the need of young academics for social skills in order to become humane future leaders. Second, the concept of ‘resonance’ in the classroom by sociologist Rosa issued a lack of connectedness and of the ability

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for social response as a disturbing attribute of postmodern society and its acceleration process. This problem has been elaborated in more detail with an excursion into therapy theory and its continuum of intensity of relationships, as well as an excursion into the psychology of work. The latter showed how objective structural conditions and subjective perception and reaction at work, rooted in the basic psychological human needs, are structurally interconnected. The conclusion that structural issues have a direct impact on people’s abilities and interactions led to the question of how the setting of a lecture itself and the attitude as leader of the session could be consequently shaped in a decelerated and resonant way. In answer to this question, third, the attitude and methodology of Theme-Centered Interaction by Cohn were then introduced in light of social and postmodern key competence requirements. Key features of TCI were elaborated: living learning, the four factors for a dynamic balance in work groups, the role of leadership in a TCI setting, and accompanying axioms, postulates and auxiliary rules of the TCI approach, difficult group situations and dealing with ‘the shadow’. TCI’s overall humanistic values, over decades established and soundly rooted in psychological group research, became apparent. Fourth, as an empirical part, experiences of a group of students taught in the spirit of TCI were introduced and discussed. Fifth, the text closes with this summary, overall conclusion, and a short outlook. In the humanistic tradition, TCI attitude and methods in class support what social philosopher Habermas (1981) calls ‘acting communicatively’: Whereas I speak of communicative action if action plans of participating actors are not coordinated by egocentric calculated success, but by acts of understanding in communication. By acting communicatively, actors are not primarily orientated on own success: they follow individual goals on the condition that own actions plans can be based and coordinated by a shared definition of a situation. Therefore, the negotiation of such definitions of a situation is a main aspect of interpretation efforts necessary for communicative actions. (Habermas 1981, Bd. 1, 385)

I am convinced that only their own experience with ‘resonant’ participative interaction will enable young academics later to create a humane work environment. The TCI-based social learning experiences can support their understanding of the ‘how’ and ‘why’, without denying differences of roles or experiences, and thereby can support their democratic abilities. As presented, participation is supported by TCI through personal involvement with a topic, commitment to the group, trust in leadership and orientation within an overall framework, by taking on responsibility for oneself and in a team, and by experiencing how individuals are different as well as appreciated, valued, and integrated with their different talents and quirks. In this setting, trust becomes a main issue  – trust that “resonant” communication, as demanded by Rosa, is possible. Habermas (1971) speaks of a “counterfactual anticipation” one must harbour; according to him, an expectation that understanding can be achieved always comes before any actual communication. If one does not expect understanding to be possible, the effort of communication will not be undertaken, so the author. Then one experiences muteness instead of ‘resonance’. With Rosa, that would indicate a disturbed contact to the world; relationship itself gets disturbed, void. With TCI, as shown above, attitude and structure support both trust

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and the process (cf. Löhmer and Standhard 2015, 77). Following and trusting the compass TCI offers a lecturer in all groups they lead, I found over time not only helpful but also personally beneficial. Do readers now ask themselves if university scholars, like professors or lecturers or research associates, can train themselves in TCI didactics? Of course, education in a specialised RCI institute is recommended whenever an option. But not everyone will have the chance to learn the method from experts and over years. I myself did not have the pleasure of such training but learned TCI in a team ‘on the job’ and over time.43 This might encourage colleagues to make an effort, for example, if in your country no RCI institute is located. One might wonder about the actual relevance at the postmodern workplace. As an answer, here is a real-life story44: Recently I heard of the example of a new executive who, I suppose, had learned theoretically that participation is of importance – he ordered a group of engineers to a meeting and asked them bluntly what they would think necessary in order to expand their commissions in the next year. For about an hour, nobody spoke. Afterwards, many of the engineers described anxiety: Is my job in danger, what is expected of me, what would have been okay to say, etc. Normally, another department fixes contracts with potential customers, and the engineers then do the actual developmental work. They were out of their depth. Shortly after the situation, their direct team leaders did – thankfully! – some damage control by setting up meetings in small groups, answering to expressed anxieties, and preparing them for the to-be-expected follow-up session with the socially insensitive executive. Based on this, they felt better prepared, though the potential for trust in the new executive took heavy damage. Such managerial blunder happens in practise, with no inkling of ‘how’ participation is sensibly conducted. Academics should be prepared better, I think. Exemplarily, Montano (2016, 334) from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health might be quoted in this respect: He discusses connections between ISO 9000 norms, management practises and occupational health, concluding that a quality management system for modern managerial practises must ensure not only conformity to produce but also occupational safety and health on all levels. He identifies six requirements crucial for high-quality management and leadership: the ability to shape constructively “communication processes, organisational justice, role clarity, decision-making, social influence processes, and management support” (ibid., 324). Does that sound familiar at the end of this article? Learning how to act in a socially sustainable manner and being ‘resonant’, as Rosa demands, does not start in the company but in the cradle of any occupational role and identity. The strong case I make for TCI as a teaching approach in ways of attitude and methods in higher education aims for exactly these interactional segments. If nowadays

 A team in the psychology department I worked with for 15 years inspired my use of TCI in university lectures and in counselling. Consistent with my personal values, further reading, selfreflection and exercise added to it. 44  To the engineer who stays anonymous here and provided the example, thank you. 43

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about 50% of an age group should, as German politicians request, indulge in the benefit of academic education, it becomes even more evident that the ‘how’ of university teaching plays a vital role in preparation of future paths of students  – for personal growth as well as for future functions. TCI is, in my experience, an approach that also offers specific merits for intercultural groups.45 A little example is: In my country, Germany, people are often attributed to be more focused on subjects than on relationships – while working together on something, they form attachments. In many other countries, it is just the other way around; in light of good relationships, people form ideas about working together as well. As the ‘four TCI factors in dynamic balance’ stress, recognition of different contexts (Globe/s), as well as empathising on both the interconnectedness in interaction (We) and the underlying shared subject matter (It) can help to build an understanding and cooperation. People with intercultural background working together can make evident different ways of interaction, personal needs and expectations. Also, similarities as people will become undeniable during cooperation. In settings with less awareness for a dynamic balance of group factors, I assume it is much more probable that a struggle of power will define which ‘style’ takes over in a given situation. In study and work contexts alike, that might lead to unhappiness and weakening the potential of the ‘losing’ party. Additionally I propose that TCI ought to be considered on the broader scale of personnel development at universities (ibid. Feuchthofen et al. 2013).46 Not only in their lectures but also in a research team and in the practise transfer the humanistic attitude and the knowledge of process development in groups provided by the approach would be beneficial. As Arndt (2013, 60) takes stock: “Seminars without real exchange of thoughts miss the actual point of the scientific process.” She muses about the ‘dead learning’ academia habitus in conferences: Falling back on routine provides security (power-point, strong orientation to objectivity, tight structure). It tames the well known anxiety of losing one’s sovereignty. But without disturbances which take the concerns seriously (here: strengthening of the scientist in taking on responsibility) and which question the sense of normalities, rigid structures will not be changed. (Arndt 2013, 60)

If structure and process do not follow the needs of a social situation, trust between people in this situation will sink. In research and practise transfer as well as in lectures, a scientist needs to be able to create structures, processes, and interactions fitting for the situation and the people involved. Thus, trust and the quality of the overall process will be better. This needs understanding and knowledge. In light of this text, I hope it became evident what it actually is that Rosa (2016) issues in “resonance in the classroom” and how a university scholar might achieve it.

 Therefore S. Kurtes as expert in intercultural communication contributes to this book her view on TCI for intercultural education issues. 46  If interested in the issue of personnel development in academia, read the contribution by Meyerhuber at the end of this book. Also, in Reiser et al., suggestions of TCI appliance to research teams are offered. 45

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“TCI lives”, communication psychologist Schulz von Thun (2010,47 9) emphasises on the status and newer developments of TCI, presented wonderfully in a recent TCI handbook on the approach and a variety of its applications in schools, organisations, and counselling. And now, also advantages of it as a didactical attitude and method in higher education, ethically and theoretically sound, applicable to different work groups and contexts, fitting supportively for groups from intercultural learning to teams in work environments, well clarified and substantiated by decades of accompanying research and development,48 should have become evident. Benefits for students as future leaders go without further say. And as Stollberg and Schneider-Landolf (2017, 143) write, “Teaching based on TCI is what keeps lecturers in touch with life.”

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Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn: An Introduction Matthias Scharer

Abstract  This chapter gives a general introduction to the concept of ThemeCentered Interaction (TCI) by Ruth C. Cohn and forms the basis for all other articles in this volume. Cohn’s biography as founder of TCI and the various influences she had on the approach help to explain the background of the concept of ‘living learning’. The basic theory and practical elements of the TCI system continue to influence the reception of the concept in higher education. TCI is concerned especially with the challenges of cultural and religious diversity in social and educational fields. Keywords  Ruth C. Cohn · Theme-Centered Interaction · Psychoanalysis · Humanistic psychology · TCI axioms · TCI method · TCI postulates · Dynamic balance · Chairperson · Interaction · Communication · Living-learning · Nazi terror · Jewish immigrant · Values · Participative leadership

1  What Is Theme-Centered Interaction? TCI is the standard abbreviation for the concept introduced to the reader in the following. The concept was discovered (or created) by Ruth C. Cohn in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. Another label for TCI is ‘living-learning’, which emphasizes more the didactic intention behind this idea. As the official term ‘TCI by Ruth Cohn’ indicates, the concept connects an understanding of living-learning in groups with the biography, experiences, and reflections of its founder. More on this connection will be introduced in the next section. Ruth C. Cohn was one of the most famous humanistic psychologists in the twentieth century. She was born in Berlin into a German-Jewish family, only to then, like so many people in our contemporary world, to become an immigrant. Because of the emerging Nazi terror in Germany, she emigrated first to Switzerland and later on M. Scharer (*) Emeritus of the Institute of Practical Theology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_2

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to the United States. But the well-educated psychoanalyst failed to get a job in her profession. So by necessity she came into contact with education and pedagogical-­ didactic concepts while working with children. Later on, she taught at different institutions, like the Clark University in Massachusetts. After returning to Europe in the 1970s and taking up residence again in Switzerland, she was honored with numerous awards: honorary doctorates from the Universities of Hamburg and Bern as well as the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for her works in the fields of psychology and pedagogy by the President of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker. Despite all the effort put into her work and the honors she received at a later age, she never forgot the ambivalence life faces us with. Dealing with TCI as a didactic concept for higher education is not some neutral discourse about what makes learning effective; rather, it is an existential act of creating a learning theory and practice that is aware of the fundamental questions and needs of humans and human societies in a globalized world. It sounds like homage to her educational intentions when Ruth C. Cohn writes: I want to have eyes that peer out of my room, beyond the flowers and the waterfalls and the birds, beyond the meadows and mountains and national borders, to see the boats afloat on the cold waves, full of women and children, raped by pirates, bereft of their last grain of rice and the last shirt on their back. I want to have ears that hear the cries of those drowning, the cries of men in torture chambers […] and the cries of women and children who must witness the pain of martyrdom of their loved ones. I want to encourage all those people who have suffered a misery they did not invite, not to resign, not to feel helpless, but to use their imagination and their capacity to act to express their solidarity and to remain active for as long as we can still feel autonomous forces in our souls. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 374)

TCI served her in accompanying children, youth, students, grown-ups, adults, and elderly people toward a comprehensive awareness, solidarity, and arising self-responsibility. In the Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (cf. Schneider-Landolf et  al. 2017, transl. by J. Smith), J. Spielmann defines TCI more systematically: TCI is a comprehensive, holistic action concept that has the goal of shaping situations in which humans interact, work, live and learn together such that they consciously experience each other as humane and humanizing. The focus lies on taking action in groups, teams, and organizations. TCI represents a differentiated method of observing situations as well as controlling and accompanying social processes. This includes the tasks such as planning, leading, intervention, reflection, analysis, and diagnosis. The overall goal is to create professional and learning processes producing optimal results that reflect the common goals, the interactions between the various parties involved, and the individual interests and their circumstances. TCI relies on a vision of humanity and a value system that reflect the ability of humans to change and learn. (Spielmann 2017, 14f)

In the last two decades, TCI has spread from Europe to India and other English-­ speaking countries. Therefore, any book on TCI in higher education in English which includes cross-cultural experiences will be beneficial. I think these experiences will have a high impact on intercultural didactics based on TCI and in general. In India, the first TCI Hindu and Muslim trainers graduated in 2016. In Ruth C.  Cohn’s letters in the archive in Berlin, she expressed her pleasure about the developments of TCI in different cultures besides Europe and the United States.

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She was interested in seeing TCI adapted to other cultures and contexts where the approach might also prove beneficial and fitting. The institute responsible for the quality of education during this cross-cultural expansion of TCI is the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI-international), which offers TCI training on three levels: –– Basic training –– Advanced training –– Graduation (certified trainer) In addition to my own experiences in encounter groups (sensitivity trainings), Gestalt groups, systemic work, supervision, and my academic qualifications in history, theology, and didactics, I qualified at all three levels of TCI training. For the past 25 years, I have been working as a certified TCI trainer mainly in the academic field as well as in cross-cultural and trans-religious groups in different countries (cf, Scharer 2010). Having qualifications in specific professional fields and a broad experience in group work, especially in TCI, corresponds to the typical profile of a certified TCI trainer.

2  Involvements “It’s the writing for ‘science’ that deadens me.” I found this confession in Ruth C. Cohn’s ‘logbook’ where she noted her thoughts day by day during her visiting professorship at Clark University (Massachusetts) in 1973. She had found her new style of writing through interacting with the readers of her texts. She writes: “[…] a new spirit in writing which let’s the person come in, and I learned so much from each of them – while I have so much trouble with the kind of books that quote and define without flesh and blood” (entry of January 20, 1973). This experience demonstrates her high level of writing about a concept that has influenced didactics for decades and continues to do so today. I hope Ruth C. Cohn would not be disturbed by my quoting her since the sources are near to me and not at all ‘without flesh and blood’. When I am working with larger or smaller groups according to TCI style, the process of learning always lies at the center of my thoughts  – not some abstract theory of didactics. It is also present in my mind when I am preparing a lecture for a large audience, in which case, it becomes an inner process that leads me intuitively through the main aspects of the TCI concept. For the most part, my work does not demand my explaining TCI but benefiting from it. When working with groups and classes, introducing ‘TCI theory’ happens organically, step by step, while experiencing the actual TCI process. While ‘learning’ TCI in the context of didactics in higher education, this seems to me generally crucial. Ever since the book The Shift from Teaching to Learning (cf. Welbers and Gaus 2005) appeared, the learning process of students (and lectures) lies at the center of attention. Dealing with this idea of learning instead of teaching in practice comes very close to the ideal of TCI.

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While writing this introduction to TCI, I have tried to balance out the core insights culled from the enormous literature (this is my ‘It,’ the subject matter as a writer), while adding experiences of my own and others, especially of Ruth C. Cohn (the ‘I-perspective’) and insights taken from concrete interactional processes (the ‘We’-perspective). All this happens in a context (the ‘Globe’ as environment) of (post)modern society, research, and practice in didactics. For years, I have worked with mixed Muslim-Christian students at my university1 as well as with cross-­ cultural and trans-religious groups in India (cf. Scharer 2017a) and other countries. So, the actual ‘Globe’, in the sense of a globalized, post-migration world (cf. Yildiz 2018), is strongly embedded in my mind. I am convinced that, in a world in which individuality, plurality and diversity, sympathy and empathy, resonance and response, on the one hand, as well as a new upcoming individualism, populism, nationalism, and fundamentalism (leading right up to violence), on the other hand, are a stark reality, the humanistic inspiration of the Jewish immigrant Ruth C. Cohn can stimulate the didactics of all higher education. I was not part of the ‘inner circle’ of Ruth C.  Cohn when she came back to Europe after her immigration first to Switzerland and later on to the States. I met this inspirational woman first around 1993, when she invited a group of my university students and myself2 to participate in a short workshop with her at her home in Hasliberg/Goldern (Switzerland), where she had settled after moving back from the United States to Europe. From then on we stayed in contact. I last saw her about 1  year before her death in 2010 at the house of Helga Herrmann in Düsseldorf (Germany). Together with my wife Michaela, I am working on registering the huge spiritual heritage of Ruth C.  Cohn at the archive of the Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany). Working on this legacy, combined with the deep connection between my understanding of what TCI means and the biography of its founder, has brought her even closer to my heart and mind. When separated from the story of its founder, TCI results in a superficial meaning. Based on this insight, in the next section, I reflect on the influence and importance Ruth C. Cohn had on the concept of TCI, especially with respect to didactic issues.

3  The Inspiration of a Famous Jewish Immigrant Storytelling is today a familiar aspect of didactics. It introduces learners to their specific tasks and topics. In this chapter I would like to attempt a particular kind of storytelling: recounting the story of the famous Jewish immigrant who broadly influenced didactics.

1  The University of Innsbruck, Austria, where I have been working as a full professor of didactics and religious education since 1996, is a full university with about 30,000 students. 2  At that time, I was a professor at the Catholic University of Linz, Austria.

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In a globalized and (post-)migration context, it seems essential to me to highlight the immigrant status of the founder of TCI (cf. Cohn 1970b). When I met with Ruth C. Cohn for the last time in the house of Helga Herrmann, who was taking care of her, Helga told me that Ruth was suffering severely from painful memories, like those of images of the Nazi regime (cf. Herrmann 1992).

3.1  Childhood, Youth, and Nazi Terror Ruth C(harlotte) Cohn, née Hirschfeld, was born in 1912 in Berlin and died in 2010 in Düsseldorf (Germany). She grew up in a liberal Jewish family. Her parents – her mother was a pianist, her father a businessman – were pleasant people who took good care of her. She had a wonderful childhood and adolescence  – until the Nazi terror spread throughout Germany and threatened young Ruth and her boyfriend. As an intelligent student, Ruth C. Cohn had of course read Hitler’s Mein Kampf (as well as The Capital of Karl Marx) and was acutely aware what would happen to the Jews in Germany. Before all this occurred, however, her conviction was that she was a born poet. She had written poetry from the age of 7 and she wanted to make a career out of it (cf. Cohn 1949, 1965, 1990). But then she was told that one could not make a living as a poet. Her father believed that, even if a girl were to marry, she should have a profession by which she could earn a living if necessary. Becoming a journalist seemed to be an acceptable compromise. With this aim in mind, she started studying economics in Heidelberg. During the first semester, however, she discovered that economics was not going to be her subject. But in Heidelberg, she also met Gundolf, the celebrated author who had done research on Goethe, who quickly became Ruth C. Cohn’s idol. Goethe and his pantheism became a significant influence on her worldview. During the second semester, she returned to Berlin and met her first boyfriend. His mother was a psychoanalyst. So, for the first time, Ruth C. Cohn heard the word psychoanalysis. From this time on, she was determined to become a therapist. But it was also around 1932 that the Nazis attacked her Jewish friend together with other politically active Jewish students. It became clear to Ruth C. Cohn that she could no longer study in Berlin.

3.2  Emigration to Switzerland and the Psychoanalytic Couch At the end of March 1933 – one day before the first boycott of Jews occurred in Germany – Ruth C. Cohn officially went to Zurich to continue her studies. Living in Switzerland as a student meant not having refugee status. Thus, she could not stop studying because she would have been expelled. “Up to 1941, Ruth Cohn studied psychology as well as education, theology, literature, and philosophy in Zurich […]” (Greving 2017, 17). In addition to her studies at the university, the most decisive experience in Zurich was Ruth’s intense training in psychoanalysis:

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The irony of the last sentence of this quotation reveals a point of criticism that Ruth C. Cohn subsequently turned against classic psychoanalysis. This criticism spawned her lifelong quest for alternative therapeutic opportunities and procedures. She was horrified at realizing that, during analysis, her psychoanalyst had become the center of her life: My thoughts and my feelings revolved around his person, his questions, his statements, his attitudes. I believed that he had some special knowledge, and that he was leading me infallibly, so that, if the analysis did not go well, it would be entirely my fault. (Cohn and Farau 4 2008, 214)

The ‘positive’ therapeutic transfer neurosis Ruth C. Cohn suffered from during her years of psychoanalysis was fostered by the dogmatical psychoanalytic setting (cf. Cohn 1966). The resolution of her therapeutic transfer dependency occurred because of events that lay outside the psychoanalytic setting. Her analyst had advised Ruth C. Cohn not to make any existentially important decisions during analysis. But, in 1938, she had to marry her boyfriend Hans Helmut Cohn because it was the only way to save his parents from the gas chambers. In 1940, her daughter Heidi was born. She met many other challenges as a Jewish emigrant during this time, for example, losing her German citizenship in 1936. Furthermore, she started using her German middle “Charlotte” only with an abbreviation (C.). Despite all of these experiences and her critique of her own analysis, she never lost her vision that psychoanalysis could trigger a new, more humane approach. She was convinced that the deep self-knowledge that psychotherapy provides enables better self-management and new ways of educating others (cf. Cohn and Farau 42008, 216). At the end, her analyst was called up for military service as a doctor, so that her analysis was terminated by the political situation, “an analytic miracle took place” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 216): Personal letters began arriving from my analyst who had formerly been so very orthodox and abstemious. He had never spoken about himself and almost never expressed any of his feelings. Now he wrote about his experiences as a doctor and as a border guard, about his feelings, about his activity, and about the problems of the time. A second miracle happened when my first child was born. My former analyst happened to be on leave just then, and he brought me a huge bouquet of flowers. He was very touched and told me why the birth of a child was so very important to him – now, at this time, and in this situation. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 216)

It is crucial to understanding from where TCI comes to understand the underlying experiences of Ruth C. Cohn during her first emigration to Switzerland. Her experience was ambivalent: On the one hand, she experienced an intense psychoanalysis in the style of S. Freud on the conviction that, if more people would do so, it would create a more humane awareness within all the violence. On the other hand, she expressed critique of the ‘couch setting’ in light of the political abstinence of

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psychoanalysis. Confronted with new therapeutic developments, political issues, and pedagogical insights, Ruth C. Cohn discovered TCI during her second emigration – this time to the United States.

3.3  Emigration to the United States and the Discovery of TCI In 1941, Ruth C. Cohn left Switzerland with her husband and her daughter Heidi. Their decision to leave Switzerland was triggered by the (false) report in the media that the Germans had passed the border and entered Switzerland. The odyssey experienced by the many immigrants today was part of Ruth C. Cohn’s second emigration experience: We were put in a sealed train car and traveled through the unoccupied part of France. After a veritable odyssey […] we reached Lisbon and got on one of the last ships to cross the ocean after the outbreak of World War II. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 217)

Upon arriving in the United States, Ruth C. Cohn had to overcome many obstacles. “The emigration 1941 to America was flight and hope. I hardly can find images of the first years […],” she told her friend Helga Herrmann later on (Herrmann 1992, 28). Reading her notes from her first years in the United States touches me deeply: –– Without a medical degree, this highly qualified psychoanalyst failed to get a work permit for the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. –– The relationship to her husband became more and more difficult. Hans Helmut became staff doctor at a public psychiatric hospital in New York State, and Ruth was allowed to test patients and doing therapy with children there. After 1 year’s time, she took a leave from the hospital. In the end, she got divorced from her husband after giving birth to her second child, Peter, in 1944. –– The two grandmothers took care of the small children while she was establishing – in the evening up to midnight – a psychoanalytic practice in New York. –– Personal illness and her role as a working single mother produced deep conflicts in her. What enabled Ruth C. Cohn to survive? –– Her work as an assistant teacher in the Bank Street School, where she experienced a progressive teacher training: “Living learning: I had yet to discover this term and had not heard it used by others. Looking back, I now know that Bankstreet was the source of my love for living learning: following in the tracks laid by the child’s interest” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 327). –– She met the Viennese psychoanalyst Theodor Reik (1948) and became head of the training committee of his training institute, called the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis (NPAP). –– She became acquainted with Harry Stack Sullivan’s thoughts on an open form of psychotherapy based on the interpersonal relationship, which she experienced with the psychoanalyst Ruth Forster.

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–– She learned to pay attention to bodily signals and the creative therapeutic group work like that found in meeting with J. L. Moreno and his psychodrama approach. –– Her contact with humanistic psychology through G. Bach, H. and V. Guze (Cohn 1971b, 6–7; 23–25), F.S. Perls, E. Polster, C. Rogers, V. Satir, J. Warkentin, and C. Whitaker. The two nearest to her in this humanistic movement were C. Rogers with his client-centered psychotherapy and F.S. Perls (81996) with his Gestalt therapy. Overcoming the therapeutic distance through ‘normal’ communication proved to be a revolutionary experience that would never leave Ruth C. Cohn. It was crucial to the development of her approach. The development of TCI by Ruth C. Cohn is a classic example of how pedagogical and didactic approaches are not discovered at a theoretical, discursive level. Nevertheless, in order to understand something about TCI, it seems helpful to travel some steps further in the shoes of its founder and take a more in-depth look at what the approach means (Cohn 1969, 31).

3.4  A Vital Dream: The Birth of TCI The context in which TCI was ‘born’ was a workshop on countertransference3 led by Ruth C. Cohn in 1955. During the lengthy process concerned with how to teach TCI, a dream played a significant role. In this dream, she saw an equilateral pyramid. Upon waking it was evident to her that she had literally ‘dreamed up’ the basis of her work. In her interpretation, the four points of the pyramid represent the four aspects important to group work. These points – later on modified in favor of the image of a triangle within a circle – are all interconnected and equally important. They are the following: –– The person interacting with others and with the theme at hand (= I). –– The group members who become a group by attending to the theme at hand and through their interaction (= We). –– The theme at hand, the subject matter, and the task as being apparent before the group (= It).

3  “The psychoanalytic term for the expression of wishes and feelings which originally were c­ onnected with important persons in the individual’s past (primarily the parents) and which are re-lived in the relationships to individuals in the present (i.e., group leaders, therapists). In ­psychoanalysis, transference is considered an important aid in overcoming repressed conflicts. However, within the TCI context the emphasis lies in examining and correcting these distortions in perception (transference) on the basis of its realistic content. Resolving these difficulties, which lie in the life history of the individual, is reserved for psychotherapeutic methods” (cf. Kueble and Schuetz 2016, 293).

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–– The environment, which influences the group and is influenced by the group, i.e., the umwelt in the narrowest and broadest sense of the word (= Globe) (Cohn and Farau 42008, 343). For Ruth C. Cohn, groups are always embedded in a certain environment. This environment can be seen either as this particular space and moment or as something as big as the universe. In an interview, she explains: In any case, we find ourselves caught up in an environment. So, symbolically, we can imagine this idea as a triangle, with all angles and sides equal, and enclosed in a sphere representing the infinity around us. … And this is the idea: any group is basically a triangle, consisting of I, YOU, and IT.  But the specific method that we call Theme-Centered Interaction is an interaction, an interplay between people around the theme. This method has the characteristic that these three points are seen as being equally important. You see, if you have a lecture, only two elements are important: the lecturer and the subject matter. And the listeners sit in a row, and they don’t see each other; they’re not supposed to; it is the same case in a classroom. Perhaps in a classroom, the students know one another; however, the system forces them not to work together, but against one another, to see who are the best among them, for only the best, second best, third best, and so on, has a chance in life. To counter that tendency – now I come back to therapy – let me say, we should nowadays do population therapy, saying, we are all equally important; we are human beings. And wherever we find ourselves in groups, in families, in villages, in communities, in schools, in parishes, everywhere we are all important human beings with different functions and different tasks. (Scharer and Hilberath 2008, 110f.)

At first, Ruth C.  Cohn spoke about her approach as the ‘theme-centered interactional method’ (TIM) (Cohn 1971a). “In the original German translations of her English writings, Ruth Cohn used the term ‘thematische interaktionelle Methode, TIM’ (literally thematic interactional method)” (Schneider-Landolf 2017, 147). Later on, she changed the term to ‘Theme-Centered Interaction’ because she was afraid (and disturbed) that the methodological aspect would overrule the humanistic attitude aspect, which is mainly expressed in the axioms and postulates of TCI (see Sect. 3 of this text). In 1966, together with Norman Liberman, Ruth C. Cohn founded the Workshop Institute for Living Learning (WILL) in New York City (cf. Gordon and Liberman 1972, 2001). There, group therapists and supervisors came together to implement TCI in non-therapeutic groups and institutions. WILL Canada was later established with the same intention. The step of enabling TCI in teaching facilities and institutions was thus achieved. The first workshops at WILL were orientated toward social issues: “Segregation, Collision, Coexistence, and Integration”; these were one of the first themes issued at WILL. It expressed the goal of integrating citizens of all colors (‘Blacks’ and ‘Whites’) in social institutions. Using TCI in the field of learning resulted in directly satisfying sociopolitical consequences.

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3.5  The Couch Is Too Small: Therapy and Education for All For Ruth C.  Cohn, it was a long journey from doing therapy with individuals to working in and with groups. In the process, she came to develop an approach that not only serves to heal particular personality and group conflicts, but above all works preventively to help people to help themselves. Increasingly, Ruth C. Cohn foresaw the application of her approach to large sections of population or even to society as a whole. Having lived as a refugee herself, this middle-class woman had experienced social needs first hand: “This is how I moved from individuals to society; the circumstances forced me to do so” (Cohn 1989, 86). She later explained: The couch was too small. The new world of discovering the psychodynamic laws could as a matter of principle lead to a conscience-expanding, humanizing pedagogy, but how? For over 30 years I have worked in the historical process of personal and mental interaction on a systematic attempt to integrate pedagogical-therapeutic elements in teaching as well as other groups of communication. (Cohn 162009, 7)

In 1965–1966 Ruth C. Cohn completed an additional course in Gestalt therapy with Fritz Perls, from whom she appropriated much for her own concept. But she had problems with a kind of autonomy that is not balanced with a person’s interdependence and social responsibility, as expressed in Perl’s “Gestalt Prayer”: I do what I do and you do what you do. I am not in the world in order to live up to your expectations. You are not in this world in order to live up to mine. You are you and I am I. If we find each other by chance – wonderful! If not, there’s nothing one can do about it. (Perls 81996, 13)

Perl’s way of thinking regarding ‘I am I, and you are you …’ and his notion of self-support were taken up by Ruth C.  Cohn and further developed in another direction: I want to do what I’m doing. I am I. You want to do what you’re doing. You are you. The world is our task. It does not meet our expectations. However, if we commit ourselves to it, it will become beautiful. If we don’t, it won’t. (Cohn 1974, 164)

In these thoughts, one can recognize Ruth C. Cohn’s awareness of society and politics, also apparent in a speech she gave at the Theodor Reik Clinice in 1957, titled Courage – The Goal of Psychotherapy (cf. Cohn 1957). I found the manuscript in the archives. It seems to me still very current and fitting for a didactic concept for the path to a post-migration society. Courageous persons are aware of dangers and therefore know fears. They are, however, relatively free of anxiety. Anxiety is not fear of immediate danger but a ‘hangover fear’ of previous – real or imaginary  – threats. “Anxiety is like a bag of fears dragged along from earlier years”, Cohn (1957, 7) writes. For Ruth C. Cohn, “…courage is one of our most precious abilities in daily living.” “So, we may certainly want to be sure to help

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develop courage”, so Cohn (1957, 10). With respect to education, Cohn remarks in her speech: Courageous people create schools where children do not sit still for many years to learn little more than three ‘R’s’ and to conform to thought patterns of prejudice which have kept society from progress; schools will be places where children are inspired to use their imagination, thoughtfulness, and creativity – so they will be eager to improve our world rather than to stagnate. (Cohn 1957, 15)

The courage to change the educational system is not only related to schools. Working with TCI in higher education always has a social and political component to it as well. It does not only matter what goes on in the classroom; the whole learning system of universities and colleges in their capacity as the influential Globe comes into mind. Questions, concerning the lower importance of learning in the science-­ oriented world of universities (Knauf 2005, 183), hierarchies, architecture, learning settings, etc., come up.

3.6  “ To Give Too Little Is Theft; to Give Too Much Is Murder”4 One cannot understand Ruth C. Cohn’s approach to education without looking at her close relationship with children. This relationship was conditioned by having to raise her two children herself. After she was divorced from her husband, she had to take care of the two children, Heidi and Peter, as a single mother: Nobody taught me more about human relationships or education than my own children. From the time they were born (in Heidi’s case until she got married, in Peter’s case until he went to college) they were at one and the same time the object of a loving relationship and my most important task in life. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 331)

Despite this closeness, Ruth C. Cohn did not become nostalgic about her children and their education. Quite the opposite, she wrote openly about the doubts that she had in her everyday decisions regarding their education. For years, the idea that she had to be a perfect mother who could make no mistakes stood in the way. For a long time, her own educational approach was directed toward the future of her children rather than toward their present: Only slowly did I come to learn from and with my children to treasure the present moment, to trust that the guidelines of my action would always be revealed in becoming, that is, in the process of living. […] Parents and children are both teachers and learners. If solutions for conflicts are sought in openness, humility, and love, errors on both sides will not be disastrous. The tools for the dialogue are not violence, but rather the inner and outer reality. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 332)

 Quoted from Cohn and Farau (2008), ibd.

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The above mentioned Bank Street School, designed around the program of ‘progressive education’, was for Ruth C. Cohn “the source of my love for living learning” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 327). With the utmost attention and engagement, she took part in the learning processes and immediate experiences of the children: […] to track the steps of a child’s interest from the crib to the floor, from the floor to the doorway, from the doorway into the next room, to mother’s feet and then up to her knees, then up to the table and over to the dangerous stove, from the kitchen to the doorway opening onto the street – with all its noisy cars, buses, building sites – out to the playground, to the trains, the subways, to the airport. All of these stations along the way leading from one here-and-now to the next, to another…. For it is in the here-and-now of experience that lies the starting point of all learning. Learning is not something imposed from above, but rather it is something to be grasped in a living way with body, soul, intellect, and spirit. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 327)

The importance of what we can learn from the story becomes apparent. Nevertheless, Ruth C. Cohn judged certain aspects in the Bank Street School’s educational system as problematic, for example, the exclusively technical orientation of the school, the repression of personal feelings on the part of the teachers and the children’s power over the teaching staff. She called for a means of balance between ‘giving too much’ and ‘giving too little’: “To give too little is theft; to give too much is murder,” Cohn concluded (1981, 23–27). Rather, there is a need for “accepting one’s own authority as well as own fallibility” (Cohn 1985, 676–683).

3.7  Back to Europe It was not easy for a Jewish immigrant to go back to Europe. When Ruth C. Cohn was invited to the Fourth International Congress on Group Psychotherapy, she met with Austrian and German colleagues working in the same field. The reaction of a participant at the Congress in Vienna may have built the first bridge enabling her to go back after all that had happened to the Jews. She reports: At the end of the congress, an elderly gentleman came up to me and excitedly said: “I now realize why they let us contemplate things in silence and allowed us to speak as ‘I’: That was their way of avoiding mass suggestion and mass hysteria.” I had never thought about silence in this way. […] That this was one of the first comments a participant from Germany offered on TCI made me feel happy for a long time. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 379)

Also she “felt uneasy at first; being in this German-Austrian environment, surrounded by the unaccustomed German language. But that soon passed in light of the heartfelt welcome I received from my colleagues,” so Ruth C.  Cohn (Cohn and Farau 42008, 376). During these first contacts in Europe, like the psychotherapy meetings in Lindau (Cohn and Farau 42008, 65–79), she planned a new institute in the States. After having a very difficult time as a refugee, she had now become well known in

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psychotherapeutic as well as in educational circles of North America. In 1971, she was honored with the ‘Psychologist of the Year Award’ by the New York Society for Clinical Psychology. In 1973, she held a guest professorship at Clark University in Massachusetts, at the same institution from which S. Freud received his ‘Doctor of Laws honoris causa’ in 1909 (cf. Freud Museum in Vienna). In the end, Ruth C. Cohn had to decide whether to stay in America and to visit Europe from time to time as she had done since 1968 or to move to Europe again. In 1972, before moving back to Europe, some German and Swiss colleagues founded WILL Europe. At the same time, the first curriculum was being devised for TCI group leaders. In 1973, Cohn closed down her American practice and moved to Switzerland, where she settled in the vicinity of the Ecole d’Humanité, an alternative school in Hasliberg, in the Bern Highlands (cf. Brühlmann-Jecklin 2010). In what she called the “big view from a small apartment” – her description of her tiny 40 m2 apartment in a farmhouse – many a disciple, friend, and acquaintance came and went. Her hospitality, her mastery of dialogue, and her openness, but also her capacity for social and political commitment, were something I too had the privilege of experiencing first hand while on a visit with a couple of theology students from Linz. In a matter of minutes, she engaged the students in an intensive discourse on their relationship to church and society. With her long flowing hair, the nearly 70-year-old Ruth, sitting on her ‘bouncing ball’, looked like the youngest as well as the most mature member of the group. According to the documents of the Ruth Cohn Archive in Berlin, Ruth C. Cohn received the greatest attention during the 1970s and 1990s, due to the wide range of workshops and lectures she held and the many awards she received. When she was to be honored with the title of honorary doctor (Dr. Phil. h.c.) by the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Hamburg, the students had been involved in a strike against the university systems for months. Ruth C.  Cohn heard about this. Spontaneously she arrived a few days before the designated celebration and conducted a group work with students and held lectures. Newspapers spoke of “the great communicator who prevents violence and brings enemies together.” The nearly 3500 letters in the archive bear witness to the many important communication partners of Ruth C. Cohn in the areas of pedagogy, philosophy, religion/theology, therapy, politics, etc. Much research on TCI was going on at this time. There is not enough space in this chapter to report on all the famous and influential workshops she facilitated to the end of her life. A comprehensive bibliography on TCI is available at the homepage of the RCI-international under the research button. In the last years (cf. Cohn 1987, 210–221) of her life, Ruth C.  Cohn lived in Düsseldorf in the house of Helga Herrmann (cf. Herrmann 2010), who took care of her. She died there in 2010 at the high age of 98 and found her final resting place in the ‘Waldfriedhof’ (translates as ‘forest cemetery’).

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4  The Basics of TCI Working on the basics of TCI means finding oneself confronted with a huge amount of literature compiled in about 70 years (since the 1950s) of TCI, available in different languages. What I therefore offer to the reader at the beginning of this section is an overview of the most common sources from and beside texts of R. C. Cohn.

4.1  P  rimary and Secondary Literature on TCI: An Overview of Sources The concept of TCI was described in detail by Ruth C. Cohn herself in various publications (cf. Cohn 1971a, b, 1972a, b, 1979a, b; cf. Matzdorf and Cohn 21992; Cohn and Farau 42008, 351–374). Further, numerous other authors wrote about the approach (cf. Birmelin et  al. 1985; cf. Löhmer and Standhardt 1992, 21992; cf. Raguse 1993; cf. Matzdorf 52007; Cohn and Terfurth 52007, 332–387ff; cf. Langmaack 52011). A modern presentation may be found in the Handbook of TCI (German: Schneider-Landolf et al. 32014), which is now also available in an English translation by J. Smith (cf. Schneider-Landolf et al. 2017). Reiser and Lotz (cf. 1995) describe TCI with all its benefits for educational contexts. More recently, Reiser (cf. 2006) describes TCI as a professional educational concept, while W. Lotz (cf. 2003) points out the value of TCI in social educational settings. In interviews with contemporary witnesses (cf. Bertels et al. 2015), one can find memories and interpretations concerning the beginnings of TCI. Conversations with Ruth C. Cohn from 1988 on have also been published (cf. Brühlmann-Jecklin 2010). Elementary texts on TCI were reprinted in the TCI journal, which has been published continually twice a year since 1987 (von Kanitz et al. 2015). An anthology on TCI in English was published in India (cf. Kuebel and Abraham 2016). Also, a journal on TCI was published in India from 2006 to 2012. The TCI bibliography my wife and I are working on comprises to date approximately 2,300 entries.5 The Ruth Cohn Archive at the Humboldt University in Berlin (Germany), which will be opened to researchers about 10 years after Ruth C. Cohn’s death (i.e., in 2020), will offer new opportunities for doing research on TCI and on Ruth C.  Cohn herself. Also, the history of Ruth C.  Cohn in the previous section contains the basics of TCI, which should become clearer in this section. According to H. Reiser, TCI contains an independent educational theory that is not yet fully explained in its current form of representation (cf. Reiser 2014, 69).6 5  See http://www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/tl_files/content/zentraleinhalte/dokumente/Forschung/ Literaturliste_RCI-international 6  With “current form of representation” Reiser means the description of TCI specifics (see Sects. 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4). Various TCI experts work in the field of TCI and didactics, and some of them may be found as coauthors in the chapter written by Reiser and associates in this book.

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It is not possible to summarize all the literature pertaining to the overall content and theory of TCI. One of the characteristics of TCI seems to be that ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ are very closely related and that a large variety of persons with very different qualifications practice and reflect it. Therefore, we should acknowledge the manifold literature on TCI while also keeping in mind the ‘viewpoint’ an article or book has. In Sect. 2 I try to make my own involvements apparent which form the basis for my descriptions of (theoretical) basics of TCI.

4.2  B  eing Your Own Chairperson: Self-Responsibility and (Conditional) Freedom in the Dialectic of Autonomy and Interdependency Contemporary didactics reflect the common shift from teaching to learning (Berendt 2005, 35–41; Deneke 2005, 93–96; Welbers 2005, 357–365). Changing the culture of teaching and learning is a big goal (cf. Schneider et  al. 2009). Learning is an educational and an existential experience, and we have to reflect on it from the vantage point of the learners (Schratz et al. 2012, 21–30). This ‘new’ trend in higher education contains TCI-adequate thinking from the very beginning. How university scholars can support their students in their growing and learning is a crucial question of modern didactics. However, within the didactic discourse on how to ‘make’ a successful learning process, the underlying question, that is, what the basic intentions for the learning processes actually are, remains nebulous. The inclusive concept of TCI bridges the gap between cognition and emotion by balancing the different aspects of learning: The individual and the interactional aspect, the content, and the contextual aspect. This is done by teaching living-­ learning as an attitude and a method. The attitude tends to be contained in the TCI axioms and postulates, the method more in the so-called TCI factors  – dynamic balance, the formulation of theme as the focus of a learning process, etc. (see Sect. 5 of this article). It is important that attitude and method are not seen as isolated or in a specific order. Rather, all aspects are interconnected, and what is most important is what happens between all these elements. If we reflect on the terms ‘axioms’ and ‘postulates’, which are sometimes not distinguished from one another, we see that these terms are used mainly in logic and mathematics. Their application extends back to antiquity and refers to principles that are accepted without proof, which are ‘self-evident’. If one wishes to distinguish axioms and postulates, one may refer to the Greek mathematician Geminos (second century BC), who says “… that axioms concern perceptibility, whereas the postulates deal with implementation” (Kanitz 2017, 73). In this sense, the (three) TCI axioms reveal the image of mankind, the idea of a good life of all human beings, all creatures, and ultimately of the whole cosmos. The two postulates ­resemble motives and goals in the implementation of TCI in the sense of their axi-

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oms. The axioms and postulates express the ‘holistic’ image of humanity in TCI.  Inherent is the assumption of a psychosomatic integrity of personality. According to U. Faßhauer, “TCI does not foresee a separation between rationality (cognition) and feelings (emotions). The corporeality of all human activities lies at the core of TCI theory” (Faßhauer 2017, 75f). TCI resembles the philosophy of the Austrian-born Jewish philosopher M. Buber, who is best known for his philosophy of dialogue, centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship (cf. Buber 1983). Reiser is of the opinion “that M. Buber’s philosophy of dialogue and encounter is very close to the attitude of Theme-Centered Interaction, yes, even deepens it, while the method of Theme-Centered Interaction can promote Buber’s desired realization” (Reiser 21993, 39). In the reception of TCI theory in communicative theology, my own field of expertise, we also found connections to the philosophy of E. Lévinas and P. Ricoeur (Hill 2012, 134–138). Ruth C. Cohn never gets tired of emphasizing the inseparable “cohesion of human and intellectual value and its specific methodological approach” and of resisting any attempt to reduce the TCI to a technology for managing group processes (Cohn 1979a, 253). This also holds for the theory and practice of didactics in higher education. Despite one’s desire to find some way to better handle group processes, TCI cannot be the sole method.

4.3  D  ialectic Opposites and the Synthesis of Autonomy and Interdependence Leading students to autonomy is the main goal of (post)modern didactics. Knauf sees as an important trend in higher education that “learning and education are being placed more and more in the responsibility of the individuals” (Knauf 2005, 184). Yet TCI shows us much more coherence than a simple ‘autonomy trip’. The first axiom “outlines a theory of development according to which the dialectical opposites of autonomy and interdependence are consciously transformed into a synthesis. […] It stands paradigmatically for a structure of thought that examines opposites and paradoxes and, if possible, transfers them through conscious awareness and decision into a productive development” (Reiser 2014, 71). The first axiom is: Human beings are psychobiological entities and a part of the universe. They are equally autonomous and interdependent. The autonomy of individuals is all the much larger, the greater they are aware of their interdependence with all and everything. (Farau and Cohn 42008, 356).

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By acknowledging this main truth, we humans become relational, communicative subjects faced with the challenge of solving the riddle of autonomy and interdependence such that a constructive development becomes possible both in oneself and in other people. Independence and autonomy are dialectically interwoven: “I am all the more autonomous, the more I consciously enter into the world” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 357). Growing self-awareness leads to growing world-awareness – and vice versa. On the basis of this insight, there arises a specific cultural and social relationship in human beings. The appropriation of the world lies from early childhood on in the tension between self-reliance and self-responsibility and the interdependency of people; individual development occurs in which the dialectic of autonomy and interdependence becomes more and more conscious in one’s own life. The tension between the poles of self-determination and self-reliance and interdependence/ influence is included in TCI as a basic anthropological constant. “Personal and individual development always takes place in connection with other human beings when ‘themes’ (tasks) are being processed” (Faßhauer 2017, 75). A person becomes fully human by addressing the world with its many challenges, assignments, and knowledge. With respect to the dialectical link between autonomy and interdependence, the first axiom  – in its original form  – touches on the question of the relationship between past, present, and future. In approaches from humanistic psychology, such as Gestalt therapy and education, attention is directed almost exclusively toward the here-and-now: The only thing that counts is what I am experiencing at this very moment with ‘hand, heart, and mind.’ Everything else is irrelevant. Contrary to this attitude, for Ruth C. Cohn, events in the past, present, and future belong inseparably together: “My here-and-now is merely one of my human dimensions. The here-and-­ now world without an awareness of the future laying within is shallow” (Cohn 1974, 167). Upholding the dialectic opposites and the synthesis of autonomy and interdependence in the context of higher education as a “productive paradox” is not easy, especially with today’s trend toward “speed education,” aiming foremost at earning certificates (Knauf 2005, 184) and quickly adopting skills. The idea of giving space to autonomy and interdependence is closely connected with the first TCI postulate of being one’s own chairperson.

4.4  B  e Your Own Chairperson: The Humanistic Call to Activate Self-Responsibility and Self-Assertiveness to Decide In the dialectic of autonomy and interdependence, human beings move  – from childhood on –along a variety of ambivalences that cannot simply be ruled out or decided on in the one or the other direction. The chairperson postulate, which is

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presented after the first axiom, does not solve these ambivalences, yet it does also not leave us helpless. Becoming one’s own chairperson is a lifelong process that starts in childhood. The more you become aware of your internal and external workings, the more mature and autonomous decisions you can make. It is crucial how didactic theories and practices deal with this aspect. Whether an approach hinders or supports students (and teachers) in realizing their own chairpersonship is a central qualitative factor. The optimistic view TCI takes empathizes the role of chairpersonship in every human being as a personal and social ability that can be broadened through courses of higher education. The original formulation of the chairperson postulate is as follows:

Be your own chairman, the chairman of yourself. That means: (1) Be aware of your inner reality and of your environment. (2) Consider every situation to be a proposition for your decisions. Take and give as befits being responsible for yourself and for others (Cohn 16 2009, 120f).

For reasons of gender consciousness, the postulate was eventually renamed as the ‘chairperson postulate’ and thus reads: “Be your own chairperson …” For Röhling, the chairperson postulate “is a humanistic call to be autonomous, self-­ responsible, self-assertive, and not controlled by ideals or authorities” (Röhling 2017, 89). This includes an intrapersonal and an interpersonal dimension. The first step to developing the chairperson’s ability is a kind of contemplative introspection to activate one’s inner voices in order to differentiate what should be done (moral/ ethical impulses), what would I like to do (own desires and convictions), and what must be done in a specific situation (reality). Confusions arise when these aspects are mixed together – when I do not see clearly what I want (volition). Maintaining proper contact with one’s ‘organismic value system’ (see the ‘ethical’ axiom), a part of all humans, leads to strong personal decisions that cannot ‘be manipulated’ or succumb to the pull of the masses. Therein lies the origin of the political-social effectivity of the ‘chairperson postulate’ (ibid., 90). One of the main goals in higher education is to support young academics to become independent thinkers. The chairperson postulate is strongly connected with the ‘I’ of the autonomous and interdependent subject with its conditional freedom to make self-responsible decisions. The more one’s inner voices are activated in decision-making, the more mature a decision can be:

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Listen to your inner voices, to your various needs, wishes, motivations, ideas; use all your senses, listen, see, smell, observe. Use your spirit, your knowledge, your power of judgment, your responsibility, your capacity to think. Weigh your decisions carefully. No one can take your decisions away from you. You are the most important person in your world, just as I am in mine. We must be able to express ourselves clearly when we talk to each other and listen to each other carefully as this is the only bridge between one island and another. (Cohn 162009, 164)

A further development concerning the clarification of internal conflicts can be found, among others, in the texts of Schulz von Thun (cf. 262017), who uses the concept of the ‘inner team’ by V.  Satir with explicit reference to Ruth C.  Cohn (Röhling 2017, 92). On the path from the intrapersonal to the interpersonal dimension of the chairperson postulate, the four-factor model of TCI can be helpful for clearing up the demands of the I, the We, the tasks, and the Globe: “Practice perceiving both yourself and others; give yourself and others the same attention; respect all facts such that you extend your freedom of decisions; take yourself, your environment, and the task at hand seriously” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 359f.). According to Matzdorf and Cohn (cf. 21992), the central therapeutic and political intervention of TCI is expressed in the chairperson postulate. It enables both human individuality and solidarity. By recognizing the diversity of people, the postulate encourages interaction by true encounter. This excludes both individualism and collectivism in the sense of ‘isms’ as extremes to be avoided. The chairperson postulate regulates the oscillation between arrogance and resignation. It encourages us to not give in into the temptation of turning to narcissistic self-reflection, which leads to the vanity that I am my own God. At the same time, chairpersonship protects us against the paralyzing powerlessness many people feel in the face of the inscrutable economic and medial contexts: “I am not all-powerful, I am not powerless. I am partially powerful” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 359). In any case, the chairperson principle would be misunderstood if interpreted as an invitation to an unrelated self-realization. When people perceive themselves as a chairperson, becoming aware being the chairperson of themselves, it is prudent to ask whether there can be moments of lust, of art, of spiritual and of religious experience, in which the chairperson is able to deliberately let go: If we as human beings are always on call – always responsible – then at some point in time that burden will become overbearing. On the other hand, if we surrender responsibility, then we fail to experience many important aspects of human life. Since we cannot completely solve this dilemma, we adopt a paradoxical formulation: Even when you are not deciding something, you bear the responsibility for your non-decisions. (Röhling 2017, 93)

I consider chairpersonship as the humanistic call to self-responsibility and self-­ assertiveness to be a very important learning goal of all higher education, in addition to the interchangeable contents of a specific field of study.

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4.5  Respect Is Due All Living Things According to Reiser (2014, 71), the second so-called ‘ethical axiom’ and the third so-called ‘political axiom’ flank the dialectic between autonomy and interdependence on chairpersonship. From this point of view, it becomes clear that self-responsibility and self-assertiveness do not mean self-realization at all costs. Instead, TCI philosophy aims for interdependence toward others being granted with responsibility and in freedom, i.e., interdependence is embedded in values. The second, the ‘ethical’ axiom states:

Respect is due all living things and their development. Respect for development is what stands behind value-based decisions. What is humane is valuable, what is inhumane is threatening. (Cohn 162009, 120)

The relatively imprecise formulation of the second axiom immediately raises the question of what is human. Ruth C. Cohn notes concrete examples: Being a human being means, for example, not torturing any living being and killing no more of them than is necessary to sustain further life (in particular that of humans). The notion of ‘killing’ expressly includes the killing of mental and intellectual capabilities. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 357)

This unequivocal ethical proclamation of the value of life includes respect for nature. What is human(e) may be recognizable in terms of a respectful, interactive, loving attitude; what is inhuman(e) may be revealed in a marginalizing, disrespectful, ‘sinful’ attitude (Matzdorf and Cohn 21992, 62). The question arises as to how Ruth C.  Cohn distinguishes between ‘good and evil’ with respect to the ethical axiom. She writes: I don’t believe that an absolute good or evil is revealed to any chosen people. But I do believe that an ‘indispensable’ good and evil leads us, the direction of which is not static and inflexibly mandatory, but is rather directed toward inner and outer circumstances. From an ethical point of view, we can understand an act and its actors only within their overall context. Ethical values are unalterable, and yet they are dependent on the process. Whoever understands oneself as a perspective-bound person, that is, as a person with a limited capacity for perception, knows that good and evil look differently from different perspectives. I can only describe my truth, never yours. Yet I believe that there would be no differing aspects of the ethos if they were not related to the reality of an unalterable center; even though the interpretations thereof can be misleading. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 467)

Ruth C. Cohn supports the hypothesis of an ‘innate, organic’ sense of values, the development of which is a question of survival and which corresponds to the autonomous and yet interdependent character of human beings. Only when this innate sense of values is preserved, elaborated, and developed can the increasing

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rationalization and fragmentation of the world be halted and (atomic) destruction be avoided. She writes: I believe it possible that the development of values and meaning takes place not only at the slow pace proper to evolution but also in transformational quantum leaps. Both Judeo-­ Christian and humanistic ethics teach values of goodness and humanity. When smirking pessimists of every age express their regret that human nature has always been inclined toward the survival of the fittest and that nothing will change this, then I protest by saying: the fact that something has been like this in past history does not mean that it must always remain like that … Animals may well be ancestors of our ethical capacity; they may have a ‘sense’ of ethics … Yet between them and us there is a qualitative difference that offers us freedom and responsibility, music and ethos, leaving us with the task of either building community or destroying ourselves. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 469f)

Because of the imprecise and in part misleading formulation of the second axiom, which is suspected of increased optimism, changes to the axiom are being discussed within the TCI community. Thus, Zitterbarth (2001, 104) proposed modifying the second axiom. Most of the certified TCI trainers at their conference in 2001 agreed on the following wording: “Respect is due to all living things in their growth and decay”. This respect qualifies all evaluative decisions (Vogel 2017b, 82). Röhling (2000, 58) voices his suspicion that violence and aggression could be supplanted in connection with the ethical orientation of the TCI approach. He suspects a false ideal of freedom of aggression in humanistic pedagogical concepts. However, the ethical axiom and the postulates stress the conscious recognition of violence and aggression in us, the goal not being to displace them, but to become aware of them and by choice take another course of action. In the context of the ethical axiom, Vogel (2017b, 83) also refers to recent brain research presented by Bauer in particular (2009, 2011) whose findings indicate that, from the outset, people did not tend toward rivalry and competition, but toward cooperation, sympathy, and community. However, Vogel (2017a, 59) also stresses that, in concrete decisions, the conscience (Wertesinn) does not react automatically: “[…] we are responsible not only to our conscience, but also for our conscience, which may have to be (re) adjusted and (re)built over time.” Thus, the Wertesinn of Ruth C. Cohn also requires constant development. She stresses “that the Wertesinn, like all other abilities of the person, needs phased exercise and promotion to be able to develop and unfold” (Matzdorf and Cohn 21992, 62). The second axiom is fraught with possible misunderstandings if it is (mis)used to support a blind course of growth, like we can find it in the neoliberal economy, which also influences higher education. Masschelein and Simons (2012, 13–40) criticize the European educational system with its tendency to capitalize all social relationships for the goal of producing an ideal figure of the independent, enterprising student. This is not only a critique of the European educational system, but applies generally to tendencies emerging mainly from the northern hemisphere. The authors are afraid that Kant’s common imperative will be invoked as demanding service to one’s own mind without instructions for caring for one another. This attitude leads to education promoting global immunity instead of global responsibility. They therefore rephrase Kant’s imperative as follows:

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M. Scharer Enterprising behavior represents the way out of self-imposed unproductiveness. Unproductiveness is the incapacity to live up to one’s own resources without being guided by others. This unproductiveness is self-imposed if its cause lies not in a lack of resources, but in a lack of determination and courage to enable one’s resources without the guidance of others! ‘Have the courage to partake of your own resources’. (Masschelein and Simons ibid., 84f)

The importance of the ethical axiom for higher education lies not in repeating Ruth C. Cohn’s wording, but rather in its basic intention to respect the ethical aspects of human life and welfare. Without respect for ethical aspects, the chairperson postulate can revert to inhumanity. To prevent this from happening in all fields, but especially in education, was one of Ruth C. Cohn’s most important goals.

4.6  T  he Pragmatic-Political Axiom: Free Will Within Limitations In addition to the ethical axiom, yet another axiom pertains to the coevolution of human beings between autonomy and interdependence on self-responsibility and self-assertiveness. It is the third, the so-called pragmatic-political axiom. This axiom is as follows:

Free will occurs within certain internal and external limitations, though these limitations may be extended. We judge freedom as given when we are healthy, intelligent, materially secure, and mentally mature; better than being sick, hampered, or poor and suffering from violence or a lack of maturity. Being aware of our universal interdependence is the basis of all humane responsibility. (Cohn 162009, 120)

According to this axiom, we have the freedom to decide and to design on our life independently. At the same time, the pragmatic-political axiom is realistic about the dream of unconditional freedom. The paradox of having not unconditional freedom but freedom conditioned by certain restrictions shapes the communicative reality of human existence. Both internal and external boundaries are at work in any situation. And yet such limits can be expanded. In this way, the historicity of human existence and human action once again becomes clearer. Humans are, therefore, responsible, precisely because they know about the universal conditions of freedom. The TCI expert v. Kanitz sees the third axiom as a political and pragmatic answer to the Holocaust in the works of Ruth C. Cohn: “Both the call ‘Never again’ and the prevention of such human-made catastrophes of all types are best effected by ensuring the power of value-driven consciousness, the ability of each and every individual to act and to assume responsibility” (v. Kanitz 2017, 84f.). Ruth C.  Cohn’s friend,

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A. Farau, was convinced that a certain brand of existentialism supports the ongoing ‘Hitlerization’. Ruth C. Cohn saw the insights of existential philosophers more positively. “The courageous commitment to an uncertain existence could free up reserves and enable one to live life squarely grounded in one’s environment and together with other human beings” (v. Kanitz 2017, 85). Being grounded in human values and understanding social processes works against the kind of nihilism that leads to loneliness and alienation from others. Being a human being does not mean just being thrown senselessly into the world; it means finding a meaning to life in the realization of the individual self that is part of the community of all human beings […]. Humans are able to discover things, to decide for themselves, to consciously change the way the world is. This means both passion and burden, and leads to the i­mportant question: “How can I/we change things? What are my/our standards for deciding?” And that is what we call values. (Cohn & Farau 42008, 444; transl. in von Kanitz 2017a, b 85f)

The question of whether a direct or indirect commitment to political action is to be derived from the pragmatic-political axiom has been controversially discussed in the TCI scene. Many authors (cf. Hoppe 1993, 1994; Johach 1994; Krämer 2001; Klemmer 52007) see the political component of TCI as underdeveloped or no longer cherished in accordance with Ruth C.  Cohn’s legacy. They demand from TCI a higher level of social and political awareness, a demand that is often associated with criticism of Globe oblivion. The controversy surrounding the social criticism and political demands of TCI also relates to the question of where political action begins. Is the strengthening of an individual’s chairpersonship already political – or does TCI-compliant communication mean taking a stance on social policy discourse and actively working to change inhumane structures? According to Reiser (cf. 2014, 71), there is a ‘basic connection’ between the first axiom of TCI and the so-called chairperson postulate. The second (ethical) and the third (political) axiom and the so-called disturbance postulate ‘flank’ this connection. Consequently, one of the central intentions of TCI in support of chairpersonship is flanked by basic human insights: The axioms possess a narrow connection to the chairperson postulate. In light of the didactic intention of this book, I present the second postulate, the so-called disturbances postulate only at the end of this article because it is concerned about what can happen and what we can do if theme-centered interactional processes do not work as we want them to work.

5  Dealing with Living-Learning Processes The basic principles of TCI may be applied in many different areas. Here, in accordance with the intention of this book, they are described in the context of learning and teaching (cf. Osswald 1983; Ewert 2008).

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Fig. 1  The TCI symbol ‘triangle in a sphere’

5.1  The Triangle in the Sphere The best-known logo of TCI is the well-known triangle in the sphere or – because it is easier to graphically represent – the equilateral triangle surrounded by a circle touching it at all three corners (Fig. 1).7 The equilateral triangle symbolizes the TCI factors I-We-It at the respective corners. The sphere represents the Globe affecting each of the other factors (cf. 3.4 in this text) and is not a static sign of a controlled order between the factors. Rather, it symbolizes the living, dynamic balance of the system. The TCI factors are continually being renewed in an ever-developing interplay, depending on where the respective learning group is currently moving (Belz 1988, 9–33). While the group is strongly involved in the It, attention is still drawn to the other factors, to the individual, the group/class, or the context (Globe) in which learning takes place. It is always important to consider all TCI factors and their dynamic balance in order achieve situational appropriate planning of the learning processes. However, they also help to avoid a one-sided emphasis of the subject, the individual, or the context in the course of learning processes and their evaluation. In practice, realizing the very simple sounding TCI working instrument requires a lot of attention to the participants in the learning process, to the dynamic evolving between them, to the existential meaning of the issue, and to the ongoing attention for the Globe. All four factors are equivalent, so both the material load of the learning process and the slippery slope into ‘soul striptease’, unproductive group dynamic, or contextual issues must be avoided again and again. The art of living-­ learning must be practiced; it needs continual reflection, if possible with a supervisor. The axioms and the postulates point out that individuality and communality share equal value in TCI; they are inseparably joined. Human beings do not live in isolation but are bound in an ongoing tradition of knowledge and wisdom – but also of inhumanity, cruelty, and indifference. They are called to make decisions and take responsibility in communicative interaction. In learning processes, not only

 Reiser (cf. 2014) makes the case for using a tetrahedron because it allows the systemic correlation of all TCI aspects and factors to become more visible. 7

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here-­and-­now experiences are relevant, but also historicity, reaching both back into the past and oriented toward the future in order to preserve the sustainability of humanity and creation as a whole. Human beings are co-responsible for the humanity or inhumanity of whatever topics and intentions are communicated. The respective concrete Globe is thus involved in all interactive processes (at least subconsciously) since no human being communicates in a social void. This context may be found in the German word ‘Bildung’, which links both personal and cultural maturation. Some researchers on higher education see a lack of ‘Bildung’ especially in this field (cf. Miller and Ostertag 2017, 1). The so-called Bologna Reform,8 with its o­ rientation on standards and competences that can be evaluated on a quantitative level, in fact sometimes hinders learning processes. The concentration on learning processes as ‘generative themes’, which connects the educational theory of Freire and Ruth C.  Cohn, can provide new alternatives (cf. Ostertag 2017; Hagleitner 1996). Generative themes lie nearer to people and their real problems. TCI encourages us to search for such uniting themes and to formulate them in adequate and attractive ways. Creating themes should become a task and competence inherent to higher education. The learning task receives its specific commitment not only through subjectification during living-learning processes. At school and university, communication often revolves around the ‘I’ of individual students, the ‘We’ of a group or class, or the “Globe” (context) in which they are currently active. But the ‘I’, the ‘We’, and the ‘Globe’ can also become the subject of a learning process in their own right. Because of the subjective, intersubjective, and contextual condition of all teaching and learning, it is useful to distinguish between the subject matter or the content being taught or learned and the theme to which it is specific or which initiates learning. They are really identical only if, for example, the topic of a book or an essay is understood as the content of a seminar or a school lesson. In TCI, it has become customary to differentiate between the learning objective, the content, or the concern of the learning processes and the respective theme. In the original texts by Ruth C. Cohn, the ‘It’ as a learning subject, content, or concern and the specific theme formulation are not completely distinguished, the It-factor being for all intents and purposes equated with the theme. Later on, though, TCI teachers differentiated more between It and theme. Figuratively speaking, the theme remained no longer settled beside the It, but forms the center of the triangle within the sphere (cf. Langmaack 2001). It equally refers to ‘I’, ‘We’, ‘It’, and ‘Globe’. For Padberg (2010, 73–84) TCI is at once a general didactic approach and more than that. He unites Klafki’s critical-constructive didactic with Reich’s systemicconstructivistic pedagogy and TCI. In the so-called didactic concept of Innsbruck (cf. Scharer 2000, 55–68; 2013b, 58–63), we use TCI not only for planning and evaluating learning processes but also for the kind of didactic analysis Klafki promoted. Here, we work with a triangle in a sphere in which determination of the concern lies at the center. 8  The Bologna Reform contains a series of agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher education qualifications.

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When explaining the content of a learning project, I always have to think of a situation of a Czech colleague. She tried to understand what I meant by the term ‘concern’ because she could not find an adequate word in her language. I provided some examples to explain it. Spontaneously, she said: Oh, now I did understand. ‘Concern’ is what lies close to the heart of both you as a leader and the learning group as a whole. So, when searching for the ‘concern’, which is always connected with specific intentions, it can be helpful to bring it to the center of the triangle in the sphere to discover the different aspects emanating out from the TCI perspectives. It is used like the term ‘perspective schema’ Klafki employed to try to determine the central perspectives of learning. If the ‘concern’ and the intentions are clear, someone can try to formulate a ‘theme’ in the initial session of a group process.

5.2  The Theme as the Focus of a Learning Process In TCI, the theme is the focus of a living-learning process. It is also a specific tool for compassionate leadership in a given group. Understanding a deliberately formulated and personally introduced TCI theme differs from the everyday usage of the topic concept, which usually refers only to contents or tasks without applying to the linguistic form a special learning-stimulating and communication-controlling meaning. Even in conventional didactic contexts, the topic is often equated with a summary of the matter or the content of a learning process. The TCI theme, however, is concerned with the particular focus of learning, which is not exhausted in the content-related exchange between students and lecturers. The development of awareness for the theme is based on the practice Ruth C. Cohn introduced herself (Cohn 1970a, 251–259). In her seminars with very different groups, she invited people to recount what made them happy, what depressed them, with whom they did not work well, etc. From the act of attentively listening to the personal stories of people, the concrete theme – which had to be mapped out in each case – gained its succinct form: “I spoke to them as fellow seekers, who helped them to find their generative themes” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 336). The term ‘generative theme’ refers to the TCI approach, too, especially their understanding of the subject, found in the liberating educational work of Paulo Freire (cf. Hagleitner 1996; Ostertag 2017). In the archive, I found documents showing the high interest Ruth C. Cohn had in Freire’s A Pedagogy of Liberation (1975). Many different themes are present in any meaningful communication between people. This is also the case in a living-learning process. If communication is not left to meaningless clichés, which kill the learning process, the theme-character of the topics remains. In this sense, Funke (cf. 1984, 200–343) speaks of a ‘thematic-­ symbolic orientation’ as crucial for the meaning among human beings. He sees TCI as a model of thematic-symbolic orientation which transforms experienced, often clichéd everyday situations into meaningful social situations. Similarly, Kroeger (cf. 4th edit. 1989, 196–201), in the first TCI book published in German, spoke of

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the fact that the process of searching and formulating themes according to TCI can be a process of “open language learning” which also focuses “on the right and strength of defense”9 (ibid., 214). The attention paid to the theme makes it possible to spontaneously grasp the central and existentially important issue, mostly in metaphors. Also, this act can unmask uninhibited educational talks as such. Attention to the theme and theme sensibility are helpful for understanding and formulating what is going on in living-learning processes. In my view, this is one of the most important tools in didactic training. Themes sensu TCI create an association between the concerns of learning and the theme-centered interactional process in a concrete learning group. As proposed, it is important for didactics to first ask about the concerns of the respective learning process, which is a kind of didactic analysis: Where do the needs and concerns of the I, the We, the It, and the Globe lie? To this end, it is necessary to gain general insights into (individual) psychology and sociology in order to obtain knowledge on individuals and on the Globe, in dynamics and group structures (cf. Rubner and Rubner 2016) – and especially to have expert knowledge for determining the elementary contents and structures of the subject. Therefore, formulating an adequate theme for a living-learning process in higher education demands a much higher competence with respect to the subject than that required in traditional ‘learning by repeating and summarizing’ factual knowledge. In accordance with didactic analysis, also of the TCI factors, determining the matter at hand and formulating an adequate theme become possible in order to evaluate the process. In the fourth edition of his book (cf. 41989), Kroeger worked out a model of self-supervision which can be useful for such an evaluation. He proposes reflection on the I, We, It, and structure. In light of the argument stated above, I would add a report on the Globe and the theme. Such supervision can also be done in a group. In my TCI practice, such an evaluation, strongly oriented toward the theme, is a permanent tool for planning seminar sessions, to which I usually invite some participants. Also, I practice planning with participants who are interested in special learning. The feedback generally is that they have learned the most from the planning processes. Up to now, we viewed the meaning of planning and evaluation and the specific possibilities present in themes. By formulating themes as the focus of a learning process, we need to ask: How can I ‘correctly’ formulate themes? What are the rules of the game? Ruth Cohn (52007, 322f.) gave some helpful hints. An adequately formulated theme: –– –– –– ––

Is phrased briefly and clearly to be constantly kept in mind. Is not trite and therefore not boring. Is adapted to the linguistic and cognitive competences of participants. Is formulated so as not to exclude anyone or offend anyone’s feelings.

9  In this case, it is an inner defense which crops up if terms or formulations are used that are usually undercover.

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–– Is not too narrowly (i.e., concretely) formulated so as to leave room for spontaneous insights, ideas, and images. –– Is not too broadly (i.e., abstractly) formulated so as to not be open to ‘everything’ and be focused on nothing. –– Has an emotionally challenging character (may contain group jargon, lyrical or pun-like phrasing, reference to familiar events, and so forth). –– Opens and favors new horizons and innovative solutions. –– Is not phrased one-sidedly, which leaves little room for other possibilities and thus may become manipulative. –– Does not go against the axiomatic values of human rights and of TCI. –– Supports the group process by fitting in, both logically and psychologically, with the sequence of themes to be worked through and by maintaining the dynamic balance between the participants’ concerns and concrete needs. –– Takes into account the ability of group members to express themselves verbally and makes use of nonverbal means of presenting themes (images, pantomime, etc.) The theme as the focus of a learning process is not just the theme for the participants; it is also the theme for the leader/facilitator of the group. In this sense, one’s personal introduction to the theme is crucial. The use of pictorial material and games, occasionally also texts, may be particularly useful in some situations – not just for groups of children or handicapped persons. Such devices recommend themselves on a case-by-case basis. As a rule, however, the primary instrument of group work remains the well-phrased theme that has been carefully prepared to correspond to the group’s needs and to allow each participant to access it. Schneider-­Landolf explains: The trick lies in finding a clear and precise description that engages the respective individuals with all their own experiences, knowledge, concerns, feelings, attitudes, phantasies, and questions; one that invites them to participate in the ensuing group conversation. That is how a lively process of exchange ensues among the participants: theme-centered interaction. (Schneider-Landolf 2017, 147)

Finding, phrasing, and introducing themes require considerable time, but the effort is well justified by the astonishing effectiveness it will have on the group’s interaction.

5.3  Structuring Learning Processes The structuring of learning processes found in didactics was not the main concern of Ruth C. Cohn. Once you have carefully found, formulated, and introduced the theme, the structure for how to deal with it follows spontaneously. In the context of the professionalization of TCI as a method of leading groups, however, the question of adequate structures has become increasingly important. Structures understood as working forms, techniques (methods), and media, which are selected and applied

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from the theme, provide guidance and security in teaching and learning processes (cf. Cohn R. C. 2008; Klein 2017, 154–158). Putting theme at the middle of the triangle in the sphere also indicates that structuring the living-learning process grows directly out of the theme. In practice, teachers sometimes are so concentrated on finding the right forms of tasks, methods, and media that they forget the theme as the focus of the learning process. Formulating a theme sensu, TCI means finding ways to work on the theme, besides its meaning. The following figure explains (Fig. 2). The question of situating structures in learning processes in a globalized communication context, which is largely controlled by electronic media, raises problems that strongly challenge learning and teaching (cf. Scharer 2013a; Scharer and Geffers 2015). If, for example, a very wide range of personal and intimate topics are communicated in a broad communication, this can affect the balance between autonomy and interdependence, proximity, and distance. The medium in which themes are communicated is closely associated with how trust is enabled (or not). In this context, the TCI triangle designed by Stollberg (1982, 40) can be helpful. It shows the interdependency of the triangle of process-structure-trust in the learning process (Fig. 3). Stollberg (ibid.) also describes what he calls implicit ‘shadow triangles’ (Fig. 4).

Fig. 2  Formulating a theme sensu TCI leads to a fitting structure

Fig. 3  Interdependency of process, structure, and trust by Stollberg (1982, 40)

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Fig. 4  Interdependency of stagnation, chaos, and mistrust by Stollberg (1982, 40)

I did a lot of supervision of learners and teachers in higher education. From this experience, I know about stagnation in planning and evaluating if everything is concentrated on the structure of a learning process. Mostly it is a lack of clearness about the subject matter and in the theme. Structuring processes based on a theme with a clear concern and clear intentions in mind make planning, facilitating, and evaluating learning processes much more easy.

6  Participative Leadership in Living-Learning Groups In my experience, participatory leadership that corresponds to the TCI approach is one of the greatest challenges for didactics in higher education. Establishing the ideal that students should be involved in the planning and facilitating of learning processes is much easier than actually installing participative leadership consequently at the university and colleges level. It changes the system and the role of all individuals involved. Today we do not suffer from a hierarchical distribution of role preventing participative leadership. Nowadays – and not just in Europe – institutions of higher education are on their way toward becoming customer-friendly institutions (cf. Reich-Claassen 2017). But customers are also consumers and not participants in the sense of TCI. By trying to understand all the needs of students and to make each and every one of them happy with the bargain, I become like a supermarket attempting to bring products to the people. The products in this context would be the objectives students have. Participatory leadership, however, does not mean merely making objectives so attractive that students would want to consume them or pick them. This does not mean that it is not necessary to understand student’s needs and to make objectives learnable. Switching to participative leadership in higher education means making it obvious to students that we are all a community of learners, albeit different competences we bring to the learning process. Teachers who are unaware that they too are learners – learning from the experiences and insights of their students – will be incapable of participatory leadership. I am so impressed by the many reports Ruth C. Cohn

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wrote in the context of her seminars. They are full of learning insights she gained before, during, and after seminars which she wrote down carefully. They were (and still are) a major source of her knowledge. Leaders who favor participative leadership are aware of their own learning process as well as that of their participants. They encourage active involvement. “…people can often express their creativity and demonstrate abilities and talents that would not otherwise become apparent. The discovery of these hidden assets helps to benefit the work of the current team, but also alerts the organization to people within the team who should be provided with opportunities to further develop some skill or ability for further use” (Scharer 2017b, 187). Participative leadership does not mean leading as the head of the learning group, as the directive leading style prefers. It also does not mean leading for a learning group, which is closer to the idea of satisfying customers. Rather, real participative leadership as a style means leading from within and is something that students and teachers rarely encounter in higher education. Participative leadership has close connections to the authenticity of leaders and participants. For Ruth C. Cohn, selective authenticity as chairpersons is one of the main fruits of participative leadership. The selective authenticity practiced by the leader encourages participants to stand on their own and to selectively communicate their authenticity. This means that everything I communicate, both verbally and nonverbally, is authentic. Acting as a conscious chairperson, I decide what and how I communicate in the here-and-now. The practice of selective authenticity supports participants in mastering their own chairpersonship. Participative leadership also deals with disturbances and passionate involvements (see next section). So, participatory leaders are not far-off and unreachable teachers, big bosses, or famous masters; they are also not gurus, something Ruth C. Cohn strictly rejected for herself (cf. Cohn 1992). Ruth C.  Cohn never clearly defined participative leadership. For her […] group leaders are primarily participants, that is, human beings with their own specific interests, preferences, thoughts, and feelings. Only secondarily are they group leaders with a special function in the group. And this function is mainly concerned with maintaining a dynamic balance between the I, the We, the It and their connections to the Globe. (Cohn and Farau 42008, 368)

Hintner et al. (2017, 171) recently added the aspect of “balance between diagnostic distance and personal involvement”. They propose the following definition for participative leadership: PL calls on leaders to be cognizant of their own conscious and unconscious actions and reactions by responding to the other participants and the entire process. They do this by selectively and authentically establishing a balance between diagnostic distance and personal involvement. (Hintner et al. 2017, 171)

Participative leadership is one of the greatest challenges in higher education. It is not a tool someone can use like a magic wand to simply produce living-learning. Rather, it presupposes a careful process of analysis and planning to determine what can happen in the learning group and how the leader is accepted as a person and not

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just as a leader. Questions of authority come into play. Selective authenticity helps to balance participation and provide the distance necessary to this role.

7  W  hen It Doesn’t Work as It Should: Disturbances and Passionate Involvements in Living-Learning Processes Especially when practicing didactics in higher education, the pressure rises to ensure that learning processes actually work. If they do not work in the ideal situations of classes at universities, polytechnics, and colleges, how should they be expected to work in the common practices of schools or elsewhere? Universities and colleges are generally fault-tolerant systems, so that the ‘disturbance postulate’ of TCI might sound like a provocation. What does it mean? For Ruth C. Cohn, the term disturbance represented “one of the most important steps on the path from psychoanalysis to TCI” (Ockel and Cohn 1992, 185). It is formulated as the second TCI postulate: Note the hindrances along your way, both your own and those of others. Disturbances take precedence; failing to solve them prevents or delays growth. (Cohn 162009, 121)

Or the more common formulation: Disturbances and passionate involvements take precedence. (Cohn 162009, 122)

For Ruth C. Cohn “disturbances do not ask for permission; they are simply there: pain, joy, fear, distraction” (Cohn 162009, 122). She also speaks of “antipathies,” “perturbation,” “passionate feelings,” and “involvements” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 359). The disturbance postulate may sound paradoxical: How can disturbances and passionate involvements – highly emotional reactions with a somewhat unbalancing effect on people – in fact provide learning opportunities? Are they not in fact representing obstacles to working on a theme? For the content-oriented academic, calling attention to disturbances and passionate involvements may seem like an affront. TCI, however, encourages you to reconsider. Yet one may ask: Doesn’t the emotionality of resistance and passionate involvement represent a force that is too little appreciated in traditional learning, teaching, and scholarship? When a specific theme, thought, or feeling captivates me so much that I only outwardly participate in a given learning process, then my interest is in fact occupied by the so-called disturbance. The ‘disturbing’ concern becomes the real theme for me, what I am mainly concerned with. It comes to stand in competition with the ongoing process or topic. If this collision between themes is allowed to continue without being directly addressed, as is often the case in schools and universities, it leads to disinterest and indifference. If, on the contrary, there is an atmosphere in which disturbances and involvements can be ‘lived out’, there is the chance for a constructive solution. Here, the teacher too can learn something new, giving the topic more depth. Taking chances of inviting unexpected angles into the theme benefits all.

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Sometimes it suffices simply to call attention to the existence of a disturbance, whereupon the participants can then return to the official theme. In other situations, it is necessary to decide collectively between the official theme and the latent themes of individual group members. Paralyzed communication is often rooted in the lack of clear perception of competing themes, which, because of the unconscious rule of the game, are prevented from finding expression. Laying them out on the table gives generally results in a heated discussion not without conflict. Whether and how decisions are made by the group about competing themes depends on the ability of the teacher/leader to deal with conflict, an ability that is intuitively perceived by the participants/students and must withstand the winds of group dynamics. In such conflict situations, it is often helpful to recall the ‘official’ theme as the original focal point of communication. The more precisely the official theme and the competing themes are formulated, the easier it becomes to identify resistance and alternative themes. If the competing themes prove so intense that continued working on the official theme becomes impossible, then it is necessary to replan the process. Perhaps also a synthesis becomes evident. Participants should be invited to take responsibility for their own and the common learning process. This means involving them in doing the replanning. Rigid adherence to a plan set forth by curricular didactics is not what ensures the communicative quality of a learning process. Rather, clear planning combined with a flexible application is decisive. This means that the plan can be altered with the permission of the learning group if need be. If disturbances and passionate involvements remain hidden or are suppressed and permanently left unspoken, there arises “the impersonal ‘trouble-free’ classrooms, lecture halls, factory rooms, conference rooms” (Cohn and Farau 42008, 359). They are … then filled with apathetic and submissive or with desperate and rebellious people whose frustration leads to the destruction of their own or their institution. The postulate that disturbances and passionate feelings take precedence means that we recognize the reality of man; and this contains the fact that our living, emotionally moving bodies and souls are the bearers of our thoughts and actions. When these carriers falter, our actions and thoughts are as uncertain as their foundations. (Cohn 162009, 122)

It is precisely by recognizing the disturbance reality that we can create the possibility of changing this state of affairs and of bringing life and liveliness to higher education and learning. In TCI, the political and societal significance of the postulate of disturbance was revealed early on: We believe that many of us fall victim to a disturbance in which we forget about what is humanly possible because we let ourselves be crippled by what is humanly impossible. Maybe this is our most important generative theme: “What do I do as an individual or as small group when confronted with the inscrutable factors that seem necessary for solving sociopolitical problems?” The disturbance says, “It is impossible, it is too much. We cannot find a solution for all the destructive, senseless, unjust things that are happening. It is possible that this very way of phrasing the question causes such disturbances? … We believe that the disturbance (“it is too much, too complicated, too depressing to do

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As an example of the efficacy of the disturbance postulate, Ruth C. Cohn reports on a workshop she conducted the day after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It initially gave room to the tragedy at hand, in which the participants were silently aware of the feelings and thoughts that moved them following the assassination. Then she formulated a theme that was consciously connected to the ‘external’ disorder caused by the political events. From personal experience I can report something similar: I attended an unforgettable TCI seminar that took place during the Chernobyl disaster. Upon receiving the first news in the early days, the planned thematic orientation of the workshop changed radically. The experience of a young father whose children might have played in the sandbox the day before, because the child’s mother had not received yet the news of the accident, will forever remain with me. Since then I have become more aware of the resource of disturbances and involvements for ‘generative’ themes. This example shows how aspects of the Globe do not remain outside of a learning situation: Ever so often, ‘external’ disturbances correspond to ‘internal’ ones.

8  Summary In this chapter, I introduced the concept of TCI as discussed by Ruth C. Cohn and myself as the author. Her explanations of certain aspects of the approach are supported by my own experiences in facilitating groups and classes in different fields of education but especially in the context of higher education. Cross-cultural and trans-religious learning processes according to TCI have proved to be special challenges for me. I then correlated subjective experiences like those of Ruth C. Cohn with the numerous descriptions of TCI and its further developments available in the literature. Behind all of this stands my own work on the rich heritage of Ruth C. Cohn, which provides a deep connection between her ‘story’ and the system of TCI so dear to my heart.

References Bauer, J. (2009). Prinzip Menschlichkeit: Warum wir von Natur aus kooperieren. München: Heyne. Bauer, J.  (2011). Schmerzgrenze: Vom Ursprung alltäglicher und globaler Gewalt. München: Blessing. Belz, H. (1988). Kooperative Haltung in Arbeitsgruppen durch individuelles Selbstbewußtsein und Reflexion auf der Grundlage der Themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI). In H. Belz et al. (Eds.), Auf dem Weg zur arbeitsfähigen Gruppe. Mainz: Grünewald, 9–32. Berendt, B. (2005). The Shift from Teaching to Learning  – mehr als eine ‘Redewendung’: Relevanz – Forschungshintergrund – Umsetzung. In U. Welbers & O. Gaus (Eds.), The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 35–41.

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Bertels. G. et  al. (Eds.) (2015). Aufbruch, Begeisterung, Engagement. Die Anfänge der Themenzentrierten Interaktion in Deutschland. Zeitzeuginnen und Zeitzeugen erzählen. Bochum: Universitätsverlag Brockmeyer. Birmelin, R., Hahn, K., Schraut-Birmelin, M., Schütz, K., Wagner, Chr. (Eds.) (1985). Erfahrungen lebendigen Lernens. Grundlagen und Arbeitsfelder der TCI. Mainz: Grünewald. Brühlmann-Jecklin, E. (2010). Das Mögliche tun. Ruth C. Cohn. Gespräche und Begegnungen. Oberhofen: Zytglogge. Buber, M. (1983). Ich und Du. Heidelberg: Lambert Schneider. Cohn, R.C. (1949). Inmitten aller Sterne. New York: Peter Thomas Fischer. Cohn, R. C. (1957). Courage – The goal of psychotherapy, HUB, UA, NL Cohn, Nr. 8, Blatt 115–130 (p. 116). Cohn, R.C. (1965). Poems – “Mothers” and “The Scarbyss”. VOICES – The Art of Science of Psychotherapy 1(1), 42–44; 114–115. Cohn, R.C. (1966). The Sexual Fantasies of the Psychotherapist and Their Use in Psychotherapy. The Journal of Sex Research 2(3), 219–226. Cohn, R.C. (1969). Living – Learning. VOICES – The Art of Science of Psychotherapy 5(3), 31. Cohn, R.C. (1970a). Das Thema im Mittelpunkt interaktioneller Gruppen. Eine Modifikation gruppentherapeutischer Technik zum Zweck der Führung von Erziehungs- und anderen Kommunikationsgruppen. Gruppenpsychotherapie und Gruppendynamik, 3(2), 251–259. Cohn, R.C. (1970b). Beginnings-Farewells-Beginnings. VOICES  – The Art of Science of Psychotherapy 6(1), 6–12. Cohn, R.C. (1971a). Living Learning Encounters: The Theme-Centered Interactional Method. In L. Blank, G.B. Gottsegen, M.G. Gottsegen (Eds.), Confrontations. Encounters in Self and Interpersonal Awareness. New  York, Macmillan and London: Collier-Macmillan Limited, 245–271. Cohn, R.C. (1971b). “Doc Is Up”  – In Memoriam Henry Guze (1919-1970) and “Widening Circles”. VOICES – The Art of Science of Psychotherapy 7(1), 6–7; 23–25. Cohn, R.C. (1972a). Cut the toes so the shoe will fit. American Academy of Psychotherapists, Newsletter 6, 27. Cohn, Ruth C. (1972b). Style and Spirit of Theme-Centered interactional Method. In C.J. Sager & H.S. Kaplan (Eds.), Progress in Group and Family Therapy. New York: Bruner and Mazel, 872–878. Cohn, R.C. (1974). Die Selbsterfahrungsbewegung: Autismus oder Autonomie? Gruppendynamik, 5(3), 160–171. Cohn, R.C. [1975] (162009). Von der Psychoanalyse zur themenzentrierten Interaktion: Von der Behandlung einzelner zu einer Pädagogik für alle. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta (= Konzepte der Humanwissenschaften). Cohn, R.C. (1979a). Über den ganzheitlichen Ansatz der themenzentrierten Interaktion. Integrative Therapie, 5, 252–258. Cohn, R.C. (1979b). Themenzentrierte Interaktion: Ein Ansatz zum Sich-selbst und Gruppen leiten. In A. Heigl-Evers (Ed.), Lewin und die Folgen. Die Psychologie des 20. Jahrhunderts Bd. 8. Zürich: Kindler. 873–883. Cohn, R.C. (1981). “Zuwenig geben ist Diebstahl – zuviel geben ist Mord.” Gespräch mit Ruth C. Cohn – Gesprächspartner: Otto Herz. betrifft: erziehung, 14(1), 23–27. Cohn, R.C., Matzdorf, P. (1983). Themenzentrierte Interaktion. In R. Corsini (Ed.), Handbuch der Psychotherapie. Weinheim-Basel: Beltz, 1272–1314. Cohn, R.C., Farau, A. [1984] (42008). Gelebte Geschichte der Psychotherapie. Zwei Perspektiven. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Cohn, R.C. (1985). “Sich zur eigenen Autorität und Fehlbarkeit bekennen” – Gesprächspartner: Albert Biesinger und Thomas Schreijäck. Katechetische Blätter, 110(9), 676–683. Cohn, R.C. (1987). Angst im Älterwerden. In H.J. Schultz (Ed.), Angst. Stuttgart: Kreuz-Verlag, 210–221. Cohn, R.C. (1989). Es geht ums Anteilnehmen … Perspektiven der Persönlichkeitsentfaltung in der Gesellschaft der Jahrtausendwende. Freiburg i. Br.: Herder.

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Cohn, R.C. (1990). Zu wissen, dass wir zählen. Gedichte, Poems. Bern: Zytglogge. Cohn, R.C. (1992). “Die Gura lehne ich ab!” Ein Interview mit Ruth C. Cohn – Gesprächspartner: Horst Heidbrink. Gruppendynamik, 23(3), 315–325. Cohn, R.C., Terfurth, Ch. (52007). Lebendiges Lehren und Lernen: TCI macht Schule. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Cohn, R.C. (52007). Das Thema. In R.  C. Cohn, Ch. Terfurth (Eds.), Lebendiges Lehren und Lernen: TCI macht Schule. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 322–324. Cohn, R.C. (2008). Große Gruppen  – kleine Gruppen  – kleine Schritte  – große Schritte. Zur Demonstration der themenzentrierten interaktionellen Methode in Lindau 1971. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 22(2), 65–79. Deneke, M. (2005). Vom Lehren zum Lernen – Eine Skizze. In U. Welbers & O. Gaus (Eds.), The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 93–96. Ewert, F. (2008). Themenzentrierte Interaktion (TZI) und pädagogische Professionalität von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern: Erfahrungen und Reflexionen. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften/GWV Fachverlage GmbH Wiesbaden. Faßhauer U. (2017). Axiom 1: Existential-Anthropological Axiom. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W.  Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 75–79. Freire, P. (1975). Pädagogik der Unterdrückten: Bildung als Praxis der Freiheit. Reinbek: Rowohlt. Funke, D. (1984). Verkündigung zwischen Tradition und Interaktion. Praktisch-theologische Studien zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI) nach Ruth C. Cohn. Frankfurt/M.: Peter Lang. Gordon, M., Liberman, N. (1972). Theme-Centered Interaction. Baltimore, Maryland: National Educational Press. Gordon, M., Liberman, N. (2001). Group Psychotherapy: Being and Becoming. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 15(1), 84–92. Greving, H. (2017). Ruth C.  Cohn. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W.  Zitterbarth (Eds), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J.  Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 17–22. Hagleitner, S. (1996). Mit Lust an der Welt – in Sorge um sie: Feministisch-politische Bildungsarbeit nach Paulo Freire und Ruth C. Cohn. Mainz: Grünewald. Herrmann, H. (1992). Ruth C.  Cohn  – Ein Porträt. In C.  Löhmer, R.  Standhardt (Eds.), TCI.  Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C.  Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 19–36. Herrmann, H. (2010). A Tribute to Ruth Cohn. Indian Journal of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), (6&7), 40–43. Hilberath, B.J., Scharer, M. (2012). Kommunikative Theologie. Grundlagen – Erfahrungen – Klärungen. Ostfildern: Grünewald der Schwabenverlag. Hill, M. (2012). Kommunikative Theologie. Grundlagen – Erfahrungen – Klärungen. Ostfildern: Grünewald der Schwabenverlag. Hill M., Yildiz E. (Eds.) (2018). Postmigrantische Visionen: Erfahrungen – Ideen – Reflexionen. Bielefeld: transcript. Hintner R., Middelkoop Th., Wolf-Hollander J. (2017). Participative Leadership. In M. Schneider-­ Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 171–176. Hoppe, G. (1993). “Misch Dich ein! Greif ein!” Ein drittes Postulat für die TCI? Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 7(2), 31–40. Hoppe, G. (1994). “Misch Dich ein! Greif ein!” Ein drittes Postulat für die TZI? In R. Standhardt, C. Löhmer (Eds.), Zur Tat befreien. Gesellschaftspolitische Perspektiven der TZI-Gruppenarbeit. Mainz: Grünewald, 65–76. Johach, H. (1994). Auf dem Marsch durch die Institutionen oder: Wieweit kann TCI die Gesellschaft verändern? In R.  Standhardt, C., Löhmer (Eds.), Zur Tat befreien. Gesellschaftspolitische Perspektiven der TCI-Gruppenarbeit. Mainz: Grünewald, 77–98.

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Klein. I. (2017). Work Forms and Social Forms. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 159–164. Klemmer, G. (52007). Themenzentrierte Interaktion als therpeutisch-pädagogisches und politisches Handeln in Schule und Hochschule. In Ruth C. Cohn, C. Terfurth (Eds.), Lebendiges Lehren und Lernen. TCI macht Schule. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 105–114. Knauf, H. (2005). Lernen 2010: Trends in der Hochschul-Bildung. In U. Welbers, O. Gaus (Eds.), The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 183–186. Kroeger, M. [1979] (41989). Themenzentrierte Seelsorge. Über die Kombination Klientenzentrierter und Themenzentrierter Arbeit nach Carl R. Rogers und Ruth C. Cohn in Theologie und schulischer Gruppenarbeit. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Krämer, M. (2001). TCI und Politik. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 15(2), 23–34. Kuebel, M.A., Abraham C.T. (Eds.) (2016). Living learning. Text Book for Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Kottayam: Ripples. Kuebel, M.A., Schuetz, V.-K. (2016). Glossary for TCI and related experiential methods. In M.A. Kuebel, C.T. Abraham (Eds.). Living learning. Text Book for Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Kottayam: Ripples, 275–293. Langmaack, B. (2001). Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion (TCI). Leben rund ums Dreieck. Mit einem Geleitwort von Wolfgang Schmidbauer. Weinheim: Beltz. Langmaack, B. (52011). Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Das Leiten von Lern- und Arbeitsgruppen erklärt und praktisch angewandt. Weinheim: Beltz. Löhmer, C., Standhardt, R. (1992). Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Die Kunst, sich selbst und eine Gruppe zu leiten. Mannheim: PAL. Löhmer, C., Standhardt, R. (Eds.) (21992). TCI. Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C. Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Lotz, W. (2003). Sozialpädagogisches Handeln. Eine Grundlegung sozialer Beziehungsarbeit mit Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Mainz: Grünewald. Masschelein, J., Simons, M. (2012). Globale Immunität oder Eine kleine Kartographie des europäischen Bildungsraum. Zürich: diaphanes. Matzdorf, P., Cohn, R.C. (21992). Das Konzept der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. In C. Löhmer, R.  Standhardt (Eds.), TCI.  Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C.  Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 39–92. Matzdorf, P. (52007). Das “TZI-Haus.” Zur praxisnahen Grundlegung eines pädagogischen Handlungssystems. In R.C.  Cohn, C.  Terfurth (Eds.), Lebendiges Lehren und Lernen. TCI macht Schule. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 332–387. Miller, T., Ostertag, M. (Eds.) (2017). Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existenziell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: De Gruyter. Ockel, A., Cohn, R.C. (1992). Das Konzept des Widerstands in der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Vom psychoanalytischen Konzept des Widerstands über das TCI-Konzept der Störung zum Ansatz der Gesellschaftstherapie. In C.  Löhmer, R.  Standhardt (Eds.), TCI.  Pädagogisch-­ therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C. Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 177–206. Ostertag, M. (2017). Von Ruth Cohn und Paulo Freire lernen. Annäherungen an eine bildungstheoretisch fundierte Hochschuldidaktik. In T. Miller, M. Ostertag (Eds.), Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existentiell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: De Gruyter, 123–133. Osswald, E. (1983). Vom Sinn des Lebens und Lernens in der heutigen Zeit. Ein Interview mit Ruth C. Cohn. Schweizer Schule. Zeitschrift für Christliche Bildung und Erziehung, 8, 389–393. Perls, F.S. (81996). Gestalt-Therapie in Aktion. Stuttgart: Klett. Padberg, S. (2010). TZI ist Allgemeine Didaktik … und mehr als das. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 24(2), 73–84. Raguse, H. (1992). Kritische Bestandsaufnahme der TCI.  In C.  Löhmer, R.  Standhart (Eds.), TCI.  Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C.  Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 264–277.

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Raguse, H. (1993). Was ist Themenzentrierte Interaktion? In H.  Aschaffenburg u.a. (Eds.), Gruppenarbeit: themenzentriert. Entwicklungsgeschichte, Kritik und Methodenreflexion. Mainz: Grünewald, 117–143. Reich-Claassen, J.  (2017). Wissenschaftliche Weiterbildung zwischen kundenorientierten Lernkontexten und hochschulischem Bildungsanspruch. In T.  Miller, M.  Ostertag (Eds.), Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existentiell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: de Gruyter. Reiser, H. (21993). Ruth C. Cohn und Martin Buber. In H. Aschaffenburg u.a. (Eds.), Gruppenarbeit: themenzentriert. Entwicklungsgeschichte, Kritik und Methodenreflexion. Mainz: Grünewald, 38–46. Reiser, H., Lotz, W. (Eds.) (1995). Themenzentrierte Interaktion als Pädagogik. Mainz: Grünewald. Reiser, H. (2006). Psychoanalytisch-systemische Pädagogik. Erziehung auf der Grundlage der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Reiser, H. (2014). Vorschlag für eine theoretische Grundlegung der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 28(2), 69–77. Röhling, J.G. (2000). Gesichtspunkte aus der TZI zum Gewaltproblem. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 14(2), 44–67. Röhling, J.G. (2017). The chairperson postulate, In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) (translated by J. Smith). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 89–94. Rubner, A., Rubner, E. (2016). Unterwegs zur funktionierenden Gruppe. Die Gestaltung von Gruppenprozessen mit der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Gießen: Psychosozial Verlag. Scharer, M. (2000). Religion unterrichten lernen: Das Innsbrucker Modell. In W. Isenberg (Ed.), Kompetenz für die Praxis? Innovative Modelle der Religionslehreraus- und -fortbildung. Bergisch Gladbach: Thomas Morus Akademien, 55–68. Scharer, M., Hilberath, B.J. (2008), The Practice of Communicative Theology. An Introduction to a New Theological Culture. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company. Scharer, M. (2010). Panackachira – A Symbol of Socially Conscious Revitalization of TCI India and International. Companions on the way to the Grass Roots. Indian Journal of Theme-­ Centered Interaction (TCI), (6/7), 95–104. Scharer, M. (2013a). Living Communication in a Digital Media Context: Meanings (Criteria) from the Perspective of Communicative Theology. Communication Research Trends, 32(3), 6–12. Scharer, M. (2013b). Lebendigen Lernprozessen trauen, Kompetenzen fördern. Das ‚Innsbrucker Modell’ der ReligionslehrerInnenausbildung unter der Herausforderung des Kompetenz- und Standarddiskurses in Religionsdidaktik. Österreichisches Religionspädagogisches Forum 21, 58–63. Scharer, M., Geffers, G. (2015). Tot oder lebendig? Kommunikation in digitalen Medien. Matthias Scharer im Gespräch mit Gerlinde Geffers. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 29(2), 30–39. Scharer, M. (2017a). TZI als “Third Space” transreligiöser Begegnungen. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 31(2), 131–138. Scharer, M. (2017b). “Redemptive Leading”  – Barriers and Opportunities in a Digital World. In M.  Bosch et  al. (Eds.), Authority and Leadership. Values, Religion, Media. Barcelona: Blanquerna Observatory on Media, Religion and Culture, 183–190. Schneider, R., Szczyrba, B., Welbers, U., Wildt, J.  (Eds.) (2009). Wandel der Lehr- und Lernkulturen. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann. Schneider-Landolf, M., Spielmann J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (32014). Handbuch Themenzentrierte Interaktion (TZI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Schneider-Landolf, M. Spielmann J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Schneider-Landolf M. (2017). Theme. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W.  Zitterbarth (Eds), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J.  Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 147–153.

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Schratz, M., Schwarz, J.F., Westfall-Greiter (2012). Lernen als bildende Erfahrung. Vignetten in der Praxisforschung. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag. Schulz von Thun, F. (262017). Miteinander reden: 3. Das „Innere Team“ und situationsgerechte Kommunikation. Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. Spielmann, J. (2017). What is TZI. In M. Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.). Handbook of Theme-Centered Inteaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 14–16. Stollberg, D. (1982). Lernen, weil es Freude macht. Eine Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. München: Kösel. Vogel, P. (2017a). Humanism. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W.  Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J.  Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 55–59. Vogel, P. (2017b), Axiom 2: The Ethical Axiom. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 80–83. von Kanitz, A. (2017a). An Introduction to the Axioms and Postulates. In M. Schneider-Landolf et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 73–79. von Kanitz, A. (2017b). Axiom 3: The pragmatic-political axiom. In M. Schneider-Landolf et al. (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), (trans: Smith J.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 84–88. von Kanitz, A., Lotz, W., Menzel, B, Stollberg, E, Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2015). Elemente der Themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI). Texte zur Aus- und Weiterbildung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Welbers, U., Gaus, O. (Eds.) (2005). The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Konstruktionsbedingungen eines Ideals. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann. Welbers, U. (2005). The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Zur historischen Rekonstruktion eines Paradigmenwechsels. In U.  Welbers, O.  Gaus (Eds.), The Shift from Teaching to Learning. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 357–365. Yildiz, E. (2018). Vom methodologischen Nationalismus zu postmigrantischen Visionen. In M. Hill, E. Yildiz, Postmigrantische Visionen. Erfahrungen – Ideen – Reflexionen. Bielefeld: transcript. Zitterbarth, W. (2001). TZI und Ethik. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 15(2), 102–104.

Concrete Methods and Case Experiences with Theme-Centered Interaction Helmut Reiser, Hiltrud Loeken, Walter Lotz, Birgit Menzel, and Christoph Huber

Abstract  Higher education is an important time of life, individually for the young adults and sociologically for a society which lives by the capacities of the coming generations. Therefore we need the best education not only in knowledge and abilities but also in forming personality. To my knowledge there is only one approach which pursues worldwide these goals, the Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) founded by Ruth Cohn. TCI is an approach combinable with other approaches, under the condition of accepting the ethical basics of TCI as a humanistic approach. This book informs professors and teachers about the basics and the various possibilities of ‘living learning’ at a university. In this chapter we offer threeby-three contributions written by experienced professors, organizational developers, and TCI trainers. We discuss the development of TCI itself; further we describe projects of school- and organizational development with TCI. Further we report on didactical scenes of pedagogical relationships. The last section discusses chances and benefits of developing TCI in universities for the scientific area. Keywords  Theme-Centered Interaction · Living learning · Social constructivism · Psychoanalysis · Motivational systems · Relationship student-teacher · Intensity

H. Reiser (*) Emeritus of the Institut für Sonderpädagogik, University of Hanover, Hanover, Germany H. Loeken Protestant University for Applied Sciences Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany e-mail: [email protected] W. Lotz University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt/M, Frankfurt am Main, Germany B. Menzel Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie, Offenbach, Germany C. Huber University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_3

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1  Introduction Helmut Reiser This section introduces concrete methods and case experiences. The implementation of new practices allows us to optimize Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) theory and to adapt it to the needs of different settings and formats. In recent years, TCI has been extended to various different professional fields, for example, organizational consulting, supervision, and intervision1. It is now used while working with large groups, e.g. in conferences or with school staffs, as well as in other social organizations. In each of these fields, new ideas were employed, albeit firmly on the basis of TCI theory, which focuses on the respective processes, wherever TCI goes beyond the traditional standard group situation  (cf. Reiser 2014). The latter is characterized by a small group of adults (5–20) who express their free will to attain personal growth and/or to obtain the ability to lead small groups. The clients with whom we work today are, for example, teachers desiring to be trained to deal with difficult situations involving aggressive or depressive pupils, social workers in danger of losing their confidence in the positive powers of humankind, and students who want to learn to control their learning and work processes or want to learn how they can best pass their next examination. Contrary to the standard situation, the main reasons why our clients seek out TCI are mostly professional2. Foremost they want professional support, not personal growth3. But sooner or later many people begin to enjoy the opportunity to be in contact with others while experiencing being valued and appreciated. In this context, I remember Ruth Cohn used to say: “In the first semester, the TCI student learns: I am important. In the second semester, she or he learns: I am interdependent. In the third and the following semesters, he or she tries to learn: I am important and I am interdependent.” We accept the fact that our clients are in very different stages of TCI. The articles in this book offer different levels of knowledge of TCI and other psychosocial approaches towards learning and group facilitation. Thereby, TCI is illustrated to be proficiently connectable to other approaches. If you have no experiences in this field. I recommend you read the first two contributions in this volume, by Sylke Meyerhuber (TCI see section 3) and by Matthias Scharer, which both add up to describe and explain TCI to the reader from the ground up. While reading further, our glossary at the end of the book might be of help as well. I start with a short explanation of the methodical main figure – dynamic balance – and the central theory behind it: the idea of autonomy and interdependence. I 1  On supervision and intervision: In the United States, “supervision” means advising and controlling, whereas in Europe it is a specific form of consultation or counseling (Willmann 2008, 85ff.). A variety of it would be also “intervision,” which is a (specifically European) “colleagual form of supervision” without a supervisor, substituted by distinct rules and sometimes with rotating facilitators from the colleagual group (cf. Hendriksen 1997; Reiser 1998; Spiess 1991; Willmann 2008). 2  On profession and professional, see Dlugosch (2003, 197–203). 3  About this shift, see further considerations by Meyerhuber and Kroeger in the last text of this volume.

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emphasize the systematics in the construction of TCI.  All statements concerning TCI, often described in an additive manner, are connected in a system enabling ­different applications in different fields. The identity and the spirit of TCI, once it goes beyond the ‘standard situation’, must be retained by having a clear knowledge of the whole construction. As the reader will see, it is easier for me to understand these processes from a constructivistic point of view4 and in light of TCI. In the second section following this introduction, I analyze and interpret sequences of a lecture I held some 32 years ago. I gave these lectures in 1985 and many years thereafter each second semester, albeit never in the same way. In those days I had developed some thoughts about large learning groups during a 5-day workshop to which Ruth Cohn had invited some TCI trainers in order to exchange their experiences with large groups. I explain especially how to work with small groups within a larger group. The third part describes a semi-standardized exercise for discovering the unconscious dynamics of groups. It is described so exactly that everyone can use it if not anxious while unable to foresee where the dialogue might lead. The fourth section reports on an exceptional story from the context of a large group in combination with autonomous small groups: Three mirrors  – a well-­ practiced example. These four parts written by me for this book form a unit under the banner: ‘Let’s optimize TCI’. My goal is to strengthen our understanding of the inner system of the approach such that we will be able to work with TCI in unexpected situations both correctly and with great creativity. The three contributions following these parts describe individual activities. Christoph Huber discusses the cooperation between the leading administrative school staffs and the University of Tübingen, which has organized trainings based on TCI in schools for many years. Even a long-­term certified RCI course for administrative school staff was established. Yet, there still seems to be an invisible wall between practical experiences and empirical research work. Here you find an example of how empirical scientific research can be connected with the task of determining the most important theme and sustaining a productive dialogue within the team. Hiltrud Loeken describes such a Theme-Centered Team Dialogue setting. The next approach is quite elaborate. Walter Lotz developed a beautiful instrument for diagnosis and orientation in group work which can be helpful in unclear situations, especially in social group work: the so-called Theme-Centered Process Analysis. I am very happy that he and Birgit Menzel have succeeded in presenting this useful approach into only a few pages. Altogether, the texts of the four authors Ch. Huber, H.  Loeken, W.  Lotz and B.  Menzel illustrate further how the main principles of TCI are useful today for solving social and political tasks. 4  “The constructivistic view focuses on how the participants in an interactive system construct the environment of the system” (Reiser 2010, 56). I consider it not necessary to discuss differences between these approaches here in detail; personally I find it just easier to track sensemaking constructs of action persons in light of the idea of constructivism.

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At the end of this contribution, I discuss some consequences of the introduced facts and positions.

2  Dynamic Balance and the First Axiom Helmut Reiser In her memoirs, Ruth Cohn describes her intense search to determine what was so successful about her ‘method’ of TCI. She had gotten much positive feedback and could observe herself what was happening: People were beginning to practice open-­ minded communication. But she did not know why. Then, one summer night in 1950, after many attempts to discover the reason, she dreamed of an equilateral pyramid. Upon awakening, she knew immediately that she had found the basis for her work. The four corners of an equilateral pyramid are all connected to each other and have the same distance from each other. This idea forms the basis (actually one of two bases) for TCI, if we also include the four-factor model of group dynamics, which is equally important. Over the past 60 years, however, some people who have worked with this concept of the equal importance and the equal influence of each factor have come to have doubts. Ruth Cohn herself ended the chapter in her memoirs with the terse and otherwise unexplained sentence: “I later changed the symbol of the pyramid to a triangle within a sphere because I thought this figure to be visually clearer” (Cohn in Farau and Cohn 1984, 344). The symbol that came to be associated with TCI does show this triangle within a circle. I think it is an excellent logo, although it fails to show that the factors are all of equal importance, as originally envisioned by Ruth Cohn. Rather, graphically, the Globe received a different emphasis than the other three factors bound up in the triangle. Of course, the TCI theory itself did not actually change, namely, that all four factors carry the same weight, but the figure would suggest that the Globe has a different function – that it somehow surrounds or encompasses the other three factors (I, We, It).5 Early on in the development of TCI theory, there were numerous depictions where the It, that is, the object of consideration or the subject matter of learning, was declared to be the ‘theme’. In some representations, the corners of the triangle did not actually touch the circle, which contradicts Ruth Cohn’s expressed intention. She thought it was especially important to emphasize the importance of the Globe: “He who does not know the Globe is destined to be consumed by it” (Farau and Cohn 1984, 356). The goal of all her efforts was as clear and explicit as it was 5  Also between TCI experts, this notion is discussed differently. Some plea strongly for a “three plus one” angle in actual group situations, simply under the impression that always considering Globe elements would often strain a group too much, nevertheless the group leader as guardian of the method considers the overall Globe and asks themselves when to involve this angle. Cf. Schneider-Landolf 2010 for the reader’s further exploration; published in English in 2017 as “Handbook TCI”.

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challenging and utopian: “I would like for every human being to say ‘I’” (ibid., 373), for in every ‘I’ there lives a ‘We’ and an ‘It’ and the whole world. This explains her broad definition of the Globe, which comprises one’s direct environment as well as the entire universe. Today, I see the term Globe in a more constructivistic way (cf. Reiser 2010), that is, as a statement of someone observing their environment. The in part conscious and in part unconscious interactions with other group members create a network of partial identifications, demanding of us a change of perspective and much empathy. These processes create a very special atmosphere within a TCI group, which is experienced as warmhearted, positive, lively – as the immediate true value of participating in a TCI group. That various different demands on group leadership at the base of such processes become clear at the latest when the ‘norm’ fails to materialize – when the group does not go as well as planned. Perhaps what was envisioned for the TCI group did not correspond to the psychological needs of one or more participants6, especially when the group was working through subconscious material and the group leadership failed to address the ensuing emotions or was not emotionally up to such a task in the first place. But even presumably ‘simple’ and ‘harmless’ themes, fed by the process-oriented methodology and the overall emotional atmosphere, can precipitate psychological irritations that take priority over all planned actions. Here, the training of a TCI leader should enable them to maintain productive group work, for example, by slowing down or speeding up the tempo, by loosening or tightening the reins, by delving deeper into matters or remaining superficial. The goal is to maintain the balance in the group and as group leader to be in balance. The main tool to this end is the ever-changing emphasis put on the individual factors. Dynamic balance is more than just the central methodological component of TCI. As Ruth Cohn writes, it is a generally valid approach toward life which proposes the necessity of maintaining opposites in one’s life, for example, inhaling and exhaling. Living means always moving and reorienting oneself, not remaining in one place. Ruth Cohn preferred to think in opposites, paradoxes, changes of perspective – as opposed to esoteric, harmonizing concepts striving toward rest or retreat. This explains why – despite its broad meaning and central position – the principle of dynamic balance, together with four-factor theory, represents only one half of TCI.  The other, equally important, half consists of the theory of simultaneous ‘coevolution’ of autonomy and interdependence. Whereas the principle of dynamic balance stems from praxeology, the theory of the unity of the opposites autonomy and interdependence is highly compatible with newer developmental theories from brain research, child-development research, system theory, and psychoanalytical self-psychology – as well as (surprisingly enough) with the ‘old-fashioned’ philosophy of Martin Buber. Any discipline that deals with the development of human beings should also put this approach on its curriculum. Ruth Cohn emphasized that she spent many hours of hard work together with others to come up with this theory

6  Psychological basic human needs are explained in more detail in the introductory contribution by Meyerhuber in this volume.

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of coevolution, for example, the research going on at the time in developmental psychology (in the English language). A word about philosopher Martin Buber may be in order. In 1926, in his famous “speech about education”, he formulated how the two basic human drives work together: the creation drive (the child’s desire to make things) and the drive toward communion. Buber’s statements are the product of his own reflection. Developmental psychologist Piaget, on the other hand, gathered data from observation and from studying the relevant secondary literature; he was almost exclusively concerned with the cognitive development of the child. In his famous, so-called Sorbonne Lecture (1953/1954) he provided his understanding of how affects develop. He points out the consistent parallelism of cognitive and affective development in the child and then traces the development of personality (Piaget  as edited by Leber 1995, 124ff.) through feelings of autonomy (ibid., 116) and the desire to participate (ibid., 133)7. US psychologist Robert Kegan (1982) bases his arguments on Piaget’s work and creates a comprehensive theory of the development of the self from the basic drives of autonomy and interdependence. He constructs a model of development that may be pictured as a sort of spiral (ibid., 152), which reflects both drives and avoids the mistake of older development theories that assumed there was only a one-sided growth of autonomy. Thus, Kegan comes up with the same type of relationship between autonomy and interdependence as Ruth Cohn did. Both authors show how, in our later years, we meet up with old problems on a new level of complexity. The most remarkable thing is that Ruth Cohn’s concept, according to which autonomy and interdependence are mutually dependent, had already appeared in German in 1974. Kegan published his work The Evolving Self in 1982. Besides his attention to Piaget’s theories, Kegan describes a second, even larger approach to the opposites of autonomy and interdependence, namely, through psychoanalytical self-­ psychology, which is connected to infant research (Stern 1985) and the idea of system theory (Lichtenberg et al. 1992, 79). The latter develop a system of motivation that contains five different subsystems: (1) the need to satisfy physiological demands such as hunger, thirst, and warmth, (2) the need for bonding and belongingness, (3) the assertive-explorative motivational system, (4) the need for aversive reactions, and (5) the desire for sensual pleasures. If we look at the set of our motivational systems that arise because of the mental regulation of physiological needs, we see that sensuality and aversion … as well as assertion and dependence correspond to the modes of approach and delimitation, which reflects the theme of autonomy and interdependence. (Reiser 2006, 80)

It is no accident that Ruth Cohn latched onto the opposites of autonomy and interdependence, declaring a psychological connection between the two, something that, to my knowledge, was not empirically confirmed until over 7 years later. Her declaration of this principle as an axiom of TCI is proof of her intuitive powers. Over the past few years, the International Graduate Conference as well as a number of different working groups of the RCI8 concerned themselves intensely  Both sources are published and referred to in the book about Piaget`s work in A. Leber 1995.  Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI) is the roof organization of Theme-Centered Interaction. 7 8

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with TCI theory. The reason was the general dissatisfaction with the theoretical ­exposition found in the handbook of TCI (2009/2010): “The complex relationships between knowledge … and skills …, between thinking and acting, between basic methods and situation-oriented techniques and instruments are often not very well depicted and perhaps also not sufficiently explained. The discussion of this matter is still ongoing” (Schneider-Landolf et al. 2010, 77). One should not expect that the alternative suggestions given (see, among others, Lotz 2015, or Reiser 2006) will receive general acclamation at any time soon. Yet the most important key ideas of TCI and their relations do seem to be so clear and accepted that they can be depicted using a basic scheme of the key terms. The basic scheme is not without opposition, however, since the TCI system very consciously contains many contradictions. It is not my intention to expand on these in this contribution. Rather, the scheme should show a general outline of the various interrelationships of the approach. Let us recall the first paragraph of this section in which I mentioned the pyramid dream of Ruth Cohn. If we start with the three-dimensional depiction, it is easy enough to imagine a tetrahedron in a transparent environment representing the sphere, consisting of the individual (I-Globe), the group (We-Globe), and the task (It-Globe). According to Ruth Cohn, the ‘It’ is the point on the Globe the group chooses to work on. There can be no doubt that Ruth Cohn as a psychoanalyst considered the ‘I’ area to be the most important one. Her goal was that “everyone can say ‘I’.” The world, the task, and the ‘We’ are included in this ‘I’. In other words, every human being should be in the position to make evaluative decisions in acquired chairpersonship (see also Lotz and Wagner 2007). The three axioms can be studied with respect to this goal. The I-area includes the first axiom concerning autonomy and interdependence; the We-area includes the so-called ethical axiom, something I would now call the interactional axiom; the third axiom is the political axiom. The postulates comprise indications concerning behavior and also refer to aspects related to the respective areas. In the I-area, the chairperson postulate belongs to the first axiom. It may surprise some that I would see the postulate of the priority of disturbance as part of the We-area: Even if this postulate has been expanded to include all areas, the disturbances arising in the We-area are the ones most relevant to group work (Fig. 1). With respect to the It-area, Ruth Cohn’s approach reveals a deviation since she left the spot for a third postulate, which logically would be found here, empty. Her reasoning, on the other hand, shows her great respect for individual decision-­ making. Her own formulation for filling this space contains the idea belonging to the systematic structure: “Assume responsibility for your actions and for your non-­ actions” (Cohn 1994, 29–32). The methodology behind TCI includes this tripartite division of the core concepts. In the I-area we find the concept of dynamic balance (the mandate of the group leader), in the We-area lies the concept of participative learning, and in the It-area there is the theme principle.

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Fig. 1  Areas of the factors of Theme-Centered Interaction

ITAREA

T I

IAREA

WEAREA

WE

Table 1  Scheme of key terms of TCI (by the author) Goals

I would like for everyone to say ‘I’

Axioms

Coevolution of autonomy and interdependence Be your own chairperson

Postulates

Methodology Dynamic balance, selective authenticity I-area

Protection of life, the ability to make evaluative decisions The imperative nature of human values

Improvement of relationships, respect for life Limits are extendable, empathy

Priority of disturbances

Participative leading

Assume responsibility for your actions and for your non-actions Theme principle

We-area

It-area

Thus, the basic scheme of the TCI core concepts may be expressed as follows: three methodological principles, two postulates, and three axioms – all of which are structurally identical and share a common goal. The external surface of the tetrahedron consists of three triangles that can be imagined as identical structures. ‘Identical’ in this regard means that each surface represents an aspect of the I-area, the We-area, and the It-area. The external surface corresponds to the fourth factor, namely, the Globe. Again, the Globe plays an ‘extraordinary’ role. I like to use this thought to depict a simple two-dimensional basic scheme of the TCI key terms (Table 1). Although the original quotes clearly show the extent to which Kegan used the normal circumstances of higher education as found in the Anglo-Saxon middle and upper classes, we can still see that didactics of higher education must have some connection to the psychological status quo of the respective age group. There are many crises to deal with in the course of a ‘normal’ lifespan which are in the position to reactivate the basic self-organizational qualities stemming from childhood. While constructive-developmental theory is less inclined to perceive an identity between childhood and later lived phenomena, it is more inclined than psychoanalytic theory to see the unity and continuity of such phenomena. The evolutionary model permits one to observe

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recurring phenomena of similar color and tone throughout the lifespan without having at the same time to regard such similarities as regression or recapitulation. In the face of so much evidence that these later phenomena, while similar on the surface, are also far more complex and importantly different than their earlier cousins, psychoanalytic perspective inevitably renders them as regression. (Kegan 1982, 188)

The transitional time between two developmental stages is characterized by strong ambivalences and vulnerabilities. The movement from the imperial to the interpersonal, which enables a person to regulate his working with another, to construct the meaningfulness of shared agreements, to integrate his own authority with that of an employers, may be more crucial to an individual’s employability than any set of trade-related skills. (Kegan 1982, 182) For the young person who has begun to emerge from embeddedness in the interpersonal, the experiences of going away to college can provide a new evolutionary medium … But for a person who has not yet begun this emergence, the same message can be experienced … as a refusal to care. (Kegan 1982, 186)

As to didactics, it is important to note that the age of freshmen students differs by up to 6 years (depending on the educational system). So, while some of the students are preparing for their transition to working life and start of a family, others are not yet in the position to achieve a happy balance between autonomy and dependence. Yet this high level of heterogeneity needs not be viewed as an obstacle to the use of didactics that successfully promote personality. Rather, it must be seen as a positive climate for furthering development and learning. The personal developments Kegan (ibid.) highlighted may also be found in the approach and methodology of TCI. Here is an example from my own experience of how students gladly accept an offer of a supportive relationship that does not strive to achieve closeness but rather intensity while maintaining a certain distance. Intensity in this regard means that experiences and reflections relevant to personal development demand both empathetic and reserved mindfulness – something students can embrace after some hesitation and testing of the reliability of the other. The very special atmosphere that arises in successful TCI sessions may be traced back to this phenomenon. I was able to observe this by example of a long tradition of teaching master degree students to become tutors to undergraduate bachelor’s students (first semester). This tradition has created a stable balance and mutual support within the student body that eventually frees itself of direct supervision by members of the teaching staff.9 Against this background it becomes possible to work through conflicts with the full respect of everyone. It is not easy for everybody to go through a conflict, therefore finding constructive ways of doing this has to be part of good teaching in academia. This is part of the personality building, besides working on content. The issue can be exemplified by what occured at the beginning of the semester in a group session with 20 students which met every Monday at 10.15 a.m.: Two female 9  In this respect read in this volume further examples from different universities in the text of Meyerhuber about TCI in personnel development schemes.

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participants were always coming about 15 min late. When I mentioned to them that their behavior bothered me, they responded that if they were to come punctually, they would have to take a train 1 h earlier; it was, they insisted, unreasonable to expect that of them on a Monday. Some of the other students expressed their understanding for this position. Yet I insisted that the group discussions should begin punctually. This led to a general discussion that spanned the next few weeks. Another (male) student who also tended to come too late to class claimed that having a good conversation at breakfast was more important than appearing on time for the professor. I said that I too was interested in having a good conversation with him, albeit at 10.15 a.m. He would have to decide. The conflict culminated in the two (female) students who had instigated the debate taking the earlier train, while the (male) student preferred his long breakfast. I think this dispute was very favorable for the intensive group work that followed. Recently, a young colleague reported that a (female) student had protested against the length of a reading list with the words: “If I do all that I won’t have any time left for living my life” – which reminds me of Ruth Cohn’s words: “Living learning means I live when I learn.”

3  E  verything That Is Said Is Said in a Specific Situation, and Everything That Is Said Is Said to Someone Helmut Reiser

3.1  An Exercise in Understanding Coded Messages When students theoretically consider what occurs in groups – group pressure and peer pressure, conformity and power issues, infectious behavior, and resilience – that does not mean they truly understand how these phenomena actually work in real life. For example, they quite often fail to register signs of harassment or bullying. Many people cannot fathom how they can ‘see’ something without actually knowing how it works. One student asked: “How can I become aware of something that by definition is unconscious?” When students pose such questions, it may be time to start an exercise in perception, which to my experience can turn out to be quite advantageous under such conditions. This exercise is intended for groups of about 30 persons; larger or smaller groups may also be suitable if the exercise is modified accordingly. It demands a session of 2 × 90 min and a room in which, by moving the chairs around, you can organize four groups meeting simultaneously. Alternatively, the group could sit in an inner and an outer circle. What is also important is the presence of a proper emotional approach and sufficient work capacity within the group. If the relationship of the group to the

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group leader (professor) is aggressive, frosty, or otherwise negative, then I would not embark on such a venture but prefer directly addressing the disturbances in the group. I have carried out this exercise for the past 15 years with several groups, both inside the university educational system, as well as outside in various contexts and venues. There were only few situations where I had to abandon my plan because the conditions proved unfavorable. I introduce the exercise to the participants by recounting some examples of my own and of my colleagues of how to react to group and peer pressures, as it were, by default and without much contemplation. Further, I say: “I would prefer not to react right now to any questions or reactions. Rather, I would like to establish a situation in which we are all put in the middle of a virtual group situation. There’s no danger to you here except for the fact that you might discover something about yourself. And even if you are not inclined to doing so, I would request your simply trying it. If you absolutely can’t imagine participating today, perhaps for some personal reason, then I think it would be better for you to leave, without any explanation necessary.” The next step is to divide the group by chance, so that each small group has no less than 7 and no more than 10 participants in it (goal, 4 × 8 persons). The TCI rule says that doing this by chance still means respecting the final result. 3.1.1  T  heme: Coming Up Together with a Story via a Continuous Narrative Members of each of the small groups sit in a circle; two members of each group sit next to each other and assume the role of taking minutes, and of taking turns in writing down the sentences of the story as it is developed. Rules: (1) Each person can freely expand on the story, albeit subject to the next rule. (2) During Time A, a so-called speaking stone is passed in the circle to the left (clockwise). Whoever gets the stone, continues telling the story, saying at least one word or a maximum of three sentences, and then passes the stone further. The genre of the story (fairy tale, crime thriller, science fiction, love story, documentary, etc.) is taken over from the previous speaker but can then be changed. The group leader stands next to the first person to tell the story and starts it off: “And so they went on their way. When they came around the bend, they saw something they had never seen before.” Time A runs for 15 min (this is not announced in advance) or until each member has held the stone and continued the story at least twice. Then Time B starts, in which the stone is not passed to the left but to anyone in the group who wants to have it. A 5-min limit to Time B is announced: “Anyone who wants to talk can do so.” Then, after further 3–4  min, the final 2  min of storytelling are announced. Generally speaking, if there are no major deviations or delays, and if the groups have been carefully chosen, the first part takes about 30 min in total.

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3.1.2  Theme: Evaluation Based on the Four Factors I-It Track It is my experience that there is much laughter in nearly all subgroups in the process of laying out the basic tale, and there is generally additional communication among the participants. Especially when the story goes off into the absurd does much gaiety occur, or when the story contains references to certain persons and their peculiarities (mostly teachers). In the few groups in which no additional spontaneous communication occurs, the tempo tends to be slower. I presume that we are dealing here with fear of assuming responsibility or a fear of exposing oneself to ridicule. Once the story is finished, we take a break for 10 min, during which time those two group members who took the minutes number the sentences so that one of them has all the even-numbered and the other all the odd-numbered sentences. Later these are put together, so that one participant can read the entire story. I usually begin with the evaluation level, which is generally preferred; it lies on the I-It track. This is accomplished by having each group read their respective story. How things now proceed is decided by the group leader depending on the circumstances. If the majority of the groups are ‘hyped’, one can continue with a task that brings more peace and quiet and reflection to the forefront, e.g., questions concerning the connection between I and It, which can be considered in groups of two or three persons. An example is: “What contributions and situations were most impressive in the story-finding phase?” Vice versa, where the group is more lethargic and reflective, it may be beneficial to take a short break and then continue with a couple of smaller groups addressing the question: “While listening to the story, how did I contribute? Why did I contributed to it as I did and not differently?” Generally, without my actively asking, the participants discuss how the two changes to the rules affect the results. This in turn shifts the emphasis of the story to the I-We track, the subject of classic group dynamics. I-We Track The first rule change nearly always also changes the pace, whether slowing things down (seldom, usually caused by an increase in fear of bullying or taking on responsibility) or rather speeding things up (usually the case). Being freed from restraints puts the need for dominance or safety at the forefront. According to the TCI system, these processes lie on the We-Globe track. We-Globe Track The second rule change may result in some extreme reactions  – from complete withdrawal to authoritarian-style behavior – both responses to the intersection of the I-We-It tracks within a certain Globe configuration.

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Globe would appear to be the same for everyone. Yet the Globe is not only objectively different for each individual but also subjectively different. The interesting question is: Does the group imagine a common Globe? And, if it does, how does that become apparent in the story told? Here is an example: As professor and group leader, I am part of the group’s Globe, and I cannot escape that function with the help of TCI by being, say, especially friendly to everyone. That can be a very unpleasant position to be in. One student who had a bone to pick on me introduced to the story the figure of an old man who in the heat of the moment suddenly had to go to the bathroom. He had discovered that this was often a problem of mine. So, the phrase “he had to go to the bathroom” became a running gag in the story and came to stand for frailty and vulnerability. The phase of conversation in subgroups of 3–4 persons can have various themes depending on the needs of the students. We-It Track The next level of processing concerns the It, the goal of being able to reach the theme by means of cooperation. The theme of the second 90-min session thus can be:

–– Theme: What’s the sense of nonsense? –– Everything that is said is said in a specific situation. –– Everything that is said is said to someone.

The stories produced are full of unreal, whimsical events, especially when a group was unable to decide on any one direction or pattern. I generally tend to proceed by introducing my own short input with simple examples of texts from previous groups, pointing out when we are dealing with clichés and when we are dealing with symbols; what patterns and motives are present; how to detect moods and perspectives; how messages are being encoded. In addition to the work done in small groups and the plenary, we also enjoyed ‘readings’: Those who had taken the minutes read their group’s story so that all participants would hear several stories. Then, in smaller groups, either the chosen theme is discussed or some other ‘foreign’ story, sometimes as well in mixed groups. Whereas the first 90 min of this exercise on perception proceeds in an orderly and standardized manner, the last sequences are determined more by the varied interests of the s­ tudents. I write down some of the sentences voiced during the final discussion, expressed as general statements, as for example:

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–– Whenever I want to look at something more exactly, I have to take a few steps back. –– If I want to understand something, I have to approach it slowly and carefully. –– Destruction is easier to accomplish than construction – but it doesn’t hold up as long.

The statements of the students about what they have learned during the group processes and from TCI in particular are always rich and, for the most part, positive. It is always worthwhile to look at this material to discover something about the atmosphere present among the students in a particular discipline or age group, for example, whether the ‘little gray men’ with their poison fangs truly refer to the official test examiners and what can be done, as a group, to prevent or alleviate test anxiety, or whether there is some way to prevent oneself, as one student put it, from ‘gathering dust’ after landing a job in the civil service. But even if such counseling activities are not required, most participants of such a group experience enjoyed long-term benefits. Most important in this exercise is the insight that emotional impulses and barriers may not be immediately apparent even though they have a major influence on what we do or not do, and that it is indeed possible to recognize this fact and achieve open communication with others.

4  The Triple Mirror10 Helmut Reiser This example stems from the year 1987. At the time, I offered a ‘lecture’ in the form of a TCI group of between 60 and 120 students who met for several hours a week, in a seminar spanning over two semesters. The theme was ‘Learning in Groups of Persons with Behavioral Disorders’. The goal was to obtain a theoretical knowledge of group processes, to recognize them in own learning experiments, and to undertake a study of the fields and educational concepts on behavioral disorders to determine what role group processes play in these conditions and how they are treated. In addition to the results of sociopsychological research on small groups, this concerned especially results of psychoanalytical research on group processes. Besides its function of transmitting  First published in the Vierteljahresschrift für Heilpädagogik und ihre Nachbargebiete (1987b). Reprinted with permission of the publisher, the University of Freiburg (Switzerland).

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knowledge and preparing the participants for their later career, this university course had the advantage of p­ roviding a space for experiencing things that would prove to be of great relevance to the participants’ personality. This contribution explores how this type of experiential space, previously confirmed in a number of small groups, can also be employed with larger groups. In Reiser (1987a) I did report on my earlier attempts to structure such courses with the help of TCI. Depending on the expected audience, which other courses take place parallel, and my own personal possibilities, I like to work with demonstrations, lectures with ‘digestive breaks’ (metaphorically speaking), consisting of minigroups, group discussions, verbal and written feedback, etc. I introduce the benefits and disadvantages of small groups managed by tutors, as well as of independent small groups without any leadership. The leader-controlled lecture with subsequent discussion has a fixed place at the university and proved to be all the more productive; the more an atmosphere of intensive dispute could be achieved in the larger group. Besides the weekly course in the form of a large group with a systematic curriculum, small groups of students were formed in order to deal with themes and responsibilities of their own choosing. Further, an open planning meeting was held 1 h per week to discuss the results of each of the small groups. It was also charged with reflecting on the relationship between the work done in small groups and the larger group, and to plan all further activities. The small groups had recourse to a tutor who counseled them if required.

4.1  Role-Playing: The First Mirror Six participants of this course had formed a small group on the subject “Group Processes in Residential Childcare.” They had expressed the desire to withdraw as quickly as possible from the larger group, since they disliked the exertion involved with the large size. One participant spoke for herself and the others by saying they had a ‘right to regression’ and a ‘right to symbiosis’. But then, when the small group finally was constituted, they could not agree on how to proceed and what they should do. They did not ask for help and were unable to establish the desired harmony. Another group consisted of three graduate students who were looking at “Education in Juvenile Prisons.” One of them, Mr. A.11, had actually taught there but left the job a few weeks ago because he did not agree with the pedagogical methods being used in this prison. In the last hours of his time there, he had worked with a group of six youths, trying to help them create an audio drama, which ended in a ‘fiasco’. In order to better understand what had happened, the students had the idea of acting out the situation in the plenary. The actors included the participants from another group (working on residential childcare).

11

 Here in anonymous abbreviation.

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These two groups were doing a role-play on their results, in accordance with the instructions given by Mr. A., who himself played one of the youths (the castle ghost) at the center of their considerations, while another student assumed the role of Mr. A. as teacher. The whole performance was videotaped. For the audience, there were three levels present in the performance: On the first level, the actors presented the results of their work group; on the second level, they played the juvenile offenders interacting with their teacher; and on the third level was the actual plot of the drama that was being performed by the ‘prisoners’. Upon evaluating the group processes active on these three levels, it turned out that the three levels combined so-called mirroring effects, well known from psychoanalytic groups as transference12. In order to better understand the interrelationships and thus to understand the learning process of the students, I would like to first summarize the plot of their role-play story: The students portrayed an interaction within the group of prisoners, which was pervaded by periodical outbursts of aggression. When the teacher asked whether the youths would like to do an audio drama together, one of them blurted out: “Hui-Bui, Hui-Bui,” a well-known castle ghost from an old cassette-series for children, well-­ known to all participants. Despite the protests of one youth against such ‘childish bullshit’, the others declared they wanted to play that story. The teacher attempted to support this decision by interventions to both control and direct the group. Roles were assigned, and scenes to be played decided upon. In the first scene, the new lord of the castle arrives and is greeted by his servant with stark subservience. In the second scene, Hui-Bui, the castle ghost, shakes his chains (in the play: keys on a keychain) and menacingly pronounces he is the horror of horrors. In the third scene, the new lord makes a great ruckus at night, which induces the ghost to complain to the servant about him and subsequently threaten the lord with the following words: “I’ll show you who’s lord here!” They wanted this scene to be depicted exactly ‘as it is’ (i.e., as it is on the famous cassette recording). The teacher Mr. A. helped to record the first scene. The second scene needed two takes since the ghost failed to make enough noise in the first take – the students thought the door being shut should bang more, and the teacher thought the whole scene did not have enough power to it. The voice of the ghost, who was supposed to make everyone shake in their shoes, sounded whiny and squeaky. This was not much different in the second take, which was completed during the second session. There were repeatedly tumultuous interruptions. The third scene was attempted during the rest of the second session: The lord is sitting at the evening meal and is eating quite loudly. The ghost appears at the door and complains to the servant that the lord is being very loud. The servant tries to placate him and to distract the lord. Both of them speak in a low but excited tone; the ghost becomes angry and whiny. Finally, the ghost approaches the lord and is supposed to say: “I’ll show you who’s lord here!” But the actor playing the ghost was so excited that he began to stutter and failed to utter a single word. Another one yelled out: “Now he’s only stuttering!”  The reader unfamiliar with these terms is offered assistance with this terminology via a glossary at the end of the book.

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The scene ended in chaos. In the second take of this scene, the conversation between the lord and the ghost became even more agitated, and the actor playing the ghost once again failed to utter the sentence he was supposed to. The others read the ­sentence out loud to him, wrote it down on a piece of paper, and even dictated it to him. But the youth playing the ghost failed at every attempt and could not get past the first word. Now he lunged at the youth playing the lord, and a fist fight ensued. Five of the actors were involved, and furniture was broken. The youth who had originally said ‘childish bullshit’ now called out: “Stop it, stop it! Are you all crazy? They’re going to put us in detention!” The others froze, and the teacher stood there helplessly. Mr. A. recognized the problem once again; servant of two masters? At this point, time had run out. We looked at the video again and analyzed the steps of the group process and the events that had driven the excitement as well as the behavior of the individuals involved in the process. Many questions remained open. The first mirror shows how the play reflected the reality of the youths. But that did not complete the picture. A few weeks later a conversation with Mr. A. took place.

4.2  The Second Mirror Mr. A., who had been deeply involved with the problems of the youths at the juvenile prison, became aware how much his problem at the ‘slammer’ was being mirrored in this learning group. He registered that the anger directed toward him has been displaced to the point of meaningless explosion (partial projective identification). I did not have to explain much to him. He wanted to know what he should have done differently upon noticing how deeply he was caught up in the situation and the theme that had come to the forefront. We put our heads together and fantasized about the situation: How could he have helped the youths to act more freely and not so slavishly according to the script? Would they have been able to ‘drive the lord out of the castle’ if Mr. A. had told them to say something else besides the helpless statement “I’ll show you who’s lord here!”? For example, maybe they could have screamed, made awful noises that would have frightened the lord. We came to agree that metacommunication, i.e., talking about the actual theme in the group, was not possible but that the teacher could have offered more support on how to modify events on the symbolic level of the game sequence. The second mirror shows how Mr. A. saw himself in the symbolic presentation of the group he was supervising. He felt incapacitated; the ambivalence of being part of the prison staff as well as part of the revolt paralyzed him. His role as teacher demanded of the youths that they depict the revolt on stage, which was too much for them.

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4.2.1  Role-Playing as Illustrative Material In the next semester, I taught a course entitled “Working through Conflicts in Learning Groups,” again as a large group organized under TCI principles. Approximately 40 students from the previous semester attended this course  – in addition to some ‘newcomers’. In one of the sessions, I showed the video of ‘Hui-Bui, the Castle Ghost’. I had announced this in advance in order to inform the four actors from the original cast present in the new course. I showed the video and explained what had happened. Then, I posed the following questions to the group: 1 . What are the motives behind the plot of the ‘prisoners’ role-playing? 2. How are these motives connected to –– The individual ‘I’s’ (the history and situation of the prisoners and the teacher) –– The situation of the entire group, with respect to each other and to the teacher (‘We’) –– The formal instructional goal (‘It’) –– The overall conditions of the group (‘Globe’)

I then divided the group into smaller groups of 2–4 participants which were concerned respectively with questions 1, 2a, 2b, 2c, or 2d. Since we had already discussed the question of how unconscious group fantasies can be determined from symbols and scenes, and since the process model of TCI had already been introduced, I considered this task as one the students could solve. The discussion consisted of a systematic analysis of the role-playing in the first and second mirror. The groups could also discuss the participation of the teacher and any alternative action plans. Following this session, the members of the original group met, including some students not partaking in the current seminar.

4.3  The Third Mirror Some members of the original group had participated in very intensive and fruitful discussions as part of the current seminar. These were based on my vehement attacks on the antipedagogical and regressive trends I had noticed among the students. At this point, they were willing to view the group process from the vantage point of authority and rebellion, structure, and process. First, they met alone, looked at the video, and discussed everything. Then we met for a long discussion. The role-­playing now became the mirror of a third level, showing their behavior in the learning process with me. This discussion took place 7  months after the original role-playing. The students spoke about how difficult they experienced the group

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process, that it was characterized by mutual rivalry for the group leadership, while also emphasizing the need for harmony and well-being. They simultaneously protested against my stipulations and leadership and felt entitled to receive more from me than mere task assignments. “I’ll show you who’s lord here!” expressed toward me was understood as the key sentence, and ambivalence was the main emotional state. This discrepancy led the plenary group to express rejection, and the small work groups their paralysis. An offer on the part of the ‘prisoners’ to partake in the role-playing proved to be ‘the way out’. An analysis of the video showed that each of the protagonists had assumed the role they had played in the learning group also. Students played their role characteristically, that is, in accordance with their position in the learning group: the rebel, the mediator, the organizer, the unifier. The roles had been ‘populated’. Some resorted to motives taken from their own lives, others from their familial lives or educational experiences. In their analysis of what had happened in the ‘prisoners’ group, they discovered a number of interesting points that also helped me to understand the situation better: The reenactment of the old commercial cassette with its theme was a sort of compulsion to repeat (the past). The teacher’s insistence on keeping to the theme was directed toward this compulsion. In the many years of dealing with the learning process, the students had learned that the compulsion to repeat patterns from early childhood can be overcome – if the motives become fully developed, and if the form is fully achieved. The video provided an opportunity for them to view from a distance what had been unearthed. Would such a process have as well been possible with the ‘prisoners’? I wonder.

4.4  Discussion: Living Learning Instead of Training I hope my report clearly shows how I work (cf. Reiser et al. 1986a, b). TCI has as its goal ‘living learning’. What happens is methodologically considered, controlled by structural offers, and determined by educational premises all while being process oriented. Process orientation means which course the group eventually takes is not (fully) known or determined in advance. Rather, every learning process develops differently; there is no ‘standard procedure’ used as a fixed scheme. The group leader is not a programmer of learning steps but rather more like the director of an improvisation theater: the stage is set and decorated; the props are present as is a certain level of contemplation and methodology.13 The main instrument lies in the personality of the leader. The theme develops in the triangular space between individuals, the group process, and the subject matter at hand, all situated within a social environment. In the reflection phase, I consider the dynamic balance of structure, process, and trust – the latter not just between the individuals but especially trust in the individuals to develop trust toward themselves. By taking the learning process into their own hands, they are on the way of becoming their own ‘chairperson’. 13

 This is also true for the didactics used in school classrooms (cf. Reiser 1983, 1987a).

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5  T  CI as a Concept for School Development and School Administration14 Christoph Huber The Research Center for Teacher Education at the University of Tübingen has offered qualification courses for school administrators and school counselors based on TCI since 2008. These advanced vocational training courses are licensed by the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international. The development, management, and administrative work in schools represent complex and challenging tasks. On the one hand, the school is responsible for maintaining and promoting the skills of its employees; on the other hand, it must continually react to and implement impulses for change, whether their origin is internal or external. Those affected need a framework that can deal with such differences (cf. Dlugosch, quoted in Reiser 2010, 44) without necessarily resolving them. Reiser (ibid., 42ff.) speaks of the necessity of establishing professional concepts that allow professional practice to be constructively combined with the respective scientific research in the field. “Professional concepts are systems that have been concretely conceived based on reasonings and descriptions derived from practice, methodological tenets, and well-crafted rules of action” (ibid., 45). Theme-Centered Interaction is such a concept that offers the appropriate scope for the various fields of action found in the school (see also in Schneider-Landolf et al. 2010, 14f.). We can identify the following operative fields from the perspective of management and administration in the school system: –– –– –– –– ––

Human resource management and development Curriculum development Initiation and design of change processes Promotion of methods of cooperative work and exchange within the staff Working in multiprofessional teams, e.g., as part of school social work or inclusion –– Working with parents

In addition, TCI is a useful concept not just with regard to the overall school situation but is at the same time a didactical model that can be used within all classroom contexts to bridge the gap between learning and application  (Huber 2015). This increases the probability of a smooth transfer and implementation of what has been developed and learned. The fundamental principle for developing professional competences in school management and administration may be found in Lotz (2003, 14ff.), who first introduced the four elements of the following action concept (Fig. 2): 14

 An example to be learned from also for the tertiary sector of education.

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2. Vision: broad value concepts and action-oriented guidelines

3. Approach: basic attitudes toward productive casework

4. Method: ways and means of approaching the case at hand

1. Situational interpretation: professional criteria and references for understanding the case and for determining the next step

Fig. 2  Four elements of an action concept by Lotz (2003, 45)

These are the TCI-specific characteristics: 1. Situational interpretation: Reconstructing a situation can generally be done with the help of the four-factor model with the dimensions of ‘I’ (in the sense of a person and personality), ‘We’ (in the sense of commonality and organization of a relationship), ‘It’ (in the sense of an object, a mandate, a task, a part of the world), and ‘Globe’ (in the sense of relevant, accepted contexts, conditions, and events) and their interactions and interplay. 2. Vision: Here, we find the principles of education (in the German sense of ‘Bildung’, which includes both development and learning), encounter, cooperation, and responsibility as the central categories for creating a strategy and for controlling processes. Two perspectives are employed, respectively, for these principles: on the one hand, the perspectives of differentiation, i.e., the differences between the four dimensions; on the other hand, the perspectives of integration, i.e., what they have in common and what links them together. 3. Approach: At the center here lies the principle of self-responsibility and shared responsibility as well as that of work capacity. The concepts of participation and emancipation represent the central categories that guarantee transparency and involvement, a high level of awareness and openness toward the process, and a clear understanding of one’s function and role. 4. Method: The principle of dynamic balance presupposes the equivalence of the four factors (I, We, It, and Globe) while also accepting the fact that any processual equilibrium would be static and, in the end, prevent development. Thus, the question is how to enable a good and proper, flexible relationship between these four factors. Further, the goal is to generate, find, and introduce themes that can serve to provide meaningful structure and orientation in the ongoing processes.

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The purpose and goal of working with TCI lies in systematically working through the various steps outlined above, in order to establish leadership within a school as part of continued-learning activities. This is done in 6 modules with 18 work units of about 90 min, respectively, that deal with the most important matters. This occurs in the interaction between sections focusing on the personality and sections focusing on the professional context, in addition to steps involved with more generative, developmental, and practical matters. This example shows how after the basic academic teacher training the university can stay involved with the support of professionalizing school management staff and counselors. It also illustrates that TCI offers not only for classroom situations but also for structurally larger group processes, as within a school as a whole (or a university department as a whole) means of good group facilitation.

6  Developing Action Orientation Through Theme-Centered Process Analysis Walter Lotz and Birgit Menzel

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Fig. 3 Guideline priniciples for Themecentered Process Analysis along connections of the four TCI factors

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Theme-Centered Process Analysis developed from meetings that were held at the university as part of the internship of social-education workers. During the discussions on various cases from different fields, the question arose concerning which element from TCI to use when analyzing specific complex situations. The four-­factor model of TCI has proven to be a very good tool for analyzing empirical events. However, the axioms and postulates tend to be consulted more often when trying to determine and implement the value-oriented aspects of TCI in one’s own actions. In process-analytical interactions with practitioners who have no particular knowledge of TCI, it can often be advantageous to include this value-oriented approach in the four-factor model. Ruth Cohn herself noted this when she wrote that the four-factor model represents the “basis of humanistic ethics” (Cohn 1984, 438). A look at the lines connecting the elements of the four-factor model reveals that we can formulate the following four guidelines (cf. Behnisch et al. 2013, Chapter 2) (Fig. 3):

Encounter

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Education is the guiding principle behind the I-It connection: This deals with how humans relate to subject matters, that is, to everything that is taken in by our consciousness. This demands of us, on the one hand, the ability to objectively view what we experience and, on the other hand, the ability to closely interact with objects. ‘Objectivizing something’ and ‘appropriating something’ are the most basic competences needed in education. Encounter is the guiding principle behind the I-We connection: This is concerned with the quality of our direct relationships to other human beings. Reciprocity means subordinating the characteristics and capabilities of our individuality both toward oneself and toward others. The ‘I’ factor emphasizes the differential position we take toward others, and the ‘We’ factor concentrates on the ­integrative effects of togetherness. In this sense, how we connect with others is regulated by our differentiating competence of communicating and responding, on the one hand, and our competence in ‘establishing trust through mutual respect’, on the other hand. Cooperation is the guiding principle behind the We-It connection: This pertains to the common activities involved in solving tasks or addressing problems. Whenever several people coordinate their attention toward a particular thing, there incurs a dynamic communicative process directed toward comparing the various different expectations and working through any existing differences. What divides and what unites represent the two poles of an interaction that is oriented toward both maintaining distance and enacting compromise. The skills necessary in this endeavor may be seen as ‘confronting one’s own objective relationship’ and ‘willingness to reach a consensus on common ground’. Responsibility is the guiding principle behind the Globe: Based on the humanistic idea of ‘freedom in responsibility’, the spherical shape of the Globe introduces the dimension of the context of a social phenomenon. The more (or less) narrow environments act as the framework for the ensuring interactions. When Ruth Cohn emphasizes that each individual must decide on his/her own whether or not to become involved in what is happening (1994, 85), then intervention is as much an option as is keeping one’s distance. The extent of individual responsibility within the narrow (or less narrow) Globe conditions thus marks a partial (shared) responsibility, that is, responsibility not for the existing conditions but responsibility within the existing conditions. In this sense, as part of a responsible decision-­making process, ‘becoming involved’ and ‘keeping one’s distance’ are both basic skills with respect to the Globe. These four visionary principles enable multiple ways of approaching practical applications. They provide orientation for adapting one’s own behavior within the dynamic field of institutional task definitions as well as within one’s own personal and biographical preferences  (Lotz and Wagner 2007). This model is open to various situational interpretations  – while at the same time providing one with a clear orientation for mapping out future actions. This abovementioned technique is helpful for the person introducing case examples and for the person leading a group discussing such cases. How this applies may be seen in the following case example (by the author, cf. Lotz in Behnisch et al. 2013, 143f.).

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This took place during a training seminar concerning experiences gathered in the school environment held at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. For an entire year, about 20 social pedagogues would come for 4 h a week to the university to engage in supervised discussions of relevant everyday situations occurring in their respective educational institutions. Following their respective studies at the university, this gave them an opportunity to ease into their own professional practice; it then concluded with a colloquium. In the case example at hand, they were dealing with a situation in a kindergarten/nursery school. The woman describing the case (let us call her Ms P., social pedagogue) is charged with institutional administrative duties and recounts the case from her perspective as an administrator. In this particular facility, self-determined behavior of the children plays an important role in the educational work of the staff. However, as she noted, this institutional guideline appears to have faded into disuse. It was, she said, agreed upon by everyone at the team meetings that the children should only have to eat from the noonday meals what they chose to eat. Yet she repeatedly observed situations in which the kindergarten teachers would persistently urge the children to at least try some of the food offered. This was sometimes accompanied by a threat of having to go without dessert if they refused to try the food being served. The problem, from her vantage point, was that, when discussing the guidelines adopted by the institution, everyone held the voluntary eating habits in high esteem, but no one actually talked about implementing them. The background to this guideline had apparently been forgotten in the daily routine, and the educational standards they held so high were in fact mere flagships for the facility. The discrepancy between the ambitious goals and the actual practices among the staff was getting to her, making her wonder how best to resolve this dilemma and make it part of the discussion. Thus, she formulated the theme for the seminar as follows: “How do I motivate my team to quarrel about these matters?” After Ms P ended her report describing her practical experiences, a number of participants piped up immediately. They did not ask further questions but instead had ready-made answers of how they saw the problem and would attack it. This step introduced several relatively controversial approaches and widely varying solutions. I was surprised at how emotional the reactions were in the descriptions of the respective solution. It is my assumption that those who spoke up were in fact basing their comments on things that had occurred in their own professional practice. This reveals a clear and fundamental discrepancy between high educational ideals and the lowlands of actual daily practice.

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The comments bear witness to great emotional engagement and an unusual amount of resoluteness for this particular group, which I think served to cover up much insecurity. On the one hand, I was delighted to see a lively debate and much personal involvement in the group for this case. On the other hand, it slowly became clear that the seminar was presenting merely ‘agitated alternatives’ to the team in the kindergarten/nursery school which was so reluctant to engage in a true conflict. This didn’t seem to me to be a very productive approach to the case at hand. So how should we proceed in our group work? From the case description offered, and from my own observations of the subsequent discussion within the seminar group, I would pose this question as part of the guiding principle of cooperation: How can the seminar group discuss this particular case such that Ms P obtains a true perspective for future behavior when she returns to her work situation? Whenever it becomes difficult for a group to act cooperatively, it can sometimes be advantageous to see to it that the conditions are present for a productive dispute by establishing the necessary processes of education and encounter. In light of the high dynamic level present in the seminar group, it may be best to first create a structure that ensures both support and openness. I would suggest first forming groups of threes to discuss (for 10 min) the following questions: “What was going on in the case described? Why wasn’t the team discussing the problem? What was stopping them from arguing about it?” I think it is easier when working in a small group to register the opinions of others before immediately damning them. Thus, I set the rule that all contributions should first go uncommented. This creates an open atmosphere, where opinions can be exchanged without destroying trust. In order to strengthen the role of education, I then initiate an open discussion in which each group participant takes up the position of one of the staff members of the facility. By speaking from their respective position, they can better imagine why someone in the team would advocate one opinion or the other, and why they would want to avoid addressing and arguing about the problem at hand. My intention is to have all possible feelings and vantage points on the table which have led to conflict avoidance. Such a discussion provides enough room for controversial standpoints and enough protection against being made responsible for voicing ‘politically incorrect’ opinions – and being attacked for it. Discussions of this type may – surprisingly – introduce us to a broad range of apprehensions as well as the accommodating avoidance mechanisms.

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The next step is to look closely together at what has surfaced during the discussion – the feelings and suggestions about how to proceed. Better ways of cooperation develop during the educational process, due to ‘structured openness’ in support of encountering each other in the group. The thoughts expressed about the events taking place in the kindergarten/nursery school stir up all sorts of questions with which the participants are grappling in their own everyday professional life. By reflecting on our own work process, we may finally address the theme introduced by Ms. P: “How do I motivate my team to debate the question at hand?” Perhaps she too can use our detour via structured proposals to initiate educational processes and encounters, creating the conditions necessary for the team in her facility to confront each other and the matter at hand – and in the end to reach a cooperative solution.

The method of  Theme-Centered Process Analysis offers, on the one hand, support for the idea of reflecting on the background of individual cases as well as, on the other hand, for creating a dynamic work process in a group situation. The principles of education, encounter, cooperation, and responsibility – under the given circumstances – serve as the orientational beacons for navigating rough terrains and for developing individual professional solutions. Are the methods of immediate process-analytical reflection and creation of a dynamic work process within a group in the ‘here and now’ limited to educational fields? I think not; they can be applied in all practical situations and in all spheres of activity where communicative acts15 lie front and center (e.g., counseling, group work, training, and education). We see TCI as a conception for reflecting on and organizing communicative action.

7  T  CI in the Development of Teams and Team Research: The Theme-Centered Team Dialogue Hiltrud Loeken The Theme-Centered Team Dialogue (TCD16) was developed by Reiser and Loeken in 1995 as part of the scientific backing of a new educational organization in  See Jürgen Habermas (1995).  In the German language‚ this method was established under the term “Themen-zentriertes Teamgespräch” (TZT) by Reiser and Loeken, here translated as Theme-Centered Team Dialogue (TCD).

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Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The main objective of the new facility was to enable pupils with severe behavioral problems to stay in a mainstream school, instead of attending the segregated special needs school. This was to be achieved by counseling the mainstream school teachers as well as providing direct support for the pupils and their families in the form of special-needs and social educational assistance. This task was undertaken by multiprofessional teams, consisting of special-needs teachers and social pedagogues or social workers17. The scientific accompaniment included providing consultation for the responsible institutions (schools as well as local child and adolescent welfare agencies), developing concepts, moderating the developmental process, and accompanying the respective institution during the first phases of the organizational work and preparing evaluation tasks. This complex set of tasks demanded that the research group should find their position between the two poles of participation and involvement as well as providing structural assistance, on the one hand, and maintaining a scientific and objective distance, on the other hand. Based on the basic positions found in TCI, it was decided to create a dialectical mixture of distance and closeness which could be put to productive use (see Loeken 2000, 15–17; Reiser and Loeken 1995, 102– 105). The act of balancing closeness to the object of research and systematic dissociation is most successful if the discrepancy is transparent and if suitable methods for obtaining objective results are introduced. This is where the Theme-Centered Team Dialogue entered the picture. This method was conceived as both a research instrument and as a way to provide the team of the new facility with a method for reflecting and further developing of their own standpoints and work methods – above and beyond the daily routine and therefore in a special setting. The dialogues took place at the university and were recorded. Methodologically speaking, the Theme-Centered Team Dialogue is a means of investigative group discussion in a real group committed to achieving mediative results (cf. Lamneck 2005). Both the form of the discussions and their evaluation corresponded well to TCI.  The implementation of the TCI group process model made it possible to look closely at the levels of the team members (I-level), the team as a whole (We-level), the common task or predominant theme (It-level), and the existing environmental conditions (Globe). The leadership of the Theme-Centered Team Dialogue acted according to TCI, but consciously did not intervene with the goal of transforming or modifying events, but rather, because of the research background of the project, limited the leading role to providing a general structure, intervening only in connection with the theme and group interaction if needed (cf. Reiser and Loeken 1995, 109). Preparations of the Theme-Centered Team Dialogue, e.g., theme designation and the choice of proper structures, were all facilitated according to TCI rules. This means using various materials pertinent to scientific guidance, such as short  In Germany, staff members from these different professions were active in such fields of work during the 1990s. In other countries this might differ, and over time the professions involved might change as well.

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structured logs of the team dialogues. Such a log included the themes discussed by the group, the cooperative agreements made, the case-related methods, the participation of the individual team members, peculiarities in the discussion process, as well as the participation of the person preparing the log file. Material from these logs then served as the themes for the next team dialogue, which, in the opinion of the scientific accompaniment, deserved to be focused on. Each Theme-Centered Team Dialogue consisted of two units of 45 min each. The theme of the first unit tended to be concerned with the previous discussion and with any open threads, whereas the second unit was generally directed toward future themes. It began with a short inquiry to determine where the individual positions were vis-à-vis the group position. Later feedback revealed that the discussions ensuing because of this method were very helpful for clearing up any concerns. In order to prepare the four team dialoges for later evaluation as part of the case study, the recordings were transcribed and complemented by notes from the observation logs and the overall dynamics of the discussion. A more differentiated assessment of the Theme-Centered Team Dialogue took place at the end of the project, which allowed the researchers to approach their material with some hindsight (cf. Loeken 2000). The evaluation was done using a special multistage method, oriented toward the TCI model in its choice of categories. First, thematically similar passages were summarized, and then comments were added concerning the development of the theme and the overall process. Finally, an initial interpretation was forwarded. Thereafter, a complete list of themes was prepared for the entire Theme-­Centered Team Dialogue, including the different levels (top themes, subthemes, secondary themes, etc.). Then an overall assessment of the discussion, including Globe factors, was done, which now contained first hypotheses about the status of the team development and the assignment of future tasks. Finally, the themes were classified by content, independent of the chronology, and – in a final step – were cross-sectionally analyzed and viewed with respect to the chosen categories. The results were ordered theoretically and then discussed. Of special interest in the case study were the categories that emerged concerning the professional identity of the occupational groups involved (the ‘I’s’ of the professional role-players) and the status of the overall team development (the ‘We’ or team as a specific group form), since they had proved to be meaningful against the backdrop of the group’s struggle with the task and the development of workflows and structures (the ‘It’ and the ‘Globe’). They were also studied with an eye toward their mutual relationships, which subsequently led to a meaningful scientific discourse. This example might encourage researchers as well as students in their research with groups to include TCI in their portfolio of methodological means.

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8  Final Thoughts Helmut Reiser The didactical elements discussed in this chapter repeatedly refer to the model of development propagated by TCI. In contrast to the widespread presumption that the desire to be independent and authentic necessarily limits efforts to belong and bond, TCI assumes that these two basic emotional strivings in fact complement each other. Strong contrasts drive development if one succeeds in pushing the contradicting desires to the forefront and creating a dynamic balance of the different affects, the goal being to offer chances to work through ambivalent feelings. The more attention we pay to our inner voices and their interconnections, the more apparent contradictions we discover, examples being nearness and distance – or, as shown in the example provided, the two students who thought they could not make it to class on a Monday morning at 10 o’clock but had to deal with the intensity and resistance of their professor. These issues are individual but also age-­ specific and thus ‘normal’ events that occur during a transitional crises. According to Kegan, we may presume they appear as part of the development in the interindividual level of self-organization: The young teacher at the juvenile penitentiary wavers during a developmental crisis while defining their institutional self. One would cause greatest harm to their personality development by trying to persuade, convince, or otherwise threaten them into making a decision. Situations that demand evaluative decisions must be approached thematically (i.e., in accordance with the four angles of the four-factor model), ecologically (i.e., from the level of fatigue and risk tolerance), and structurally (i.e., the realistic chance of raising the performance of the group). An independent, realistic, and personal decision represents one of the most important goals, if not the most important goal, of TCI (cf. Reiser and Lotz 1995). The report about the various levels of mirroring appearing (and disappearing) in the seminar group clearly shows the developmental tasks and group processes occurring parallel to those taking place on the individual level. These can be assessed very reliably and practically with the method proposed by Walter Lotz. But whenever studies designated as empirical research lead to time-consuming survey and evaluation procedures, they may no longer be feasible under practical circumstances of a lecture. The contributions by Lotz/Menzel and Loeken take a different approach: Their methods are based on very carefully planned training of professional observers using the theoretical foundation of TCI.  The systematic application of Theme-Centered Process Analysis according to Lotz shows that considerably more detailed and more exact descriptions are now possible than in the past  – as illustrated by the work-­experience reports prepared by students of special education.

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At the beginning of this chapter, we introduced some didactical elements to be explored in order to produce various developmental potentials. Individual development is embedded in the coevolution of autonomy and interdependence, as emphasized by a number of prominent philosophers and psychologists (M.  Buber  1926, J.  Piaget  1959  in the edition by Leber 1995, H.  Kohut  1959, J. Lichtenberg et al. 1992). From the Piaget school we learn about the age-related transitional crisis in self-organization; psychoanalysis offers us an interpretation of the unconscious currents and tendencies in the group. They derive primarily from living everyday life as it is and from working through psychological problems or working with creative media (e.g., group storytelling). TCI group leaders can deal constructively with all these impulses if they have been trained to do so and possess the necessary skills. This enables them to work with all sorts of groups and institutions (cf. Reiser 2014). For lecturers in higher education, this offers great support for they various obligations in teaching, research and with practice partners, as became apparent. The examples provided reveal also that TCI itself is developing in two different directions: –– First, a broadening of TCI by including innovative and/or experimental settings and ever more exact analyses of the external and internal events as well as continuing the theoretical discussion. –– Second, by expanding TCI to include new fields of application or to strengthen existing fields. In this respect insights were offered with the examples provided by Loeken and Huber for settings in higher education. Deepening and expanding the horizon are related to each other; similar to how autonomy and interdependence are related: We must foster both!

References Behnisch, M., Lotz, W., Maierhof, G. (2013). Soziale Gruppenarbeit mit Kindern und Jugendlichen, Theoretische Grundlagen - methodische Konzeption - empirische Analyse. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz -Juventa. Buber, M. (1926). Rede über das Erzieherische. (1st edit. 1953 in M. Buber, Reden über Erziehung). Berlin: Lambert Schneider, 11–49. Cohn, R.C. (1984). Buch III. In Farau, A. Cohn, R.C., Gelebte Geschichte der Psychotherapie. Zwei Perspektiven. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 199–649. Cohn, R.C. (1994). Verantworte dein Tun und dein Lassen  - persönlich und gesellschaftlich. Offener Brief an G. Hoppe. Themenzentrierte Aktion, Issue 2, 85–87. Dlugosch, A. (2003). Professionelle Entwicklung und Biografie. Impulse für universitäre Bildungsprozesse im Kontext schulischer Erziehungshilfe. Bad Heilbrunn/OBB: Klinkhardt. Farau, A., Cohn, R.C. (1984). Gelebte Geschichte der Psychotherapie. Zwei Perspektiven. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Habermas, J. (1995). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns. 2 Vols. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp. Hendriksen, J.  (1997). Begeleid intervisie model. Collegiale advisering. En problemoplosing Utgeverij II. Nelissen: B.V. Baarn. [Deutsch: Intervision, 2011. Weinheim/Basel: Juventa.]

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Huber, C. (2015). Widerstände  - der lange Schatten der Schulentwicklung. In K. Kansteiner, C. Stamann, (Eds.) (2015), Personalentwicklung in der Schule zwischen Fremdsteuerung und Selbstbestimmung. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 101–115. Kegan, R. (1982). The Evolving Self. Problem and process in human development. Cambridge: Havard University Press. Kohut, H. (1959). Introspection, empathy, and psychoanalysis. An Examination of the Relationship between Mode of Observation and Theory. Journal American Psychoanalytical Association, 459–483. Lamneck, S. (2005). Gruppendiskussion. 2. Aufl. Weinheim: Beltz. Lichtenberg, J.D., Lachmann, F.M., Fosshage, J.L. (1992). Self and Motivational Systems: Towards A Theory of Psychoanalytic Technique. New York: Psychology Press. Loeken, H. (2000). Erziehungshilfe in Kooperation. Heidelberg: Winter. Lotz, W. (2003). Sozialpädagogisches Handeln, Eine Grundlegung sozialer Beziehungsarbeit mit Themenzentrierter Interaktion. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag. Lotz, W.,Wagner, C. (Eds.) (2007). Themenzentrierte Interaktion in der Beratung und in therapeutischen Prozessen. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag. Lotz, W. (2015). Berededt Schweigen – Themenzentrierte Prozessanalyse als Reflexionsinstrument professioneller Praxis. In A. von Kanitz, W. Lotz, B. Menzel, E. Stollberg, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Elemente der themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI). Texte zur Aus- und Weiterbildung. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht. Piaget, J. (1995). Intelligenz und Affektivität in der Entwicklung des Kindes. Ed. & translated by A. Leber. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp. Leber, A. (1995). Ein Schlüssel zum Verständnis menschlichen Verhaltens. In J. Piaget, Intelligenz und Affektivität in der Entwicklung des Kindes. Edited & translated by A. Leber. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp, 17–36. Reiser, H. (1983). Die Themenzentrierte Interaktion als pädagogisches System im Verlgeich zur Gestaltpädagogik. In A. Prengel (Ed.), Gestaltpädagogik. Weinheim: Beltz-Jurvena, 253–277. Reiser, H. (1987a). Beziehung und Technik in der psychoanalytisch orientierten themenzentrierten Gruppenarbeit. In H. Reiser, G.H. Trescher, Wer braucht Erziehung? Impulse der psychoanalytischen Pädagogik. Mainz: Grünewald, 177–191 Reiser, H. (1987b). Vorlesungen – Vom Vorlesen zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion in Großgruppen am Beispiel eines Rollenspiels oder: der dreifache Spiegel. In U. Haeblin, C. Amrein (Eds.), Forschung und Lehre für die Sonderpädagogische Praxis. Bern, Stuttgart: Haupt, 96–102. Reiser, H. (1998). Die Themenzentrierte Interaktion als Rahmenkonzept für Supervision. In K. Hahn, M. Schraut, K.-V. Schütz, C. Wagner, (Eds.), Themenzentrierte Supervision. Mainz: Grünewald, 9–36. Reiser, H. (2006). Psychoanalytisch-systemische Pädagogik. Erziehung auf der Grundlage der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Reiser, H. (2010). Eine konstruktivistische Sichtweise des Globe. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/ Theme-Centered Interaction, 1/2010. Gießen: Psychosozial Verlag, 56–65. Reiser, H. (2014). Vorschlag für eine theoretische Grundlegung der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 2/2014. Gießen: Psychosozial Verlag, 69–77. Reiser, H., Klein, G., Kron, M. (1986a). Integration als Prozess. In Sonderpädagogik 3, 115–122. Reiser, H., Klein, G., Kron, M. (1986b). Integration als Prozess. In Sonderpädagogik 4, 154–160. Reiser, H., Loeken, H. (1995). Die TZI in der pädagogischen Begleitforschung. In Portele, G., Heger, M. (Eds.), Hochschule und Lebendiges Lernen. Weinheim: Deutscher Studienverlag, 101–115. Reiser, H., Lotz, W. (1995). Themenzentrierte Interaktion als Pädagogik. Mainz: Matthias Grünewald. Schneider-Landolf, M. (2010). System der TZI.  In M. Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbuch Themenzentrierte Interaktion (TZI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 67–77.

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Schneider-Landolf, M., Spielmann, J., Zitterbarth, W. (2010) (Eds.), Handbuch Themenzentrierte Interaktion (TZI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Schneider-Landolf, M. Spielmann, J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), translated by J. Smith. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Spiess, W. (Ed.)(1991). Gruppen- und Team-Supervision in der Heilpädagogik. Bern/Stuttgart: Haupt-Verlag. Stern, D.N. (1985). Interpersonal world of the infant. A view from psychoanalysis and developmental Psychology. London, New York: Karnac. Willmann, M. (2008). Sonderpädagogische Beratung und Kooperation als Konsultation: Theoretische Modelle und professionelle Konzepte in Deutschland und den USA. Hamburg: Verlag Dr. Kovac.

Part II

Further Case Experiences in Different Fields of Study and Cultures

On the Psychology of Civil Courage. A Theme-Centered Interactive Teaching Experiment: Reflections on the Process and Insights into the Subject Friedemann Schulz von Thun and Roswitha Stratmann

Dedicated to Ruth C. Cohn

Abstract This teaching experiment illustrates the spirit of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). The approach of Theme-Centered Interaction is explained and the biography of its inventor Ruth C. Cohn laid out in the first chapters of this book (cf. Meyerhuber; Scharer; Reiser). At the end of the volume, the reader finds a glossary with key terms. Therefore in this contribution, the authors refer to TCI but do not explain it in much detail and Ruth C. Cohn’s influence on our method of leading groups. We feel the need to qualify ourselves by noting that we conducted the seminar with ‘impure Theme-Centered Interaction’ (e.g., not evolving exclusively from the process but establishing a rough structure for orientation beforehand). However, Ruth Cohn protested against this in a letter: “A pure theme-centered interaction, which sounds good on paper, but is not true as a fact, would be named by less poetic people as ‘classic theme-centered interaction’ or ‘real theme-centered interaction’, and that is really not a true name for it. What’s wrong with it? theme-centered interaction does not impose dogmatic guidelines, but actually is open to the particulars of the subject, the personalities of the leaders, etc.” Otherwise she was so enthusiastic about this report to such an extent (“I find your structure and everything which has come out of the process to be unique, superb and wonderful”) that we would like

First published in German: Schulz von Thun, F., Stratmann, R. (1995). Zur Psychologie der Zivilcourage – Ein TZI-Lehrversuch. Reflektionen zum Prozess und Erkenntnisse zum Thema. In G. Portele, M. Heger (Eds.), Hochschule und Lebendiges Lernen. Beispiele für Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag, 13–37 F. Schulz von Thun (*) University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] R. Stratmann Hamburg, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_4

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to dedicate it to her, not without implementing her recommendations, the Ten Theses on the subject of civil courage at the end (“On the first reading I was so fascinated by the content that I didn’t even read the word ‘thesis’. Not only did I not register it, but I didn’t really think about it. And I think that would be the case for many people”). Keywords  Theme-Centered Interaction · Civil courage · Team teaching · Process-­ oriented teaching · Process analysis

1  Background and History In many respects, the seminar, which took place at the University of Hamburg in the summer of 1993 and which we will discuss in the following report, was unusual – both with regard to the subject matter and the process. Normally in our field of ‘consulting and training,’ we are dealing with quite different contents: communication, guiding a discussion, clarification, etc. – themes with great practical relevance but without political reference. For the last year or so, however, there had been ‘rumblings’ among the instructors and lecturers: Shouldn’t we be using our psychology skills to make connections with the current political questions, at a time when racism and xenophobia have reappeared in Germany, when houses are set afire and people are harassed and disparaged in public? Particularly our colleague Beate Falt would not give up on the idea that we should deal with the subject, and she started the first workshops. At the same time, the words ‘civil courage’ were on the lips of many politicians and journalists, and while we did not see an adequate solution to the problem, we had to ask ourselves: What do we have, what does ‘psychology’ actually offer on this subject? Thus the idea of the seminar came about. One thing was clear from the outset: It would not be about delivering subject matter or methodological practice but about together approaching a topic that challenges us personally and connects our private and psychological existence with the political world – a Theme-Centered Interaction seminar in which the theme (‘It’) arises from our participation in the ‘Globe’ and connects ‘It’ with the ‘I’ and ‘We’. Though at this point, that was pretty much the only thing that has been clear! At our first preparation meeting, the two of us sat across from each other really clueless and stuck – hey, so we really don’t know each other? Was this because of the subject or more precisely because of our ‘reference deficit’ on the subject? In any case, we were painfully aware of everything we did not have for this series of seminars: We had barely any more knowledge or experience than the rest of the participants. Neither of us was a shining role model for a life filled with civil courage. We did not know what exactly was going to happen at the seminar or where the subject matter

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would lead us. We could not look back to previous experiences of others. An exact plan of the seminar, even a preparation of individual classes and lectures, was thus not possible. It was impossible to think of behavioral training, because it was utterly open on what could be trained and how. What was ‘civil courage’ in the first place? It was clear to us that in no previous course of study had we as leaders truly participated (carrying out the principle of ‘participatory leadership’ in its broader sense). We, like the students, would be part of the Globe, learning and developing personally on the subject and being actively involved in the group process. So we decided to make a virtue out of our lack of knowledge  – not to ‘lord above the subject’: We decided to deliberately show ourselves as participants, as part of the circle of those who ‘open themselves up’ to the subject both personally and professionally. And after all, we did have some basic equipment for the trip: • A profound and serious interest in this subject and the conviction that it is important and deserves attention. • Two good books: Singer’s (1992) concrete and emboldening discussions about how one can learn to interfere and Müller-Hohage’s book (1988) on the psychological aftermath of the Nazi period. • A great deal of experience and a substantial methodological repertoire on how to lead groups. • The situation of our joint leadership: We would be able to approach our topic and tasks by dialogue together and knew that we would not founder alone. • A conviction, which had grown over many years of professional life, that it is precisely the confrontation with all its mistakes and shortcomings, as well as the lack of civil courage, that can generate productive changes and release new energy. • Finally, the audacity to say that this equipment would be sufficient enough to start the journey into the unknown.

1.1  Developing a General Structure Starting at this point, it would perhaps have been logical to plan and direct the seminar completely based on the process. We both did not (otherwise) lead our seminars using ‘pure’ Theme-Centered Interaction; we needed a little more safety: an approximate idea of what should come next. So we determined in advance three ‘stations’ (milestones) which we wanted to pass through, in the following order: 1 . A gradual approach to the subject matter 2. Looking back: civil courage and personal family history 3. Looking ahead: personal development and action planning Here we will briefly describe what these stations are all about.

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1.1.1  A Gradual Approach to the Subject Matter We sensed that the subject of ‘civil courage’ has really got something to it! It is both political and highly personal. That is why we felt that everyone should have enough time and opportunity to find their own personal relationship to the subject. Precisely because this topic is unusual in the training of psychologists and we cannot assume that everyone means the same thing when they say the words ‘civil courage’, the group had to have the opportunity to work out their own shared understanding. 1.1.2  Look Back: Civil Courage and Personal Family History Especially Müller-Hohage’s book Verleugnet, verdrängt, verschwiegen: Die seelischen Auswirkungen der Nazizeit (translates as Denied, Suppressed, Concealed: The Psychological Effects of the Nazi Period) made it clear to us that our present political existence can only be understood against the background of German history, including most importantly its fallout on one’s own family. We thank our colleague Ruth Maria Maul for her fervent recommendation of this book (and this aspect of the subject). As far as the development of civil courage is concerned, we did not wish to proceed at once but first of all to explore its roots in their growth or nondevelopment, both biographically and in the family history. Our credo was encouragement and training lead to deeper and more lasting development of personality if internal obstacles have been previously recognized and worked through. 1.1.3  Looking Ahead: Personal Development and Action Planning In this final phase of the seminar, each participant should be given the opportunity to determine, as set against the backdrop of their history and their current status on the subject of ‘civil courage’, an exercise project for his/her own personal development goal: “What do I want to change in my behavior, what activity would I like to try, which obstacles on the road to civil courage would I like to face and still need to grapple with?” These projects developed by the participants during the course of the seminar should be practiced in the form of role-plays or – if already tested ‘outside’ – with reconstructed situations, so that the individuals and the group as a whole could learn about the real opportunities and dangers of behaving with civil courage. This was our preparation so far. In the following pages, we chronologically describe the group process, leadership methods, and content yields of the seven 3-h sessions spread fortnightly throughout the semester. The first meeting was attended by 28 participants, of whom approximately 20 continued to participate regularly.

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2  The Process 2.1  The First Session The composition at the beginning – sitting in a large circle without tables, in front of a flipchart board – we let ourselves be guided by three principles. 2.1.1  The Truth of the Situation A few introductory thoughts on the question: How is it that we in particular (two facilitators) on this particular subject matter in this particular field of study and in this particular form offer an event? What is the background, what is the sense of it all? And let us see if ‘you in particular’ are in the right place also! Please bear in mind that this time, we will not be ‘the experts’, and you will be required to do a lot of your own work!

Despite (or perhaps because of?) this ‘anti-consumer attitude’, everyone wanted to stay. 2.1.2  Your Own Reference to the Topic: Introducing the Leaders Next, no warm-up games, no organizational session planning, no lecture by an expert was taking place. Instead, a narrative by one of the leaders was offered on what he personally connects with the subject: memories, key experiences, examples from his personal history. In addition, a few drawings on flipchart paper substantiated this narrative. All this seemed strangely centered on the leader and initially not at all interactive. But thus the subject became actually emotionally palpable, suddenly the mood changed, there was immediate resonance from the large group. In our experience, dividing up into small groups only makes sense if, in the plenary session, a shared feeling and thematic experience have already led to the feeling of a ‘We-formation’ – a feeling of belonging to the group. 2.1.3  ‘Building a Wheel’ If we imagine that the participants are grouped around the central theme (see Fig. 1) and that each person has their own individual, personal reference (and ‘way in’) into the subject, then we can use the image of a ‘wheel’ to visualize what happens in the

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Fig. 1  Begin with ‘wheel building’

group process: The theme functions as a ‘hub’, the individual participants with their own ‘wheel spokes’ gather around it, and each person clarifies and formulates their personal connection to the subject. Thus contact is made (in the sense of a ‘We-formation’), and connections are formed between the individuals, in the picture indicated as parts of the ‘tire’ (outer rim of the wheel). After personal introduction of the facilitator, this ‘wheel’ of the group was built. We gave the following instructions: Split up into small groups of four people each and discuss the following question: ‘What does civil courage mean to me in my life? What do I associate with it, where did it come from, where does it occur in my life, what do I understand it to be and what does it have to do with me?’ You have one hour; then we’ll come to your group and give you further instructions.

The seven subgroups spread out into two smaller rooms (one small group each) and the large seminar room (five small groups). After 1 h they received additional instructions: “Please try to summarize the most important aspects that came out of your exchange in a diagram. Use colored pens on a large sheet of paper. This diagram is for a presentation in the plenary. Please develop a suitable form for your presentation, due in our next session!” In this session, we had no additional time to meet in the plenary. Instead, a lot of work had to be done in the small groups, while we had the impression of being well received. Additionally it became evident to us that we would not need to prepare a lot for the next meeting: The small groups would (hopefully) report in a personal, lively, and tangible manner, and we were looking forward to it.

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2.2  The Second Session (A Fortnight Later) We started with a morning round, which we planned to maintain as a structural element for all further sessions and which turned out to play an extremely important role throughout the seminar. Morning round: At the beginning of each session, all participants had the opportunity to report on current experiences related to the subject of civil courage, to talk through remaining ideas and unfinished business from the last session, to express dissatisfaction about the course of the seminar, as well as to share important insights and thoughts. We had been skeptical before the seminar about whether the morning round would make sense in such a large group and whether anyone would ever be able to say or share something about themselves. It turned out that the morning round was very productive and important for the building of trust, often providing decisive insights and impulses. As a rule, our morning round lasted between half an hour and 1 h. We then began with the presentation of diagrams from the small groups. An intensive dialogue between the small groups and the plenary was developing. With each new presentation, so many new facets and connections were revealed that in this second session only a total of five groups got their turn. This did not correspond with our planning, but we were not at all unhappy about it and adapted accordingly. A word about the diagrams created by the four-person groups: In contrast to the common practice of presenting small group results with the help of Metaplan cards, it was important for us to have the original pictures these groups created. They are more likely to pick up and deal with emotional aspects of the subject, and they also would provide something for the eye to focus on, as if they were islands in a sea of digital words.

2.3  The Third Session The morning round showed us that most participants were very much in agreement with the way the seminar was going. But there were also impatient voices: “We’ve had enough talking, let’s finally see some action!” At this point, we made our viewpoint on this question clear again: “We certainly plan to incorporate action planning and behavioral training, but not until we have had time and space to explore the depths of the subject, making a ‘slow’ approach.” By explicitly acknowledging and commending the need for action of these impatient members, we at the same time asked them to agree to this deep-searching introductory phase. The effort of reaching a consensus on the next steps was fruitful. The atmosphere during the presentations of the two remaining groups was close, touching us all deeply: shame about lack of action, where we felt “I really should have…” with respect to civil courage situations. Also hope that change is possible, feelings of

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solidarity with the others in the room, a search for role models, reflection on the consequences of our schooling in obedience, to actively engage and stand up for our values rather than to just let it be, for ourselves and for others as well. Thus, the ‘wheel’ of the group (Fig. 1) was now built, and the first insights and conjectures on the topic were ‘ripe’. As the conclusion of the first part of our roughly outlined structure, we presented some – during the process derived – theses in the form of a short presentation:

Thesis 1: What is ‘civil courage’? (Attempt of a definition) ‘Civil courage’ is the courage to take value-based action in a social context under social risk conditions.

This action can be either a spontaneous reaction to a wrongful act of injustice or a strategically planned action to minimize everything in the world which is detrimental to a reverence for life and its dignity. Similarly, this act may consist of direct intervention (material action) or a publicly perceptible position statement (communicative action). It requires personal courage because, depending on the circumstances, it is expected that other people will demonstrate at least partial negative sanctions. People might turn away from the action, make fun of it, ridicule, antagonize, punish, etc. right on through to arrest and violence, so that from the standpoint of opportunity (and also often from the standpoint of obedience to authority), it would be advisable to refrain from taking action – to look away, to remain silent, to simply grin and bear it, to fit in, and to remain passive. In the context of this definition, the group identified two dimensions of civil courage which allowed us to distinguish and classify very different forms of civil courage (Fig. 2).

planned, strategic and organized political interference

communication, puplic appearance

action intervention

spontaneous reaction to situations which one has unexpectedly encountered Fig. 2  Two dimensions of civil courage

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Planned, strategic, and organized political interference Communication, public appearance Action intervention Spontaneous reaction to situations which one has unexpectedly encountered

That led us to a second thesis: Almost everyone knew this part of themselves, an inner voice which wants to speak up publicly in the face of obvious injustice or harm, in order not to let an ominous event take its course. But this little inner ‘David’ is often surrounded, virtually encircled, by many inner ‘Goliaths’. These represent the many ‘worriers’ Thesis 2: By showing civil courage, the (inner) ‘David’ becomes surrounded by many inner ‘Goliaths’.

who are aligned with opportunity and obedience, silencing the inner little David with sentences like “Don’t make a fool of yourself!” or “Psst, don’t make yourself unpopular, it’s none of your business!” etc (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3  ‘David’ and his chorus of inner worriers

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For example, after the  – xenophobic motivated  – arson attacks in Mölln and Solingen1 (a political issue at the time), in my hometown, Hamburg, a daily ­newspaper gave out buttons with the slogan, “Stop the hate!” One of us wore the button, and the others thought it was good to wear such a sign publicly but had to come to terms with their many internal worriers. One worrier said: “You’re not going to sink to letting yourself be provoked to action by a tabloid, and even maybe seen as or mistaken for taking part in an advertising campaign!” Another said: “Wouldn’t I be taken for naive and starry-eyed, as someone who thinks they could fight against social violence with personal symbols?” A third said, warningly, “Be careful that the skinheads don’t identify you as a ‘left-wing sympathizer’ and make you a target of their violence!” Just from this small example, we came to see that inner worriers are not stupid and crude but rather offer very powerful arguments. The question occurred: Does our ‘inner David’ have any chance to fight against this power in our inner life? In his book on civil courage, Kurt Singer (1992) states that the willingness to be obedient can be so deeply rooted in a person that it is not recognized as such but manifests itself as indifference in public affairs. The willingness to be obedient is so

Thesis 3: Indifference to public affairs is a form of unquestioning obedience

great that impulses to resist and change hardly have a chance: “Don’t risk it!” Adults then behave as if they were well-heeled children – floating on a pink cloud in the belief that ‘the people up there’ will take care of everything. Demonstrating civil courage means to the authors to overcome the related division between private respectability on the one hand and public indifference on the other. It requires a tremendous amount of dialectic dichotomy that loving, concerned parents are at the same time indifferent to the rising ozone content in the atmosphere which then leads to the ever-increasing limitations in mobility for their children. For the development of civil courage, we have understood in reflection of Singer’s analysis that it is important to resist such ‘numbing of feeling’, to preserve the capacity for compassion and to risk an open, disobedient ‘no’.

1  The example recurs to a political issue in the 1980s in Germany when right-wing extremists set ablaze houses where migrants lived.

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2.4  The Fourth Session Again, there were at the beginning many personal-themed shares in the morning round. For example, one of the participants was looking out of the window into the late evening when he saw a cloud of smoke rising into the sky. In a very moving way, he described his inner reactions and the fast-paced train of conflicts between them: “It’s nothing serious”; “If it is serious, then somebody else has already seen it and done something about it”; “What’s it got to do with me?”; and “There’s something wrong here, I have to do something!” Not without bearing our seminar in mind, he decided to actually go there. He found a house on fire, gushing smoke. Again, he felt the inner conflict: “Won’t I make a fool of myself if I called the fire department? I’m sure someone else has already done it….” He overcame his reservations though and called the fire brigade. In the end he actually went into the house, knocking on doors to wake the inhabitants out of their sleep. He made it to the third floor, though then turned back. The fear of putting himself in danger was too great to go any further. Maybe, yes, probably he saved some people’s lives. The participant telling this story received a lot of feedback from the group: recognition for his courage and the accuracy with which he did perceive his inner reactions and described them for us and also for the openness to tell us all this. There were tears in his eyes. We all were deeply moved. Not only did he portrayed his experience but at the same time all of our inner struggles between the automatic reactions of the not-(or-maybe-it-is-too)my-problem mindsets, as well as the desire to escape this narrow worldview and take our share of responsibility for the world around us. This is just one example, representative for the many we experienced in class, and in which we internally participated. It was amazing to realize how often such situations are encountered in our everyday lives when our awareness is open to it. Next, we came to the second part of our ‘rough structure’: We asked the group to take a look back at their own family history: Today we’d like to ask you to take a look back at your family history and your own personal background with regard to the topic of ‘civil courage.’ Like any other characteristic or virtue, civil courage does not exist in a vacuum but is shaped and influenced by many experiences, especially by what we have observed about the subject in our family, in school, with relatives and friends. The engagement with it can be awkward or unpleasant, especially in light of the German Nazi past and the silence which often blankets it. Maybe at first you can’t think of anything, or maybe a great deal, perhaps experiences will occur to you that you don’t want discuss with others – that’s okay. Decide carefully what you want to share and where the limits of your personal space are! Please share your views with each other about the questions: ‘How has my family, my environment dealt with the subject of civil courage? What marks has this left in me?’

One participant considered this transition too abrupt and asked for further guidance. We formulated a brief reflection guide, which gave everyone a chance to first connect in more detail with the subject matter by themselves. Then we split the plenary up into five small groups for 1 h. There we exchanged our stories. We spoke about the strangely unreal apolitical and seemingly idyllic

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Fig. 4  ‘Fishbowl’ arrangement

world of the German postwar family, in which the great world with its global problems seemed so remote. Our own world, however, seemed artificial, obscured, not a part of the rest of the world, of sharp political arguments between the adults, which we as children should stay out of and, afterward, which could not be spoken of. This brought up thoughts of the grandparents’ hatred of the Jews; of the courage of the women in the family who did something for the community, the village; of the courageous deeds of a husband who went voluntarily into a war zone to save others; and of our feelings of being small and insignificant and having no influence on the progress of history and many other experiences. For the following sharing in the whole group participation, we structured the setting according to the so-called fishbowl principle (see Fig. 4): Each group chooses/ draws lots for a representative who reports what has been important to them personally during the discussion in their small group. All the representatives of the small groups were sitting together with a facilitator in an inner circle, plus one empty chair. The empty chair could be occupied by participants from the outer circle as they feel the need for a contribution. All other participants sit in the outer circle, listen to the conversation, and after half an hour, they get the opportunity to comment on specific contents or the overall course of the inner circle’s conversation. Our participants were familiar with this way of working as a group and with reporting on their own experiences. However, the atmosphere in the group was perceptively more reserved. Therefore, after this meeting, we as leaders were for the first time somewhat dissatisfied. “Why were the participants suddenly so reserved? Was the topic of family inappropriate for the seminar? Was the ‘fishbowl’ method unsuitable?” We were unsure in relation to the process of the group. We concluded that only in the course of the next session would we gain some clarity. So much was evident to us: The topic of ‘family’ was holding something of deep impact, and therefore the attempt of having an immediate discussion in the large group had the effect of creating superficiality.

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2.5  The Fifth Session It was planned, after a short theoretical summary of the previous session, for the participants to develop their own individual activities and projects. Things took a different course though. Too much was stirred up during the last session. The morning round began with one of the participants crying and accusingly saying that she had gone through a very difficult period which lasted for several days after the last session. The reflection guide had brought back memories which she described as very painful. She claimed to be angry because we did not notice anything and had not taken care of her. She thought we should give more consideration to what we can cause by using such a reflection guide. She did not want to share any particulars about thusly steered memories with the group. “Disturbances take priority!” (Ruth Cohn). So much was clear to us from our TCI orientation. But how should we deal with the situation? Trained to listen with ‘four ears2’, it was clear to us that various aspects resonated in this scene and which needed to be acknowledged separately and processed without being mixed up with each other: –– With the ‘relationship ear,’ we heard the accusation and feel ourselves under attack as leaders (insensitive, committing malpractice). –– With the ‘objective ear,’ we heard a thesis: “It is dangerous to give such a deep reflection guide in the context of this kind of seminar”. This thesis could be discussed from the methodological point of view. –– With the ‘self-disclosure ear,’ we perceived that the student had been through something very difficult, unexpectedly hit a painful ‘low point’, and that she felt all alone. –– With the ‘appeal ear,’ we perceived the need, at least for the moment, to be alarmed and preoccupied by the situation. The participant was very agitated. We listened to her, giving her space to express her sadness and also her anger about our negligence. Then we reacted: Firstly, we really did not see how much she had been affected during the last session. At this point, we deliberately avoided the clarification of a ‘question of guilt’, of an answer to the accusation, of if we acted insensitive, or perhaps she had been not transparent enough, or both? Secondly, we acknowledged and explained her difficulties as proof of the possible depths that lie in the subject and encouraged her and all the others to share any such experiences, when and as soon as possible.

2  Schulz von Thun is a psychologist and communication expert in his own right. Here he refers to his famous communication model “four sides of a message” (1981), which are an objectively factual content, a relationship aspect, an appeal aspect, and a self-disclosure aspect. All messages are comprised of these four sides, each sender speaks on these four channels, and each receiver decodes on them (but of course not one by one, which can lead to misunderstandings and a need for meta-communication in order to verify the actual meaning).

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After this very intense morning session, we gave a short lecture we had prepared on the theoretical classification for outcomes of the last session. This content fitted quite well insofar as it was precisely this dimension of the depth of discussion, the same which the personal family history illustrates. The lecture incorporated some ideas from the book by Müller-Hohage (1988), the basics of which are outlined now. Thesis 4: The Nazi period also casts its shadow on those of us who were born later.

The experiences of our parents and grandparents with the war and the Nazi period were so overwhelming in the extent of misery, cruelty, fear, uprooting, and guilt that they still remain unprocessed. The handling of these experiences continues to be characterized by repression, but precisely this attempt to cope with the past by erasing it from consciousness has a serious effect on one’s own psychological condition and that of those born afterward. As a rule, those of us born later are not aware of these connections, the war and the postwar period no longer seem so decisive for our present spiritual and intellectual life, it all happened so long ago. Müller-Hohage makes clear though that it is precisely this attitude which is an expression of a repression of the past. Political apathy, the suppression of a segment of our existence, can also be the result of unprocessed experiences. Thus politics do not appear to be important to us, seeming to have no connection to our own person  – exactly as little as the Nazi period could have had anything to do with one’s own family (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5  We are bound to our forefathers by a secret Nazi imprisonment. Fog connects us. (Since this example was in 1989, the timeline offered only reaches until the year 2000)

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Following this short lecture, in which we presented a concrete case study from Müller-Hohage about therapeutic work with a suicidal 6-year-old boy, a moving group discussion took place. The overall context of the German Nazi past made many memories of one’s family history appear in a different light. Many participants cried, which was accepted as an aspect of our dealing with the subject matter as human beings. We passed around tissues and talked about our experiences. It became evident that we were all affected, albeit in different ways and intensities, by the experiences of our parents and grandparents. Some recognized themselves immediately in Müller-Hohage’s portrayals. One woman was stunned because, in the case portrayed, she rediscovered parts of her own family history. Her grandfather had been killed in a concentration camp as a Jew, which was never discussed in her family. Her brother had chosen the same profession as her grandfather. He often felt so awful that he had been suicidal for a long time and was afraid that his Jewish origin was apparent and he would be attacked in the tram. Another man cried because he suddenly felt close to his mother and what she experienced during the war. She was deported, and during this time the grandfather killed himself. He now felt directly connected with other people who did experience these things and realized that ordinarily he holds himself far removed from all such matters. In this group of more than 20 students, much closeness, contact, and depth were created. This was an exceptionally intense session, which most interestingly did not develop as a result of a request to interact but as an ‘unplanned’ response to a lecture. That we were able to so much disclose ourselves to each other was certainly due chiefly to the slow buildup in the previous sessions and the emotional agitation of the one participant in the morning round. By this overture, the floodgates were opened for us all. 2.5.1  Behavioral Training and Action Planning Now it was finally time to begin with the third part of our rough structure, with the planning and execution of individual projects and with behavioral exercises. To kick off, we listened to a 10-min radio recording of ‘Aktion Courage’ (translates as ‘Courage Initiative’), a nationwide initiative of the times against xenophobic hate speeches and threats. ‘Aktion Courage’ provided concrete advice and tips for dealing courageously within dangerous situations. We then gave the following questions as reflection guide to everyone in the group: After all that has taken place in the seminar so far, what have I taken in, thought through and felt? What impulse would I personally like to address in order to tackle something or try something out? It could be to make internal preparations for difficult situations, it could be to practice a particular behavior here, it could be to overcome one’s own political apathy, it could be to work through a topic from the past.

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Everyone should then write their concrete idea or plan on a Metaplan card. At the end of the session, we hang the cards on the wall and discuss with the group how to arrange them into clusters, which were given the following headlines: • • • • • •

To practice for unanticipated ‘ugh-what-now? situations’ (write your own script) Courage in everyday life: get out of your political shell Planning and organizing for more political involvement To learn more about internal barriers to civil courage To conduct courses to pass on what has been learned To clarify one’s own background (e.g., the behavior of grandparents during the war)

This ended the session. We promised the group that we would come up with something about how we could continue working on the subject matter.

2.6  The Sixth Session A long morning round took place. Many participants reported on ‘civil courage experiences’ and findings that had become clear to them (see Thesis 6). Friedemann Schulz von Thun reported on a meeting he had interim with Ruth C.  Cohn and their discussion on the topic: “We are politicians  – all of us”3 and played a taped excerpt from this talk. The morning round was now accepted by everyone, even considered indispensable. It was understood as the mirror of the common processes, in both content and atmosphere. We as leaders of the group evaluated the clusters of Metaplan cards from the last session and concluded that from the multitude of issues for this session, two complex matters were particularly important to many, specifically: • Exercises for dealing with ‘critical’ situations • Handling internal obstacles We formed three groups of six to eight participants, each choosing its topics. Two groups wanted to practice dealing with difficult situations; one wanted to handle internal obstacles. For both of these complex issues, we developed procedure scripts. Here is the procedure for the two training groups for practicing difficult situations: 2.6.1  Determining of Key Conditions First, the group agreed on a key situation to be presented in a role-play, for example: –– Racist’s jokes are made at a party. –– During a family gathering, your relatives start going on about foreigners. –– A woman is sexually harassed in a bar.

 Read the whole interview in Löhmer and Standhardt 2006, pp. 137–174.

3

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2.6.2  Preparation of a Role-Play Second, one or two protagonists left their group and prepared themselves for the situation by writing a ‘script’, which means deciding on behavior unusual to them and which they would in the role-play like to try out. In the meantime, the group was preparing the situation, establishing roles, for example, the role of the grandmother, the role of the uncle who does not like foreigners, etc. 2.6.3  Role-Play Third, the protagonist was then introduced into the situation, and the role-play phase began. 2.6.4  Discussion of the Role-Plays Last, a discussion about and reflection on the behavior of the protagonists, a role feedback, and an evaluation of the role-play situation were taking place in the plenary. One insight that we gained from these role-plays was how much a ‘self-­identified protagonist’ – someone who knows if and for what they want to take action – can influence the behavior of the otherwise silent majority. The other players felt they were not able to react upon the protagonist externally, perhaps, with a counter-­defense, but they felt internally quite unsettled. It became also evident to us how it was even more difficult to confront family, relatives, the people one feels close to and to whom one owes something and to suddenly create a painful distance. Role-play situations do not represent reality, but they are an excellent way of moving from the level of thinking “What could I do in such a situation?” to the level of action, thus taking a step closer to the reality outside of class. In the sense of integrated learning, the third, action-based ‘road to learning’ had now proceeded according to the cognitive and affective (Fig. 6): –– ‘Head’, the cognitive by clarification, information –– ‘Heart’, the affective by inner participation, self-experience –– ‘Hand’, the active by behavioral training, action planning Some more findings can be added from this session, in form of further thesis: 1. Participating and feeling responsible. This part of us was the one which came to life with a lasting impact, becoming most clearly effective during the course of this seminar. Several students reported that they had now become aware of the smell of fire or smoke in the city and, contrary to their usual habit, had felt themselves compelled to take initiative and to notify the fire brigade or, in another case, evacuating inhabitants from their building. This may not be civil courage in the broader sense of our definition above, for the danger of social disapproval was hardly present. Still, a student reported that before she called the police in

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Fig. 6  Three ‘roads to learning’

Thesis 5: On closer inspection, the ‘internal team4’ necessary for civil courage is composed of several members. the middle of the night, she had heard the inner worrier, whispering to her, “And what if this is nothing important? Won’t the police snarl at you and say, ‘You called us out in the middle of the night just for that?’” Though the risk may exist only in one’s head, it was evident that it can become a serious obstacle to a necessary initiative. 2 . Ability to be confrontational. An example from a role-play, taken from a real incident: a foreigner wants to leave the bus; a mother waiting to board the bus says to her children in a disdainful tone: “Wait, first let the gypsy5 out!” The student (protagonist of the role-play) who watched this scene now needed the courage for a confrontation in order to publicly express his disapproval (e.g., “Let’s hope that your own human dignity and that of your children are never attacked in such a way.”). This action was easy for some. However, for most others the desire for harmony or at least a lack of conflict was very pronounced, so that the ability for confrontation has to be built up slowly. For this purpose, the role-plays were appropriate for first practicing the ‘dangerous’ behavior in a safe

 The authors refer to the method of the “internal team,” first developed by Virginia Satir and later adopted by Schulz von Thun (1998) in his canon of methods in favor of a psychological understanding of communication processes. 5  In German, the word for gypsy (Zigeuner) is in everyday language also a derogatory term, an insult. 4

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place. The inner worrier who needed to be overcome here whispered: “Be nice and well-behaved, if you get bold you’re going to get a slap in the face!” 3. Showing oneself. Whether confrontational or not, in any case, a part of civil courage is the courage to show oneself, to expose oneself, to be at the forefront of what is happening in this very moment. An according ‘inner team member’ is not always necessary, since there are certain acts of civil courage which are carried out more quietly or happen more hidden (e.g., if I give refuge to a person who has been wrongly persecuted). But civil courage often requires exposing oneself publicly. An example from the students: in a large lecture hall, a university teacher gives a lecture, ill-prepared and incomprehensible, an insult to everyone present. But does anyone dare to stand up and address the situation? Many of those who had had experience with successful and unsuccessful acts of civil courage emphasized the onset of a feeling of isolation at just the moment one leaves the anonymous silence of the crowd. The accompanying inner Goliath whispers, “Stay back, keep out of the spotlight, don’t make yourself unpopular!” (Fig. 7) We then noted and summarized this point: For civil courage to occur, different ‘inner team members’ are necessary, even if they are not all equally needed in a given situation. One can recognize them, and it is worth taking a closer look at individual ‘inner team members’. However, it also is important to observe.

Fig. 7  The “inner team” of civil courage

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Thesis 6: Do not ignore the ‘inner worriers’! In the text thus far, the internal worriers have gotten a lot of bad press. We referred to them as if they were merely narrow-minded or cowardly, refined but morally inferior figures who prevent us from bringing more humanity into our lives. This was a one-sided exaggeration, though. If it is true that every development of personality begins with the acceptance of that which I am (have become), then part of this selfacceptance is also the affirmation of the inner worriers. Some of what they have to say is important to listen to and can protect me from recklessness. A student reported the following example: After racist attacks that happened in Hoyerswerda, Rostock, Mölln, and Solingen6, there had been various initiatives in her hometown to aid foreigners. One could sign up to be on a publicly registered list if willing to participate in a telephone chain or otherwise help foreigners in times of danger. Her husband had enthusiastically suggested that they sign up. But she had immediately been filled with anxiety: What if these lists got out to ‘right-wing’ extremists? Hadn’t there already been threats and terror? When her husband told her that her fears were precisely those which had led to the Nazi period that almost the entire population had remained silent during the most terrible things, she felt ashamed. During the plenary discussion, it turned out to be quite important for us all to communicate that fear is not something to be ashamed of. We understood that it is necessary to first perceive (and accept) one’s fear, which does not mean to follow it blindly. The inner worriers we acknowledged as important advisors in a search for the correct balance between civil courage and self-protection. Our conclusion in the session: If you give more than you can internally safely offer, you are in danger of becoming weakened. And perhaps the student could do something else that is not less valuable but less frightening to her. We understood by this example that civil courage is embedded in a ‘value and development square’ with the following structure (Fig. 8):

Fig. 8  Value and development square  The example refers to politically motivated physical assaults against foreigners in the 1980s in Germany. 6

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Depending on the personal starting point, the direction of personal development in such a square of values or square of development7 is either diagonal from the lower right toward the upper left or from the lower left toward the upper right. Most of us in the seminar wanted to learn to become bolder. However, there was also a woman from Iran whose life was characterized by political persecution and who, according to her own self-assessment, tended to take risks much too often, not protecting herself enough. Her direction of development, what she found important for herself to learn, accordingly was toward more caution and self-preservation. This was perhaps also true for some of the others.

2.7  The Seventh and Last Session For the last session, we had set three priorities, specifically: –– Looking back at the course of the seminar –– Taking inventory of insights and impulses gained –– Looking forward to additional prospects (projects, diploma theses, etc.) In the morning round, the three training groups from the last meeting discussed and, as usual, reported on interim everyday experiences. For example in the course of the role-plays, a student who also works as a pharmacist had practiced stepping up and taking action in the face of discrimination against a foreigner. Contrary to her own expectations, she had practiced this behavior very well during the role-plays. Thus she left the seminar that day with the good feeling that she had learned about civil courage and that she was capable of taking action. The next day in front of the pharmacy where she worked, a young child choked on a candy, was unable to breathe, and had to vomit. When the mother screamed at the child and made a loud scene, it was clear to the pharmacist: This was precisely the situation in which it was for her important to participate, to not look away. Her impulse was to go to the boy and offer him a glass of water. However, she was paralyzed. Her fear of this seemingly incredibly powerful, angry woman was greater. The student was initially very disappointed with her own behavior. During our discussion as a group, however, she became aware that ‘not all has been in vain’. The conscious perception and experience of one’s own boundaries was understood as a first step in the personal development of more courage. The student did not just look away and ignored this appalling everyday automatism; it no longer

 The value and development square by Schulz von Thun (1989). Civil courage has to be in good balance with the value of self-protection. If not, there is danger of daredevilry (in case of only civil courage) on one side and danger of opportunism (only caution) on the other side. 7

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had power over her. She had participated and felt responsible, a personal progress even if her fear of action was (still) too great. Thesis 7: The personal development of more civil courage moves ‘millimeter by millimeter’ from a very individual starting point.

Such small changes though were appreciated as having a greater chance of being truly integrated into the personality than any attempt of being a hero from now on. We concluded that ‘civil courage’ can be learned, though to measure its success we needed a ruler with a millimeter scale. But we also felt confident that when many millimeters add up, this could mean a quantum leap in humanity. It was found important to remember in the development of civil courage that a new behavior is more easily learned and finally becomes a habit if it results in perceptible success. However, since it is the essence of civil courage that we go into situations where others react to us angrily, viciously, and hatefully, it was stressed as important to determine success by other measures than social acceptance. In the role-plays, we noticed how (overly) powerful the inner voice often is in us, the one which says: “But it’s of no use! This person will never change! Whether I stand up or not – my action will not change the course of the world by a single iota.” For example, in a role-play set at the registry office, a student had to practice intervening when the civil employee intensely and obviously unjustly attacked a foreigner. She succeeded in expressing herself clearly and appropriately. However, she interpreted her experience to the effect that it had ‘achieved nothing at all’. The employee had reacted stubbornly and venomously, and the foreigner left looking completely intimidated. On the other hand, the following concept prevailed in the seminar: Thesis 8: The ‘success’ of behaving with civil courage should not be measured (only) by visible success at the very moment.

In order to remain with the above example, we discussed this further, asking: Who knows what resulted from the employee’s later ‘digestion’ of the incident? Who knows what this experience meant to the foreigner? And who knows how acting with civil courage can produce retroactive effects on oneself, one’s self-esteem, and attitude toward life? These ideas led us to the next thesis: Thesis 9: Civil courage is not (only) ‘altruistic’!

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Certainly the ‘selfish’ question is, we thought, “What do I have to gain if I decide against taking the opportunity to speak up for my values?” while only possible disadvantages come to mind (“nothing but trouble!”). But looking more deeply, personal ‘gain’ also became clearer in our discussion; the group agreed that every act of civil courage increases one’s self-esteem and makes me feel more alive. Psychologically, self-respect and vitality are the opposite of depression and feelings of inferiority (as analyzed with the value and development square). Further thoughts of the plenary: To the extent that I am in agreement with the central concerns of my existence, my life is meaningful; and a meaningful life is what ultimately drives human beings. The security of my own existence in dignity and freedom depends on the fact that destructive forces do not gain the upper hand in public life. As I am a part of public life and contribute to its humane quality by doing my small part, I am also ‘selfish’ in the ecological sense of a person who cares for the branch they were sitting on. In frightening and oppressive situations, as also was pointed out, it feels good to act, especially if these situations last over long periods of time. Passive persistence increases fear, the group observed. Civil courage therefore does not appear (only) as an indebted ‘should’ (superego8) but also as a yearning ‘wish’. A final insight from the role-plays can be added: Behaving with civil courage was also deemed as dangerous on the relationship level. While identifying someone as a ‘bad guy’ and myself as a ‘do-gooder’, acting in the name of humanity, it would be a misstep trying to establish contact with the person addressed on this basis, therefore, the following thesis. Thesis 10: Civil courage has great promise of having a constructive effect in case it is combined with a dialogical ethic that also respects the dignity of the addressed person.

Thus, for example, an intervention with the abovementioned registry office employee may contain, in addition to the necessary confrontation, a signal of understanding for the ongoing stress of her situation. The here thusly comprised list of theses is part of the content ‘harvest’ within the last session of the seminar, to which we invited the group with the following diagram (Fig. 9):

8  Refers to the topological model of the psyche by S. Freud. In American English ‘superego,’ while in British English (Freud lived near London for some years and call it thus) the ‘Over-I’.

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Fig. 9  The fruits of discovery, which were falling during the entire process and lying at the side of the road, should now be gathered

We summarized most of our findings in ten theses, here once again in an overview: Thesis 1: What is ‘civil courage’? Attempt of a definition. Thesis 2: The civilized (inner) ‘David’ is surrounded by many inner ‘Goliaths’. Thesis 3: Indifference to public affairs is a form of unquestioning obedience. Thesis 4: The Nazi period also casts its shadow on those of us who were born later. Thesis 5: On closer inspection, the ‘internal team’ necessary for civil courage is composed of several members. Thesis 6: Do not ignore the ‘inner worriers’! Thesis 7: The personal development of more civil courage moves ‘millimeter by millimeter’ from a very individual starting point. Thesis 8: The ‘success’ of behaving with civil courage should not be measured (only) by visible success at the moment. Thesis 9: Civil courage is not (only) ‘altruistic’! Thesis 10: Civil courage has great promise of having a constructive effect in case it is combined with a dialogical ethic that also respects the dignity of the addressed person.

At the end of the seminar, we organized a final round in which each participant formulated their most important personal result and how they fared during the seminar. The ‘close’ atmosphere of the past meetings was felt here once again. We parted ways by agreeing to meet again after half a year in order to explore the effects the seminar might have had over the course of time. This meeting actually took place. On the one hand, it was difficult to revive the earlier atmosphere of intense participation and togetherness. On the other hand, there was a good yield of further experiences and activities. Overall we were pleased with the results of our experiment. In conclusion, we recommend that occasionally a seminar at the university can follow such a model:

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• Teachers and learners enter into a common process with a topic which is of timely relevance and speaks to them all. As Ruth Cohn says: The concerns of the competent are connected and allied with the competence of those concerned. • The method of Theme-Centered Interaction allows individual personal access and the experience of community with a common focus on social challenges. • The process of learning develops from the subject; insights into the subject emerge from the process. ‘Research-based learning using first-hand experience’ occurs. • Scientific and personal learning go hand in hand; professional and human education is united.

References Löhmer, C., Standhardt, R. (2006). TZI.  Die Kunst, sich selbst und eine Gruppe zu leiten. Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Mit einem Gespräch zwischen Ruth C. Cohn und Friedemann Schulz von Thun. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Müller-Hohage, J. (1988). Verleugnet, verdrängt, verschwiegen. München: Kösel. Singer, K. (1992). Zivilcourage wagen. München: Ernst Reinhardt Verlag. Schulz von Thun, F. (1981). Miteinander reden: 1. Störungen und Klärungen. Allgemeine Psychologie der Kommunikation. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. Schulz von Thun, F. (1989). Miteinander reden: 2. Stile, Werte und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung. Differenzielle Psychologie der Kommunikation. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. Schulz von Thun, F. (1998). Miteinander reden: 3. Das ‚Innere Team’ und situationsgerechte Kommunikation. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. Schulz von Thun, F., Stratmann, R. (1995). Zur Psychologie der Zivilcourage  – Ein TZILehrversuch. Reflektionen zum Prozess und Erkenntnisse zum Thema. In G. Portele, M. Heger (Eds.), Hochschule und Lebendiges Lernen. Beispiele für Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag, 13–37.

Big Themes for Little Kids? Living Learning in a Teacher-Training Course Dealing with Flight and Migration Stefan Padberg

Abstract An important part of my teaching at the University of Wuppertal is directed toward students who become teachers of children aged 6–10  years. The students in my course all have chosen to concentrate on the primary school subject Natural and Social Sciences Education. This subject deals with something like the real world, and its aim is to prepare the kids for a more specialized learning of the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics) and the social sciences (geography, political sciences, sociology, economics, and history). My task in these university teacher-training courses is to initiate and foster learning of didactical approaches to the teaching of the social sciences as part of this primary school subject. Here I describe the normal method of learning in university teacher training in Germany and then switch to my Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) approach. I use the TCI planning in order to increase the likelihood of ensuring a living-learning process. It is all about structuring collaboration and communication as well as about the eternal search for a dynamic balance between the four TCI factors. The course took place during the summer of 2016, so I decided to ask the students to deal with the ongoing public discussion about the recent immigration to Germany, in other words, with flight and migration as content for their work on various approaches to teaching and learning. Keywords  Teacher training · Theme-Centered Interaction · Living learning and teaching · Social science · Planning tool

S. Padberg (*) University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_5

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1  T  he Erroneous Assumption that Teaching Equals Learning or the Normal Globe of University Courses What do students experience in their everyday life at the university, which is the institution, where most of their teacher education takes place? After leaving the university myself, I worked as a teacher for 5 years in a secondary school. When I came back to university, I visited normal university courses to get a feeling for the changes that had happened in the meantime and to prepare myself for the teacher-­ training courses I was about to lead in the following weeks. The big change soon became very clear: While in the 1990s, the professor signaled a member of the staff to change the mounted slides on the projector; they now had a remote control in their hand and changed the slides of their PowerPoint presentation. That was about it. The main structure of university courses was by and large unchanged: One person stands in front of the others and more or less broadcasts information to them. Even the rule not to present more than one slide a minute in a presentation is often ignored. So, the learning process of the students may be seen as a more or less automatic reflection on the teaching of the academic teacher. An unquestioned you-learn-because-I-teach paradigm is still followed. We all know that this is wrong. I guess there is no other part of university life where the contradiction might be so obvious: We have learned how learning works, but we simply ignore that knowledge and keep our old rituals from the academic world. No researcher would get any reputation by ignoring the given research results on their subject. But much, I would say most, of university teacher training, as I see it, works this way: ignoring knowledge on learning. I am not talking about TCI knowledge here but about simple pedagogies: in other words, the things we know about the learning processes of human beings. The result is as follows: If a semester lasts 14 weeks, there will be 14 PowerPoint presentations and short plenum discussions between (largely) the same people. A worst-case scenario might be even more than one presentation per session, which means more than one issue has to be dealt with in a single session. Mass fabrication of what? Teaching? Learning? University degrees? Let us describe the situation now in TCI vocabulary1: The IT is the almighty thing; it is all about the content. The person, the I, is not important, or more exactly, the teacher’s I is the most important thing. Whether I as a student participate physically or mentally generally does not matter. The relations in the learning group, the WE, are also not important. Interaction is generally not a means of learning but should be seen as a disturbance of the teaching process. The existing GLOBE is often much more a real disturbance for learning, instead of a balanced factor of the learning and teaching process. Dark teaching rooms with no natural light and bad 1  For a more detailed look at the TCI approach, the reader is advised to read chapters “ThemeCentered Interaction for Educating Future Leaders. Applied Social Psychology for Teaching Academics to Act Socially Sustainably in Organisations” and “Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn: An Introduction” of this book.

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ventilation are still often used for teaching. Chairs and desks cannot or only with great effort be removed in order to create an interactional setting. Such rooms are still being built today. Groups are often very large because of strained financial resources and out of utter disrespect for teaching. The time and space to deal with both recent and local examples of the issues at hand are not available or go unused. I notice, and you probably notice as well, how angry I am while writing these lines. We need changes in society and university – and especially teacher training is very important in that regard. Financial and human power is so often used in a bad way, which means that human development is not fostered as it could and indeed should be. I do not think this happens on purpose, but the effect is that the personal development that is so urgently needed in teacher training is not guaranteed or even offered to our student teachers. And yet it is so desperately needed! How do I search for ways of initiating living learning in this given context?

2  L  ooking for Options: From the University GLOBE to a New Course Structure What are my options in dealing with the conditions of teacher training at the university level, and how can I move as many steps as possible toward fostering living-­ learning processes? While preparing this course, I focused on just this question. In my planning I again consulted the TCI factors: I factor: The participating students already have their bachelor of arts degree. They are studying the natural sciences, the German language, and mathematics at a basic level as well as pedagogy. Now, in their master studies, it’s all about social sciences instead of natural sciences. They have obtained some practical experiences being in school but only for a few weeks. The majority of these course participants are females. Their university experience is likely to be dominated by the GLOBE conditions I described above. They likely have noticed the gap between the university method of teaching and their needs for developing themselves as teacher personalities while being in school for practical training times. WE factor: In this group of approximately 30 students, there are subgroups that have known each other for longer times as they have already been studying together for some 3 or more years. This group nevertheless never worked together as such. GLOBE factor: We work in a room where we are able to move the chairs and desk. We have everything we need to work with. We meet for 90 min each Tuesday 14 times during the semester. No written or oral exam is directly combined with the course. So, I am free to pose as study task nearly anything I want. In Germany we are experiencing an ongoing discussion about the recent immigration, mainly in the summer of 2015. The discussion spans from the so-called welcome culture to extreme right-wing and racist manifestations and actions. Amnesty International (2016) reported there were several daily attacks on refugee homes in Germany.

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IT factor: It may seem extraordinary to look at the IT last while preparing a course based on TCI. I do so because the IT on university level gets the major attention. This is not wrong, but, as already mentioned, there it is extremely overweighed. While looking for dynamic balance, especially training teachers need to strengthen the I first and the WE next. The deep (and academic) look into the IT maintains an important strength of university culture and makes the university important to society and to teacher training, which in my opinion and experience has to be connected to educational research and to school subjects. So, what about the IT of this course? If we look at the exam regulations, it concerns ‘Didactical Approaches to Learning the Social Sciences’ – if we are talking about the primary school teacher training. For this reason, I extended my lecture and chose seven approaches of concern in the course: –– Political learning (Massing 2007; von Reeken 2007; 1–62, Kaiser et  al. 2009, 138–148 and 160–162; GDSU 2013) –– Emotional learning (Kaiser et al. 2009, 70–92) –– Economic and global learning (Gläser 2007; Kaiser et al. 2009, 148–153 and 160–162; Ramseger 2008, 54–63; GDSU 2013) –– Historical learning (Beilner 2007; Kaiser et al. 2009, 154–162; GDSU 2013) –– Ethical learning (Kaiser et al. 2009, 163–178; GDSU 2013) –– Geographical learning (Daum 2007; Korff and Paul 1997; GDSU 2013) –– Communicative instruction (Kaiser 2013a, b, 246–253; Becher et al. 2013)

Next, I looked for contents to combine these didactical perspectives within our course. My idea was to ask the students to prepare and lead group sessions, presenting the various approaches by dealing with the same content, so that we can and in fact do deepen our knowledge during the semester concerning not only the approaches but also the content at hand. Because I knew about discriminatory and even racial content in existing schoolbooks in Germany (Mönter and Schiffer-Nasserie 2007) and in light of the importance of the discourse and reality of migration and flight, I choose this to be the

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social sciences content for all approaches to be dealt with (for a more detailed look at the discussion and education surrounding migration, see Padberg et al. 2016).

3  How to Organize Our Learning? In light of my four-factor preparation, I decided to structure the semester as follows: Session No./Theme: 1. Arriving and orientating myself: What is going on here? With whom will I collaborate? 2. General science education – a salmagundi, mixed pickles? – Klafkis epoch key themes, serve as an example (cf. Klafki 1997). How can we find the contents for our sessions? 3. Good general science education – What does that mean? 4. Planning our sessions together – Developing ideas for leading our small group. 5. Time to work in small groups preparing the session to lead. 6. Time to work in small groups preparing the session to lead. 7. Students leading the session 1: Political learning approach. 8. Students leading the session 2: Emotional learning approach. 9. Students leading the session 3: Economic and global learning approach. 10. Students leading the session 4: Historical learning approach. 11. Students leading the session 5: Ethical learning approach.

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12. Students leading the session 6: Geographical learning approach. 13. Students leading the session 7: Communicative instruction approach. 14. Looking back on our course – What did I learn? What has become important to me? What do I want to say to whom before ending our collaboration? A short comment on this summary before I go into the details of the different steps we took in our semester, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 14 are TCI themes. I used exactly this wording to focus the interaction during the sessions (for more information on how to find and express themes and about the meaning of a TCI theme as a leading tool, see Kuebel 2002).

4  From the University GLOBE to a Functioning WE Above I described what the normal conditions of learning for the students are (or should I say: how to assist someone broadcast their knowledge?). An individual as such does not really matter. No university teacher would likely say this, and I am sure the large majority would strongly oppose what I am considering here. Nevertheless, the fact is the students normally sit in rows behind each other or even above each other in something like a theater construction. It is hardly possible to truly communicate with one another. I started the first session in the existing bus-like position of desks and chairs. When organizing the semester, I had looked for a room with movable furniture. During the very first moment of collaboration, I wanted to provide a feeling of familiar surroundings. When the time came, I asked the students to help me push the desks aside and create a circle of chairs, which reflects less hierarchy because everyone is now sitting in the ‘front row’ and can see and be seen by everyone else. This is not a minor thing to consider but rather a structure that enables or at least makes more probable that we all become conscious of the meaning of the second TCI axiom: “Reverence is due to everything living and its growth” (Kuebel 2002, 33). Then I gave the theme for this section: “Arriving and Orientating Myself – Who Is Here with Me?” All humans need security when entering new groups. One part of security is getting to know the other persons and being seen by the others. I invited them to take steps in this direction, asking them to describe their good experiences with learning the social sciences. Pair groups were formed and interacted for 5 min. Before they started, I asked for a minute of silence to recall the individual experiences. Then I proposed looking for an unknown partner. Finally, we came together again in the plenary, and everyone said a sentence concerning their connection to social science learning. It is important not to fall into a well-known trap of university didactics (and university teaching in general): “We will be teaching young children, so what do we

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actually need for this exactly? Please provide me with like tools that I can carry with me and start applying at once.” I am the most important tool in my teaching! Training me in teaching first means a building and deepening of my consciousness about my own learning. My TCI concept at that point was to create and reflect on our learning process and then see what this means to everyone’s teaching in the school context. In this first session, I continued by presenting the way we intended to work, the necessary basic literature, and the tasks the students would have to carry out. The theme was: “Arriving and Orientating Myself – How Will We Structure Our Work?” I presented the various approaches (see above), wandering around in the circle of chairs and dropping papers with the approaches written on them. The next was to ask the students to move to one of the papers and thus finding together in groups to work on the approaches. In this way the students physically made a move from their I to a part of the IT of our course. They experienced their chairpersonship by deciding where to go and with whom to collaborate. Now the first session was nearly finished, and we had organized the work for the semester. Given the fact that this approach does not represent everyday university life, I asked everyone to give a word in a round with the theme: “We’re Out of the Starting Blocks – What Was it Like to Me to Work Like This Today?”

5  From a Course WE to the IT or from the IT to All Is Having created a certain level of confidence in the group, on the one hand, and delineated the organization and tasks for everyone, on the other hand, the next step was to focus on the content, the IT. All group members learned about their approach by reading some literature. Together, the group came into further contact with the content to be used with the didactical approaches by watching a film called My Flight during the next session. It tells the story of flights from Syria, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Eritrea from the vantage point of the refugees and was filmed mostly with mobile phones on their own biographic material. Animated by the film, the students now were asked to find a precise content for the session they were preparing for the group. I tried to enhance this process by providing a theoretical background, namely, the following theme: “General Science Education – Mixed pickles? – Klafkis Epoch Key Themes, an Example and How We Can Find the Contents for Our Sessions.”

6  From the I ↔ IT Connection to a Structure of Planning a Course Session and School Lesson In the next session, I myself gave an example of a TCI planned and led session dealing with flight and migration, using an example of illegalized people in Germany (Padberg 2012). By reflecting on our own learning process in these 45 min, I wanted

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to show my planning and provide the planning tools to the students whom I was asking to work with the same structure as I did while planning. This planning tool has five steps to follow: • • • • •

A: Content B: My central intention(s) C: A theme for the group D: The structure for the session/lesson E: Checking the dynamic balance

How to work with these five steps? The starting point is the content or, in TCI-­ terms, the IT, Step A. The students are asked to write a text of one to three pages explaining what their content is, which has to be a scientific approach to the content. What are its structures? What are the sub-contents? Are there any good examples to learn from? After working with this planning tool for more than 20 years, I have often noticed how difficult it is for student teachers to focus on the IT. They quickly say: “Well, then we’ll invite the others in our session to do …” And I always answer: “No, right now I am not interested in what you will do leading your session. Rather, I want to discuss the IT with you. Nothing else matters during this first step.” Step B is already a TCI didactical key. What do I (teacher) want to facilitate in the lesson? What do I want to invite my students or pupils to do/think about? What do I want to demand of them? The three italic verbs really help me to get a clear vision of what my aims are and what actions these aims require. As a TCI teacher, I do not list aims, such as “The students/pupils should/shall/ought to….” Rather, the TCI approach contains the assumption that human beings in fact want to learn and develop. Consequently, I am not able to and do not need to motivate anyone but just find the proper forms (themes and structures) that are most likely to invite these particular people to work on the content I am (and hopefully they are) dealing with. Step C is where TCI got its name from. Inserting a well-formulated and inviting theme into the middle of the interaction of the group is the key method of TCI and perhaps the only TCI-specific method. Mina Schneider-Landolf describes the TCI technical term ‘Theme’ as follows: In connection with and if supported by the proper → structure and → social form, a fitting and well-formulated TCI theme should (and indeed can) achieve the following during a group process: –– It provides food for thought; it challenges the individual members, invites them, and encourages them to deal with it. –– It is relevant to all present and enables them to enjoy their own personal access to it. –– It becomes a way to join in a common group conversation, and it invites the members to exchange ideas among themselves. –– It leads and centers the discussion and thus unburdens the leader.

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–– Setting a theme controls the → dynamic balance between the task, the individual, and the group. The proper formulation of themes can thus lead the group to explore the objective level (It-themes), the emotional and personal level (I-themes), or encourage the group to deal with the various viewpoints present (We-themes) (Schneider-Landolf 2017, 151–152).

Creating themes is often hard work, especially for beginners. One must encourage the students to continue on with it. Probably the best way of encouraging them is by work with good themes yourself, so that the power of formulating and using themes in groups can be experienced. Step D is the step students would start with if they did not have to follow the steps of the planning tool. But how can you structure a learning (or more exactly: a teaching) process without first having made clear what the content is you want others to deal with? How can you add methodical steps without knowing what your aims and interests are? So, what I ask the students here takes the form of a chart: Below you will find some applications by the students. During the next three sessions of the course, I ask them to work on their planning in small groups. In fact, they must do a double planning: first, for this student course and second for a primary school class (Table 1). The first plan is introduced in one of our sessions led by the students. I organized it like this because I wanted the students to plan for people they know. This corresponds to the realistic situation later on in their respective classrooms. And it is an important piece of reality: Plan for specific people! It is all about their specific learning and about their specific group atmosphere, with its respective chances and challenges. Training like this requires planning, leading, and getting feedback. The second plan is for a fictitious primary school class. Here, the exercise is to take something from the planning for the students, to reduce the content to a 6–10-year-old level, and to adapt the learning and interacting methods to them. It is a pity that we do not have the possibility to determine whether the planning ‘works’ by going into the school and just teaching. Perhaps one day collaboration structures will make this possible. When I was a guest professor at the Geographical Institute of the University of Vienna, I had the privilege of working in such a close relationship between university and school. If any reader of these lines can influence the structure of teacher training, I highly recommend this.

Table 1  General themes – sub-themes – structural aspects General theme of the session/lesson Step no. and Sub-­ Structure (chronology, social form, method, perhaps: time theme media) 1 2 3 4

Remarks

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The planning sessions in the small groups are very intense experiences. I often had to stop the students from running through the planning and slowing them down to stay on steps A, B, and C – steps that require their due time. Impatience can and has become a problem at this step.

7  Leading for Each Other and Learning from One Another Sessions 7–13 form the core of this course. Now we are dealing mainly with a small group of the students leading the group. They invite us to learn about what they have planned. So, we experience our learning and their teaching on a chosen part of the content Flight and Migration didactically arranged by the approach they have chosen. After about 45 min, we finish this part; then, I lead a feedback session for the student leaders, asking the student participants to give a small report of their learning process. This makes it possible to get a direct response from each one. Knowing that learning from peers is most important, I try to say as little as possible and only as much as absolutely necessary. The rest of the session is filled by the same student who just had lead by presenting their special approach on a general level and giving an overview on their planning for primary school. Below I present three of the planning tools that result from the students’ work in their ready-to-go status as used in our course:

7.1  E  thical Learning Approach (Kaiser et al. 2009, 163–178; GDSU 2013) A Content According to the UNHCR,2 over 60 million people around the world are presently fleeing their home country. The reasons vary widely, but everywhere refugees experience catastrophic conditions. They are treated inhumanely by human traffickers whose business is based on the border regime of the European Union, which refuses to open up legal ways to enter the Union. Refugees need a lot of money to pay the trafficker and to bribe their way across borders. They suffer not just through the long and expensive journey but often also experience hunger and mistreatment. Refugees take live-threatening risks each day to make their dream of a better life come true or, at least, nearer. B Our Central Intention(s) We challenge the participating students to explore the conditions of flight by going through flight routes in a role play. We facilitate and demand their reflection on the actions of fleeing people.  UNHCR 2016; www.unhcr.org/dach/de/services/statistiken, retrieved on 18 December 2017.

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C A Theme for the Group I must flee – What I am looking forward to? D The Structure of the Session/Lesson (Table 2) E Checking the Dynamic Balance Part 2 of this session is strongly structured, by the assumption of the refugee role and the respective information. The next step, Part 3, focuses on the process. Decisions are to be made through a refugee’s eyes and with the means of a refugee. The individual student who on a refugee role can – and should – discuss with their group about how to decide, so this will deepen even more the process character of this part of the collaboration.

Table 2  Planning: ethical learning approach I must flee – What are the conditions I am looking forward to? Structure (chronology, social form, method, perhaps: Step No. media) and time Sub-theme 1. Plenum: Welcome, 1–5 M. Arriving and orientating myself: What is it about today introducing the theme and how are we going to work 2. Explaining the structure of the lessons on it? 1. Introducing the new 2–10 M. Walking in someone else’s theme shoes: 2. Creating small groups of 3 I fled as … 3. Choosing a group leader How did that happen? 4. Reading the characteristics and biography of the person you are assuming in the role-play 5. Getting the money you need for your way 3–25 M. Step by step – How do I decide 1. Group leaders go through to flee? five learning stations 2. The decisions made at the stations and the state of the flight are noticed on the blackboard 1. Leaving the role: Now 4–10 M. Seen through an ethical perspective: How do I evaluate you are no longer …, but yourself again the decisions made by the 2. New sub-theme refugees and the others 3. Open round involved?

Remarks

Printed biographies to choose from

Material to work on for the five learning stations prepared

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7.2  E  conomic and Global Learning Approach (Gläser 2007; Kaiser et al. 2009, 148–153 and 160–162; GDSU 2013) A Content In 2015, more than a million refugees came to Germany. Many of them arrived without any means to support themselves and were thus dependent on help offered by the state and by social welfare organizations. At first, this meant helping them with very fundamental things: nutrition, clothing, and basic financial support. But to reach the goal of living an autonomous life and participating in German society, it is absolutely necessary that the refugees have access to the education system at all levels. To date, this process is developing only very slowly and with much difficulty. B Our Central Intention(s) We want to offer to the students the possibility to inform themselves about the lives of the refugees in Germany and particularly about their involvement in education, working life, and social welfare. Based on this information, they are invited to develop and express an own opinion on this theme. C A Theme for the Group A better life in Germany? How does life proceed for refugees after arriving here? D The Structure of the Session/Lesson (Table 3) E Checking the Dynamic Balance Planning is balanced between the I and the WE, that is, between personal learning and the cooperative elements in the structure of the lesson. So, in the last two parts of the session, there is much time for discussion and interaction, while the other parts deal mostly with facts, albeit in interacting groups. Their purpose is to help understand the given facts and contexts much more than to exchange emotions.

7.3  Emotional Learning Approach (Kaiser et al. 2009, 70–92) A Content Recently, many underage refugees have come to Germany without any person to take care of them. These so-called unaccompanied minor refugees (UMRs) left their families in their home counties or became separated from them on the way. There were many reasons they chose to flee, but mainly it is because of the violence they experienced, forced female circumcision or forced marriage, abuse as child soldiers, and the effects of armed conflicts or war. After having reached Germany, however, they faced many problems. They are tolerated to stay here only by an ‘exceptional right of residency’, which means that they do not obtain a stable refugee status and can be deported at any time. In fact, they can generally stay only up to the age of 18.

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Table 3  Planning: economic and global learning approach A better life in Germany? – How does life proceed for refugees after arriving here? Step No. Structure (chronology, social form, and time Sub-theme method, perhaps: media) Remarks 1. Welcome, overview, theme 1–5 M. I believe … What conceptions do I 2. Plenum: Short video: refugees talking have about a refugee’s about their expectations about life in Germany life in Germany? 3. Charts dealing with the opinion of Germans about refugees 4. Please express your thoughts! Information 1. Introduce the new theme 2–10 M. Refugees’ life in sheets on the 2. Divide the group up into smaller Germany: issues What can I learn about groups of 3 or 4 (jigsaw groups, www. jigsaw.org) it? 3. One person from each jigsaw group meets to form an expert group, which works on one of the issues: work, education, and social benefits 1. Back to the jigsaw groups 3–10 M. The refugees’ life in 2. Introduce the new theme Germany: Exchange findings Prepared list of 4–15 M. Now we are equipped 1. Plenum: Introduce the new theme statements for discussions ‘on the 2. Leaders present common statements containing prejudice, students answer street’ with their knowledge What would I say to …? 1. Introduce the new theme 5–5 M. Look back on my 2. Structured round: One sentence each learning and on our participant theme What has become important to me?

In addition, they must fulfill certain preconditions in order to commence the legal struggle for a safe status. Nevertheless, once in Germany UMRs do have certain rights, including immediate access to the educational system and protection by the local youth welfare service, which organizes custodial care often by private persons. In addition, UMRs have the right to be accepted to a child or youth welfare service facility. Sometimes UMRs are picked up by the local police at train stations near the border and are then put in special asylum centers as long as their case is being screened by the local youth welfare authorities. They can talk with authorities in order to clarify their age, where their families are situated, their health, and general development status as well as any traumatic experiences during their flight. The next step is to check exactly what help is needed by each child or adolescent. This procedure is called ‘clearing’ and deals with the following questions: What does the child or adolescent need from public youth care in everyday life? Who will take

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provide social care? Where can they live? What kind of school is the right one for them? Is it already time to look into professional training? And if so, which one? Based on the results of this clearing procedure, a support plan is developed to determine the next steps. One possible outcome is to attempt to bring together different members of the family who have been separated and now live in different parts of Germany. Another possible scenario, depending on the individual development of the child or adolescent, is to let them stay in a facility of the local youth welfare services. Of course, adequate schooling is also provided and language courses are organized. If necessary, a medical and/or psychological support plan dealing with existing traumata is set up. Only then are the UMRs distributed to places throughout Germany where they can settle down and look for housing and professional training. Nevertheless, their everyday life is full of uncertainties, fears, and hardships, given the fact that many questions concerning their legal status can be cleared up only over time. All of this occurs often combined with traumata because of losing loved ones or horrifying experiences during their flight. B Our Central Intention(s) We request the participants to address the situation of unaccompanied minor refugees. We facilitate their reconstructing and understanding the path unaccompanied minor refugees take. We demand that participants to understand the unaccompanied minor refugees’ fears and needs. C A Theme for the Group Unaccompanied minor refugees in Germany What is their situation like? How do they experience it themselves? D Structure of the Session/Lesson (Table 4) E Checking the Dynamic Balance These students did not add this point E to their planning. And indeed: A balancing could have improved the plan. In this example, the IT – the content – received much attention during the session. This can be traced back to the themes: The I-factor appears in the sub-themes only at the beginning and at the end and refers both times on the given content, which is very good. Nevertheless, this reflects the minimal integration of the I in a TCI context. The two former groups succeeded in integrating the I factor more deeply into the learning processes in their sessions, first by offering a role-play and second by providing something similar, the idea of having to answer false or even racist statements through the learned facts. I point up this planning and compare it to the other ones to give an idea about the learning processes according to TCI planning and living learning/living teaching, which lead during the course and learning by comparing the experiences in the group from week to week.

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Table 4  Planning: emotional learning approach Unaccompanied minor refugees in Germany What is their situation like? How do they experience it themselves? Step no. Structure (chronology, social form, and time Sub-theme method, perhaps: media) 1. Welcome 1–15 M. Children on the Flight 2. Silent stimulus: Picture of What are my first unaccompanied minor refugees in impressions? What do I want to share Germany 3. Overview of the working plan, with you? introduce the theme of the session and the actual theme 4. Open round 2–10 M. A young refugees path in 1. Introduce the new sub-theme 2. Watch a short film Germany What is it like? 1. Exchange ideas about the film 3–10 M. Different stations of a young refugee’s path in 2. Visualize the steps of the young refugee and Germany 3. Add the respective fears and What is her or his problems to the situations situation like? 1. Plenum: Introduce the new theme 4–5 M. Fears and problems of 2. Open round young refugees in Germany What has become important to me?

Remarks

Information sheets on the issues

7.4  … and for the Young Kids: What? As mentioned earlier, the groups did the course planning and subsequently led the course. Second, they planned a primary school class. I would like to show this planning by the emotional learning approach group, whose plan for the students is presented above. A Content Some 3000 kids came to Germany over past few years as so-called unaccompanied minor refugees. During their flight, they had many threatening and fearful experiences. Often, a situation of extreme need made them leave their home country. For example, they found themselves in a crowd fleeing from bomb attacks by airplanes flying over their homes and or became disoriented, lost their families, or fled in fear of being caught by terrorists or soldiers. Every unaccompanied minor refugee has his or her own story. Some were sent away by their own parents in hopes of a better life; others fled together with their families but lost them on the way, not knowing if they would ever meet up again.

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B Our Central Intention(s) We request the pupils to look on the emotional side of a refugee’s life. We facilitate their reconstructing and understanding the path of Akim, a minor refugee. C A Theme for the Group Akim is on the run – What happened to him? D The Structure for the Lesson (Table 5) E Checking the Dynamic Balance Again: These students did not add this E section to their planning. So, it is my view and feedback to their work here: It is very obvious how they reduced what they planned for the student group. The IT became very much smaller. It is not about the young refugees in Germany because it is possible to talk with them in the school or even in the classroom. It is not about unaccompanied minor refugees but about Akim, as an example of someone who came with his parents. The students considered it emotionally too intensive for the small kids to deal with the situation in the classroom. Their plan focuses on the emotional side of a young refugee’s flight. I think this is a good choice. The planned lesson seems to be able to ‘function’ in the sense of being a good and living-learning process. It is very I-focused, and it would be interesting to see whether it can succeed in shifting the balance of the learning process in the classroom from the I to the IT, WE, and GLOBE aspects, according to the living-learning hypothesis by Ruth Cohn.

Table 5  Planning: emotional learning approach – primary school Akim is on the run – What happened to him? Step no. Structure (chronology, social form, method, and time Sub-theme perhaps: media) Remarks 1. Welcome 1–10 M. A kid alone 2. Silent stimulus: Picture of Akim from the What could have book “Akim rennt” (Dubois 2013) happened? 3. Introduce the lesson’s theme and the actual theme 4. Open round Akim rennt 2–25 M. What does Akim feel 1. Introduce the new sub-theme book during his flight? 2. Read central parts of the flight story as told by Akim in the book and present the comic strips 1. Introduce the new sub-theme 3–10 M. What has happened 2. individual work: kids write a diary text to me? I write a diary text as 3. Open round: What has become important to me? if I were Akim

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8  E  nding the Course: From Living Learning and Teaching Experiences in the Group to Individual Reflection on My Own Learning Process In conclusion to the course, all students had to send their planning tool, now integrating the experiences they had made and the feedback they had received. Last but not least, I asked for guided self-feedback: Please describe your thoughts and emotions concerning the I, the WE, the IT, and the GLOBE –– –– –– ––

while planning just before the session started during your leading part just after the session (Kroeger 1973, 229–259)

I chose this kind of work as the last step of the learning process in the course, responding mainly to two needs: First, it is a good and necessary thing to strengthen the I after such collaboration. The WE will split up and never come together again as such. So, implicitly everyone asks themselves: What can I take away from the experience? To make explicit the implicit  – this always seems to have a positive effect on the individual learning and belongs to the teaching of TCI. Second, I simply need an individual part of the students’ work in order to evaluate their work and grade it. This method of self-evaluation by Matthias Kroeger allows the students to do some training, and often the first conscious training, in self-awareness. Given the fact that they themselves are their most important tool in teaching, this is a good training to start with.

9  Conclusions 9.1  Working with TCI in Teacher Training at the University Like a plant that can grow and urgently needs to grow, living learning in teacher training at the university level is possible, even today when the conditions are not exactly supportive. But in light of the existing conditions and with the goal of combining the TCI-­ typical dynamic balance between the four factors as methodical tool, on the one hand, and its vision of collaboration and self-guided autonomous and responsible life, on the other hand, we should immediately start developing university-level teacher training with TCI since we already know the direction to follow. Teachers are themselves the most important tools in their teaching environments. This means that learning about content, including didactical content, should always be combined with learning about and through oneself and others. It is never just

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about something but always also about you and me and our connected world, which we want to make a better place for all human beings and other forms of life to live in, both now and in the time to come. After having analyzed the given conditions of teaching and learning at my university (GLOBE), I tried do develop a teacher-training course, beginning with building a session and strengthening the group (WE) in addition to organizing future sessions by letting the students (I) chose a didactical approach (IT) they want to present to the others by leading a future session. It was important to demand that the students lead their session for exactly these students and only later on for a virtual class in primary school. This way they could practice what they are going to do in their later job at school: Planning for people you know and having in heart and mind exactly these human beings when preparing yourself, looking for material to work on and so on. This also made possible to give and get feedback concerning leading and reporting about living-learning processes. I hope – and got the impression – that all this enabled me to know more about myself, about how to work in a group, about different didactical approaches, and about the content we dealt with: flight and migration.

9.2  Big Themes for Little Kids? If you can make it your theme and you get some teaching experiences with people who give you feedback about their learning, then it is likely possible that you will develop adequate ideas about what can work and how it can work with your small kids in the classroom using a well-chosen part of a big theme.

References Amnesty International (Ed.) (2016). Leben in Unsicherheit. Wie Deutschland die Opfer rassistischer Gewalt im Stich lässt. https://www.amnesty.de/sites/default/files/2017-05/AmnestyBericht-Rassistische-Gewalt-in-Deutschland-Juni2016.pdf. Accessed 18 December 2017. Becher, A., Miller, S., Oldenburg, I., Pech, D, Schomaker, C. (2013). Kommunikativer Sachunterricht  – Facetten einer Entwicklung. In A. Becher, S. Miller, I. Oldenburg, D. Pech, C. Schomaker (Eds.), Kommunikativer Sachunterricht. Facetten einer Entwicklung. Baltmannsweiler: Schneider, 5–12. Beilner, H. (2007). Historische Aspekte. In J. Kahlert, D. von Reeken (Eds.), Handbuch Didaktik des Sachunterrichts. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 168–173. Daum, E. (2007). Geographische Aspekte. In J. Kahlert, D. von Reeken (Eds.), Handbuch Didaktik des Sachunterrichts. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 144–149. Dubois, C.K. (2013). Akim rennt. Frankfurt/M.: Moritzverlag. GDSU, Gesellschaft für Didaktik des Sachunterrichts (2013). Perspektivrahmen Sachunterricht. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt.

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Gläser, E. (2007). Ökonomische Bildung. In J. Kahlert, D. von Reeken (Eds.), Handbuch Didaktik des Sachunterrichts. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 159–162 Kaiser, A. (2013a). Kommunikativer Sachunterricht. In A. Becher, S. Miller, I. Oldenburg, D. Pech, C. Schomaker (Eds.), Kommunikativer Sachunterricht. Facetten einer Entwicklung. Baltmannsweiler: Klinkhardt, 13–25. Kaiser, A. (2013b). Neue Einführung in die Didaktik des Sachunterrichts. Baltmannsweiler: Klinkhardt. Kaiser, A., Röhner, C., Miller, S. (Eds.) (2009). Sachunterricht. Baltmannsweiler: Klinkhardt. Klafki, W. (1997). Die bildungstheoretische Didaktik im Rahmen kritisch-konstruktiver Erziehungswissenschaft. Oder: Neufassung der Didaktischen Analyse. In H. Gudjons, R. Winkel, (Eds.) (2006): Didaktische Theorien. Hamburg: Bergmann + Helbig, 13–34. Korff, R, Paul, A. (1997): Die Stadt – Erfahrungsraum von Kindern. In H. Kiper, A. Paul, R. Korff, (Eds.), Sachunterricht kindorientiert. Baltmannsweiler: Klinkhardt, 43–66. Kroeger, M. (1973): Themenzentrierte Seelsorge. Über die Kombination Klientenzentrierter und Themenzentrierter Arbeit nach Carl R. Rogers und Ruth C. Cohn in Theologie und schulischer Gruppenarbeit. Stuttgart, Berlin, Köln: Kohlhammer. Kuebel, M.A. (2002). Living Learning. A Reader in Theme-Centered Interaction. Dehli: Mediahouse. Massing, P. (2007). Politische Bildung in der Grundschule. Überblick, Kritik, Perspektiven. In D. Richter (Ed.), Politische Bildung von Anfang an. Bonn: Wochenschauverlag, 18–35. Mönter, L.O., Schiffer-Nasserie, A. (2007). Antirassismus als Herausforderung für die Schule. Von der Theoriebildung zur praktischen Umsetzung im geographischen Schulbuch. Frankfurt/M.: Lang. Padberg, (2012). Illegalisiert in Deutschland: Wie sähe mein Leben ohne Papiere aus? In GW-Unterricht, 128, 18–27. Padberg, S., Hintermann, C., Pichler, H., Baumann, S. (2016). Flucht und Migration bewegt Schüler/innen, Studierende und Lehrpersonen! Geographiedidaktik und Geographieunterricht für Menschenrechte und gegen Rassismus. In GW-Unterricht, 142/143, 197–205. Ramseger, J. (2008): Welterkundung. In A. Kaiser, D. Pech (Eds.), Die Welt als Ausgangspunkt des Sachunterrichts. Basiswissen Bd. 6, 54–63. Reeken, D. von (2007): Politisches Lernen im Sachunterricht. Didaktische Grundlegungen und unterrichtspraktische Hinweise (2., unveränd. Aufl.). Baltmannsweiler: Schneider. Schneider-Landolf, M. (2017), Theme. In M. Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 151–152.

First Steps with TCI in a Class for Psychopathology: How Students, Topics and the Lecturer Gain from the Approach Dora Pereira

Abstract  Teaching psychology is about personality development and construction of a new identity as psychology students and future psychologists. The Theme-­ Centered Interaction (TCI) approach offers me a meaningful and helpful way towards these goals. In this chapter, I describe how I started applying the TCI approach to my psychopathology lectures. The text is organised along the four factors of the TCI model, reflecting my own process as a university teacher: 1. Globe factors: some thoughts on features of the context in which the class takes place. 2. Individual aspects: how I encountered the TCI method and why did it make spontaneous sense to me. 3. Group factors: how did the group of students react to my proposal of an unfamiliar didactical setting? How did the social climate in class change during the term? 4. The It or topics: how the content “psychopathology” developed during the process of the class – with respect to the individuals, to groups and to the overall context. In light of the TCI factors I ask: how did the class work out, how were the TCI principles helpful, when did I reach the goal of balance, or when did the process wavered, and why? Implications of these reflections lead to thoughts about the future shaping of my teaching and learning processes, for sure supported by TCI. Keywords  Psychopathology · Theme-Centered Interaction · Teaching and didactic

D. Pereira (*) University of Madeira, Funchal, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_6

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1  Introduction My work as a teacher of psychology with undergraduate students started after 17 years as a clinical psychologist. As such, I see my new task at the university not only focused on transmitting scientific knowledge. The task at hand means also to help students become future psychologists. To know about psychology and to become a psychologist are two dimensions that must be integrated through the individual academic pathway of each student. In fact, psychology entails this double perspective in its nature: the psychological knowledge is a construction inseparable of the context in which it is produced (Salvatore and Valsiner 2011, 12); so, whoever wants to become a psychologist must understand how they are contributing to this construction from their specific context and also be able to inquire and understand how others make their own constructions. As experts of learning processes, Venuleo and Guidi (2011, 70) consider it the main competences a psychology student must develop. Psychological practice implies an ongoing process of attribution of meaning(s) and the communication about them. Therefore, teaching psychology is about personal development, construction of a new identity as psychology student and as future psychologist; it is about “generating rather than transmitting” (ibid., 72). In my understanding, every learning process is a developmental process; to learn means always to add something to what a person is, allowing new ways to know and to give meaning to experiences. Through my academic and professional pathway, I adopted a constructivist and systemic epistemological position. From a constructivist point of view, human development occurs through integration of new information in previous knowledge structures, created by and with experiences that occur in all life contexts the individual is included in. The systemic epistemology helped me to consider the complex interactions that exist between those several contexts (e.g. the individual’s developmental features – genetic, physical, psychological, family, university, city, country, historical moment and all the others each student is part of) and that create a unique developmental ecology (cf. Bronfenbrenner 1979, 2000). So, the students’ developmental process is to be reflected in their approaches to scientific knowledge and also with respect to its future use regarding psychological intervention. But how can this developmental goal be considered in teaching practice at the university? To include and address those complex interactions at a given moment in class is not something clearly reflected in teaching models. My first contact with Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) occurred during a workshop conducted by Sylke Meyerhuber as guest lecturer at the University of Madeira in 2016. Participating in her workshop for students and lecturers and experiencing first-hand unexpected vivid effects on students, the atmosphere and depth of contents, all this spoke strongly to me and opened a door for me to TCI (cf. Cohn 1989, 1995). I clearly found that this telling experience with the TCI approach answered my question for two main reasons.

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The first was that TCI1 allows to consider the several developmental contexts mentioned above at the same time (the I, the group, the globe) in relation to a specific theme and its topics. I found that very interesting, as TCI can be applied to every theme at hand, but always with respect to and in support of its specifics: it is not just a blunt receipt that would be copied, but a useful framework to conceive and deepen different settings of teaching work. As a lecturer in higher education, I found this quite convincing and very appealing. The second reason was that TCI is based on humanistic values very important for the psychological practice, such as respect towards others, empathy, responsibility and mindfulness. So I became aware that adopting the approach for my classes would directly bring those values into the centre of my class, clearly linking the ‘to-­ know’ and the ‘to-be’ knowledge and personal growth in a constructive manner. Nauheimer (2003, 34) describes four main features of TCI that synthesise my reasons: 1 . TCI emphasises the awareness of oneself and others. 2. It strengthens the independence and autonomy. 3. It promotes experiential learning. 4. It considers individual experiences in a group learning process.

This chapter will expose how TCI influences my psychopathology lectures and my own pathway as a teacher in higher education.

2  Psychopathology-Centered Interaction Psychopathology classes are part of the curriculum of the third year of studies of psychology at the University of Madeira (Portugal). After this first cycle of studies (3 years), students must enter a master’s course if they want to become professional psychologists. It is a curricular unit with 80 h (5 h per week) of lectures in class, comprised as a blended teaching approach (theoretical and practical) in a group of 40 students. The challenge and task at hand in this kind of setting is how to approach in such a large group all students in an engaging manner and in support of their personal as well as professional growth. In the logic of TCI, for a ‘living learning in dynamic balance of the I, the We and the Topic within the surrounding Globe’ should be supported by a group leader, acting as a participant with further roles (instead of autocratic leadership models) and in guardianship of the method. In light of this understanding, I will introduce in my

1  Since the TCI approach is introduced explicitly in this book by Scharer and also in the text of Meyerhuber, I refer here to it without explaining the concept and its aspects in detail.

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class some changes I applied to my teaching style and the effects they had on my students, group processes, the theme and its topics and sometimes beyond.

2.1  The Individual As a theme, psychopathology requires that students make their own way from the common sense and informal language into the scientific use of semiologic concepts and diagnosis classifications usual in psychology in order to professionalise themselves. Altable and Dening (2013, 46) describe psychopathology as “a cognitive activity that creates intelligibility from undifferentiated experiences.” This statement emphasises the individual process that occurs each time someone searches for the meaning of another’s behaviour. At the same time, such students should acknowledge this process in order to become aware and critical of their own judgements and ideas. As these are the first classes the students have about this subject, it is imperative that they can learn that psychopathology contents will only make sense to them in an interactive process, by getting in touch with different ways of experiencing the world. Again, to put in evidence, the several developmental contexts of the I, the group and the globe become determinant for this aim. In my field of work, it is generally stated that empathy and awareness for themselves and for others are very important skills for future psychologists. Therefore, the learning environment should foster such skills since the beginning of their academic training, mirroring as much as possible some features of future work contexts. In psychopathology classes that is generally promoted by giving time and space to let the students spontaneously exchange personal experiences when it makes sense to them, and the colleagues and teachers tend to give attention and feedback to what is said and to the emotional impact occurring from that exchange. This non-mandatory way of conducting the class is also a way of reflecting the respect that every psychologist should have for what is being said and when it is said. To talk about personal experiences requires confidence and a sense of security that arises from the continuous sensitivity and respect that each one feels during such interactions and over time. In conclusion, if students are pressed to share experiences, this would lead to a disrespectful interaction, but on the other hand, they must be encouraged and feel free and safe in order to do it. That kind of approach was also used while talking about the time required for a diagnosis and how the hypothesis about the diagnosis will change and become more and more consistent as the future professionals receive further information about the client system. The contents focused during such classes as well as tasks and reflections of students must be therefore carefully reflected in the teaching process. As I was delighted to discover, TCI is a very useful framework to think, plan and develop this work: As a lecturer it supports me to ask the right questions, to find the appropriate tasks, to offer the right amount of time or to apply the fitting adjustment to timeframe or classroom setting. While my focus lies naturally on the group as a whole, I also need to take care of the individual. But even more so, students must

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learn to take care of themselves. In TCI, especially the two TCI postulates – expression of oneself as a chairperson and self-expression in case of disturbances – support the individual in the development of an awareness on what actual feelings, wishes, thoughts or questions might be their own and expressing them in an a­ dequate manner. Introducing students to these postulates and advising them to exercise them in a mindful way for their own development during their learning process in class have proven a very good idea to me and to my students alike, as the continuation of my report will now indicate. As said, students should mind each step in psychopathology and become aware of their own position. Additionally it is mandatory to strengthen independency and autonomy in promotion of another essential feature  – a critical and responsible thinking! Students should be able (and enabled by their lecturers) to develop and communicate their own ideas and positions as well as respect the ones of others as equally valuable. In order to get there, each week a specific group of diagnosis classifications were approached, and classes always include articles, books, videos or talks of real-life situations, commented in small and large groups answering the question: “From what you had seen and heard, what impacted you the most, and why?” This invites students to exchange their own ideas, positions, doubts and suggestions. Another way in support of individual self-expression I introduced in light of the TCI logic is the proposal of individual papers: Students should choose a set of scientific articles relating a specific semiologic construct with a mental health disorder and write about how the features of the construct (e.g. attention, humour, perception, etc.) change through the several disorders. That gives them space to choose a part of their learning path individually and also to reflect about why some kind of information is more or less important to them, in support of the notion of being one’s own chairperson. I found that both activities give my students an experience beyond class walls that makes the theme we work through more easily translated into real-life situations, consequently putting them closer to their own reality. Additionally, sometimes I find opportunities in the learning process for inviting students to reflect about their personal lives. The exploration of self-experiences prepares future psychologists in important ways of dealing with clients appropriately, and the further experience of sharing some of these thoughts with me as their teacher builds on the trust necessary for this kind of theme. Thereby not only the theme is worked on but also aspects of importance are experienced, with most beneficial effects. I, as a participating leader (as TCI puts it), also give in class personal examples from my professional and personal experiences, modelling thereby the sharing attitude. Besides the individual, also the group process as a whole gets better attention due to my TCI-supported understanding.

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2.2  The Group To have the kind of experiences stated above in groups makes the educational process richer for all participants and the overall group, benefiting from the heterogeneity of experiences and practical examples in- and outside of the class. As Faßhauer (2017, 75) states, “personal and individual development always takes place in connection with other human beings whenever ‘themes’ (tasks) are being processed.” Before making changes in my class, in light of my newly gained knowledge about TCI, I told my students that I would like to introduce some changes in the hope that they might prove beneficial. In a first moment when it was proposed as a more experiential approach, some students felt obviously a bit uncomfortable, maybe in anxiety of becoming somehow more exposed. However, after organising only some classes following the idea of a dynamic balance of the four factors, the dialogue within the group was tangibly more fluid, with more vivid comments and more specific questions. As a teacher I think students were by then much more connected with the theme and not just listening and also better in touch with themselves and as a group. As stated by systemic theorist Salvatore and Valsiner (2011, 14): “Changing the whole, the meaning of any occurrences also changes.” The more trusting and lively group atmosphere and its positive influence on the complex learning process were also evident to me through group membership during the specific activities proposed to small groups, in- and outside of the classroom: –– In class, as a lecturer I began proposing different group elements in different classes, randomly assigning students to groups. That required from students the use of (perhaps different) skills in order to deal with fellow students they were not so used to communicating or working with, striving to understand and listen to new perspectives and opinions. –– For activities outside of class, students proposed their groups independently, in encouragement of their responsibility and autonomy. I was able to see improvement of attitudes, namely, in what concerns to be aware of, respect and take care of other group members and also their ability and willingness to manage conflicts. This way students were offered different learning opportunities with their fellow students. Overall that considerably and recognisably fostered positive group cohesion and empathy. The setting I thus adjusted also mirrors the heterogeneity that will be present in students’ future work as psychologists: In their future career, they will often be asked to work with individuals and groups they probably would not choose voluntarily. And that will require more conscious efforts in order to establish a fruitful relationship. In conclusion, the TCI-inspired group settings offer an appropriate training ground for such issues in future roles. The activities proposed to small groups outside of class were used also to promote experiential learning, as they implied a contact as direct as possible with the theme. Therefore, students were encouraged to contact a professional psychologist

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and to get to know their workplace, if possible in addition to a description of their work based on the example of a specific case. Some groups of students actually got the opportunity to contact directly such professional colleagues. After their field work, they presented their experiences and findings to their fellow students in class, additionally to a written report. Thus, all students could partake and gain from the field experiences. All these activities promoted “reflection in action” as well as “reflective conversation with the situation” (Cesaro et  al. 2011, 132), requiring the integration of theory and practice. The students were, to my observations, thrilled about the responsibility granted to them and their growing self-confidence. Experiencing the confidence, approval and support of their teacher also added to the overall positive effects. As Kharlamov (2011, 49) states: “Knowledge cannot and does not exist apart from these enactments in networks.” Beside the individual, the group and the theme and its topics, the overall globe as a heading for possible environmental factors is by TCI advised to consider and to integrate for a good ‘dynamic balance and living learning.”

2.3  The Globe The ‘globe’ factors that influenced my psychopathology classes were multiple, namely, those associated to the stigma and existing representations of mental disorders and also circumstances or events that surround some specific clinical conditions. Also the reputation of psychology might be of interest in order to get an idea of what influences the students in their frame of mind. It is important that students become aware of them and gain a position enabling them to address these issues critically. In order to address such ‘globe awareness’, I used different ways. Here are some examples: –– As a teacher, I brought to class information about events or news that focus on mainly publicly discussed issues in order to start a class or raise a debate. An example was the implications of the Paris terrorist attacks and media coverage in 2016. Students were given time and space to discuss the event through the lenses of psychopathology, this way emphasising the connections of their academic pathway to society as a whole. I am convinced that classes should not be some kind of independent ‘bubble’ set aside from what happens outside in real life, but should become an active space to reflect about daily issues. The students took the task with vivid interest and will benefit from their knowledge gained during their studies in order to better understand societal events. However, other globe factors were felt as a source of difficulty by TCI considerations and standards, namely, the class setting and time:

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–– The class setting was a difficulty because usually the students’ group is a large one (more than 20 students). It was not possible to change the classroom setting for each class (such as disposing of tables and putting chairs in a circle in order to see each other properly, giving all the same chance to be seen and heard, etc.). I can only achieve a real circle of all participants in smaller groups, due to the room situation at my university. In consideration of this issue, I assume that it would have made a big difference in the climate of the bigger group though, promoting a more vivid exchange of opinions, a more focused interaction and even more respect for fellow students (e.g. maintaining respectful silence during presentations). That positive difference was felt each time the setting was changed. I am still wondering how all this could be better managed while working in the available rooms and their tight furnishings. This is obviously a structural issue, not merely a didactical one. Another difficulty was the overall timeframe itself: –– The psychopathology syllabus is very extensive, and the ‘it’, the specific contents of each class, must be respected. For that reason, I felt often a considerable ‘it’ pressure, not always allowing for enough time to appropriately discuss and reflect with students or among themselves about the learning content, or the process in a group, or the individual. That makes me reflect that TCI is the ideal approach perhaps to very specific contents and that, if the classes or session’s ‘it’ is very specific, the final result would be better. This thought leads to my last area of consideration.

2.4  The It or Topic(s) Psychopathology requires that students should be able to understand how and why a set of behavioural, emotional and cognitive features become recognised as pathological. They are also in need of learning not to fear the issue but to recognise and address it appropriately. The way they reach that kind of conclusion will be deeply influenced by their personal experiences in and out of the academic context. Each student is, in this respect for sure, a unique self-organising open system (cf. Maturana and Varela 1980). This, to me, must be considered the real ‘theme’ in my classes, the overall agenda which brings us – the lecturer and students (individually and as a group) – over contents (single topics) really and foremost ‘together’, in the real sense of making ‘living learning’ possible and probable. From this stance, psychopathology lectures should be prepared and oriented to having this double aim in mind: to promote acquisition of knowledge and foremost to develop skills to think critically about how it is constructed and what could be its implications. In this light, it is important that each specific topic is supported by a

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generative question, one that raises the need for new skills, new experiences and new information. With respect to the contents of my class, I proposed to my students a reflection in answer to the following question: “How would it be to live with…” (a person befallen with an ailment from the specific group of mental disorders). Students thought about enacting the need not only to recognise signs and symptoms but also to understand and empathise with the personal experience of those individuals, might it be a family member, lover or friend. Questions like this show how a topic comes ‘near’ to a person. With personal involvement, the critical aspects become much more apparent and urgent, and understanding (not only book knowledge) emerges. I think that the question “How would it be to live with…” is the fitting example of a properly formulated theme, allowing to work on its topics in an engaging way. This way, my approach to ‘living learning’ corresponds with the criteria stated by Scharer’s2: phrased briefly and clearly; not boring; adapted to the linguistic and cognitive competences of participants; formulated so as not to exclude anyone or offend anyone’s feelings; not too concretely or broadly formulated; with an emotionally challenging character; opens new horizons; not phrased one-sidedly; does not go against the axiomatic values of human rights and of TCI; supports the group process by fitting in, with the sequence of themes; and takes into account the ability of group members to express themselves. With TCI, I brought an experiential aim to my psychopathology class. The class improved significantly.

3  Concluding Notes For me as a teacher in higher education, TCI is a work in progress, as it requires major changes in how I approach my work. First of all, it offers a mindful framework for all the goals that stand beside syllabus contents. The personal development of students must be considered as a factor that can assure (or not) the best use of knowledge, and in psychopathology this ethic stance cannot be dismissed. Usually, students expect that teachers talk very specifically about a set of contents and consider that their future application will be mostly dependent on the best use of their memory and reasoning. I think that, as a teacher, I should strive to go further, and TCI offers me a conceptual model to reflect and to change practices to the better. However, it is not an easy task: I am very influenced by the traditional model (less experiential), and I continually ‘struggle’ with myself to make it different. One of the reasons I think that happens is because to ‘continuously consider the four factors in their dynamic balance’ requires a closer stance to relational processes happening during each class. That makes the teaching task, from my point of view, richer but also more demanding.  See Scharer ‘Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn – An introduction’, in this book.

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Usually I focus as a scholar mostly on the ‘It’ and the ‘Globe’ and do not give so much time and space to the individual or needs of the group. TCI makes me reflect critically that the balance between the four factors in acknowledgement of basic needs in a learning group requires it, changing my classes’ plans. One question that also arises for me is: Should the balance be considered in each class or through the overall process, in this case, the total of contact hours? My evaluation is that I am near this general perspective, but still far from the more ­specific one. But again, if, for example, an exam is due and students need to repeat a content, then that is the need in that moment, and starting a group discussion would not at all meet the need of this group or the individual. This might be an example of why a static balancing out of the four factors at all times would be artificial and senseless and why repeatedly adapting the setting to needs and givens is appropriate in my eyes, and surely also from the TCI viewpoint. On the other hand, I experience it also as a major challenge to implement a new approach with the students. Many are very used to adopt a more passive position during classes, and participation is somewhat viewed as a demanding task. It can be observed how such young adults strive to reduce their involvement to a minimum. Even in what refers to talk in front of the group, in order to look in the face of a fellow student who is speaking, some students asked: “Is it really necessary to go to the front of the class?”, as if it was irrelevant who is talking and as if it was enough just to listen and stay quiet. However, my students give a very positive feedback from this more experiential approach I offered them with my first steps with TCI, stating that it makes their classes more interesting and the learning process more participative. They remember more and engage actively with topics at hand. Therefore I conclude that the benefit is obvious to them, even if they seem, by themselves, to shy away in some respects from the effort it also imposes on them. Overall I think the TCI approach puts in evidence what I call a ‘sharing attitude’, a disposition to share opinions, to learn, to get in contact with and connect to different experiences. I also learned by trying that it is beneficial but requires much more effort and involvement in the learning process, from teachers and students alike. However, the multiple daily requirements (and habits!) easily push us to the more distant, passive usual position. TCI is a very useful framework to think about better ways in higher education. That demands obviously a new thinking approach, focused not only on transmitting information but in fostering connections. The gift of encounter though makes it worthwhile, I think. Also the ethical implications are well compatible with the value system of my profession and conviction. In the nowadays very fast world,3 the experience takes precedence over abstract cognitive reasoning, and information access is so easy that what makes a difference in the learning process are the new meanings each theme gains for each student as they connect it with their own frames of refer-

3  See Meyerhuber’s discussion of H. Rosa’s theory of acceleration as a symptom of postmodernity in this volume.

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ence and find answers to their most pressing question: “Why does this matter for me and my professional future?” A more generalised use of the TCI approach in academia could provide, for sure, the right path for shaping a positive future of higher education.

References Altable, C.R., Dening, T. (2013). Psychopathology beyond semiology. An essay on the inner workings of psychopathology. History of Psychiatry, 24(1), 46–61. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/095 7154x12450137. Accessed 22 Jun 2018. Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Bronfenbrenner, U., Evans, G.  W. (2000). Developmental Science in the 21 [sup st] Century: Emerging Questions, Theoretical Models, Research Designs and Empirical Findings. Social Development, 9(1), 115–125. Cesaro, M., Ruggieri, R., Pecoraro, N. (2011). Meaning systems. Their practical implications due to a recursive function between action and thought. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J.T. Simon, A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of Idiographic science – Vol. 3. Roma: Firera & Liuzzo Group, 129–138. Cohn, R. (1995). Von der Psychoanalyse zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion (1975). Stuttgart: Ernst Klett. Cohn, R. (1989). Es geht ums Anteilnehmen. Die Begründerin der TZI zur Persönlichkeitsentfaltung. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Spektrum. Faßhauer, U. (2017). 1st axiom: the existential-anthropological axiom. In M. Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W.  Zitterbart (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 75–79. Maturana, M.  R., Varela, J.  F. (1980). Autopoiesis and cognition. The realization of the living. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Reidel Publishing Company. Kharlamov, N. (2011). Theory strikes back: Performativity and the messy empirical in human sciences. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J.T. Simon, A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of Idiographic science – Vol. 3. Roma: Firera & Liuzzo Group, 49–66. Nauheimer, H. (2003). Essential Facilitation Skills: A workshop for International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Neusiedl: Beraterkompetenz – training, consulting, coaching. Salvatore, S., Valsiner, J. (2011). Idiographic science as a non-existing object: the importance of the reality of the dynamic system. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J.T. Simon, A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of Idiographic science- vol 3. Roma: Firera & Liuzzo Group, 7–28. Venuleo, C., Guidi, M. (2011). The reflexive training setting as a model for working on the meanings that shape students’ view of their role. A case study on psychology freshmen. In S. Salvatore, J. Valsiner, J.T. Simon, A. Gennaro (Eds.), Yearbook of Idiographic science- vol 3. Roma: Firera & Liuzzo Group, 67–94.

TCI Didactics in the Higher Education Context of Kerala, India: Experiences and Insights of Teaching English Language and Communication at the Tertiary Level Joby Cyriac and Christudas Amala Lal

Abstract  This article discusses the classroom experience of offering a TCI-based English language and communication course for postgraduate students in Kerala, South India. The emphasis is on the attempts to translate the system of TCI into classroom practice  – the TCI attitude ingrained in the axioms, the four-factor dynamics, postulates in action and how these aspects animated the classroom processes of teaching and learning (Please note that the TCI approach itself is not explained in this text. Readers not already familiar with the main ideas of TCI are advised to read the introductory text of M. Scharer in this volume. For short references to singular concepts, the reader can also find support by a glossary at the end of the book). The didactics of TCI applied in the preparation and delivery of the course, the challenges faced and the insights garnered are also discussed. The impact of the experiential and holistic didactics of TCI on the students, the classroom climate and the learning process is analysed in the background of the language and communication course offered. Perspectives on the relevance of TCI didactics in the higher education context of India are also discussed. Keywords  TCI in higher education · Language teaching · Language skills and self-confidence · Language and career · Social-political implications of TCI

J. Cyriac (*) Marian College Kuttikanam (Autonomous), Kuttikanam, Kerala, India e-mail: [email protected] C. A. Lal School of Distance Education (SDE), University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_7

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1  English Language Learning Scenario in India In India, a vast country with a multiplicity of linguistic groups, the medium of instruction at the tertiary level is mainly English. Students learn English from early years at school and continue that till the second year of undergraduate studies. However, learning English as a foreign language has been found to be a challenging task for the learners, particularly for those coming from rural and semiurban areas of the country. This affects their academic achievement in other subjects also, since the courses are offered in English and the resource books too are in English. Teaching of English does not meet the required level of success, owing to the sociolinguistic background of the learners, the large number of students in the classrooms and the predominantly teacher-centred pedagogic practices. Teachers of English at the tertiary level in India have constantly been confronted with the need for contextually appropriate alternatives to the predominantly teacher-centred ways of teaching commonly followed. The students doing their undergraduate and postgraduate studies are in need of developing their language and communication skills since, for the former, their higher studies placement depends to a great extent on it, while for the latter, it is nowadays required for ensuring appropriate jobs. Many students, even if they have a good standing in their respective subject area, falter in placement interviews and group discussions which test their language and communication skills. They remain educated but unemployable since they display a marked deficiency in language, communication and interpersonal skillsets required by the recruiters and institutions. Even from the time of schooling, several lacunae are formed in their proficiency of English with regard to grammar, structure, vocabulary, pronunciation and usage. Bridging of these gaps generally does not happen at the secondary or tertiary levels of education, leaving the graduates and postgraduates deficient in English language and communication skills. They feel diffident to talk and to write English. They are affected by the fear of making mistakes and a lack of confidence to initiate or respond to a conversation requiring English. In India’s higher education scene, the affiliated system is practised by the majority of the colleges which offers limited scope for autonomy of teachers in designing their syllabus and course evaluation. Students too enjoy limited choices regarding the individual courses they can choose within a programme since most of the courses are predetermined and are part of the university-designed curriculum. The teaching-learning processes also remain teacher-dominated in approach and academic interactions, staying imbalanced with more from the teacher and less from the students. The higher education scenario in India, however, is undergoing changes with attempts by the government to grant greater autonomy to institutions and teachers. Besides, it is in the gradual process of the transformation from teacher-centred learning to learner-centred mode. Consequently, the experiences of the learner, his/her ability to think critically and build perspectives through dialogue and debate,

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are emphasised by the changing pedagogical practices (Singhal and Kurup 2017, 177). The students are more and more looked upon as active knowledge designers in individualised and self-determined learning processes within and outside of the classroom. In this context of progressive shift from teaching to learning, Themecentered Interaction as a learner-centred experiential learning process with a philosophical underpinning which is deeply humane and fine-tuned to the needs of the students could be seen as an alternative pedagogical approach appropriate to the Indian situation.

2  Theme-Centered Interaction in India Theme-Centered Interaction was introduced in India through the Karl Kuebel Foundation, by the pioneering efforts of Mary Anne Kuebel and Thomas Abraham. Gradually it entered the academic circles when TCI-workshops were offered in institutions like TISS Mumbai and Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. The workshops led by TCI facilitators in different parts of India, the annual conferences of the TCI organisation RCI-India and the international training in TCI, which was initiated in the MG University, helped its spread over the years. Many teachers from school, higher secondary and college levels have got acquainted with TCI and have ventured to apply it in their professional and personal life. A few have pursued TCI training and have received international certification, diploma or attained teaching qualification in TCI. The author’s1 initial encounter with TCI was highly rewarding since it confronted the traditional notions of teaching-learning and offered the freshness of a learner-­ centred didactics which is humanistic in outlook and application. Integrating TCI insights into regular teaching was found to be an enriching experience. The methodical strength and the significance of the humanistic attitude in TCI were to be found distinctive. This course on English language and communication was carried out in order to experience how TCI didactics works in the Indian tertiary education context. TCI is yet to become a widely accepted pedagogic approach in India particularly in the tertiary level. The challenges to realise this goal are many. The traditional teacher-centred approach continues to have a firm foothold in most of the academic institutions. The classrooms – both at the school and college levels – are crowded with a large number of students, and the flexibility in perspective required in order to shift the focus on to the learner and to the process of learning is far from what is needed. Still, TCI with its holistic view of human development and change holds true potential to grow as a pedagogical alternative in Indian higher education.

 This refers to Joby Cyriac.

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3  A  pplying TCI Didactics in Teaching English and Communication to Rural Learners An academic course on English language and communication applying the didactics of TCI was developed and offered to rural learners who were doing their master’s programme in Kerala, South India. Two batches of students, one each from two colleges situated in rural Kerala, were the participants of the course. The course constituted of 30 sessions of 90 min each and was offered in workshop mode to both the groups over a period of 3  months. Two-day workshops at the beginning and end of the course and in addition four 1-day workshops conducted in-between – this is how the course delivery was structured. The teaching-learning experience and responses during the course were qualitatively captured using focus group interviews, depth interviews of individual students, student journal entries and oral and written feedback and through the facilitators’ observation. In line with the TCI philosophy of responsibility which is both individualised and cooperative, under the generic theme of English language skills development, the specific requirements and expectations of the participants were shared during the initial sessions of the workshop. Topic areas were identified by the class which were then formulated by the teacher/leader into themes for the ensuing sessions. The course was offered not as a compulsory one but was optional for the students to participate. Though it was offered along with the regular courses of their master’s programme, the performance in this language course was not to be included in their overall grade. The nature of the course and details of its mode of delivery were explained beforehand to the students and faculty in charge so as to receive their informed consent for their participation. Since this students came from a rural background, the majority of them had attended schools with their mother tongue as the medium of instruction. However, at the higher secondary and college levels, the medium of instruction was English for all. The TCI-based English course was conducted at the first year of their master’s programme. By that stage all of them had about 12  years of contact with English language, out of which at least for 8 years, they had English language as a course in their regular curriculum. However, in spite of this language learning experience and the exposure to subject classes in the medium of English (which were considerably compromised with a heavy use of vernacular by the teachers), these students mostly fell short in their competency in the language. Majority of the participants, at the time of study, were struggling with the use of both productive and receptive skills in English, their proficiency level ranging from A1, A2 and B1 in CEFR which approximates to an IELTS band score of 2 to 3.5. The participants were quite aware of their need for language skills development, since it is required for performing well in competitive situations like job interviews, group discussions and recruitment tests. Evidently, in the course which was developed collectively, the participants wanted to stress on oral conversation skills. The sessions were designed with speaking as the primary objective, but themes and activities linked to listening, reading and writing skills were integrated in the

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s­ essions as well. The broad aim of the course was identified as the development of the basic oral communication skills of the students, and an integrated skill perspective was adopted for the course. The integrated skill view of language teaching was deemed appropriate since it attempts to weave together the different strands – ‘the teacher, the learner, the setting and the relevant languages (i.e. English and the native languages of the learners and the teacher)’ – and also brings in ‘the four primary skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing and the associated or related skills such as knowledge of vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, syntax, meaning, and usage’ (Oxford 2001, 1). This supported the natural way in which people use language for authentic and meaningful communication in context which is amenable to the living learning approach in TCI. The challenges identified by the participants included fear of speaking English in front of a group, fear of making mistakes owing to the heavy emphasis given on correct grammar during earlier education, lack of confidence in their knowledge base in the various aspects of language, want of support for learning English in the groups they belong to and scarce opportunity to use the language in their day-to-day life situations.

4  The Course Objectives, Overall Theme and Subthemes The workshops for the English language and communication course using the didactics of the Theme-Centered Interaction approach were offered for both classes under the overall theme2 ‘My journey with English: Where am I now? Where do I want to go? Together, let us move on.’ During the initial sessions after the icebreaking activities with a view to strengthen the ‘We’, the needs and expectations of the participants regarding the course were clarified. Differing from what the course leader had anticipated from master-level students, the participants of the first group, which constituted 20 participants, wanted to focus on basic oral communication skills and a revisiting of the fundamental elements of language like grammar, vocabulary building and pronunciation. The other group of 28 members wanted oral communication skills to be developed and streamlined for the purpose of performing effectively in personal interviews and group discussions during job recruitment and selection. Under the overall theme of the course, several subthemes were formulated for the sessions in the workshops. Centring on these themes, the sessions were structured. Relevant activities, appropriate resource inputs, techniques and methods were adopted during the sessions. A few themes which occurred during the workshops are included here for illustration.

2  In the TCI approach, formulating a fitting overall theme capturing the interest of all participants is an important aspect. For more specifics on this issue, I recommend reading the introduction chapter by M. Scharer in this book.

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–– Challenges and opportunities in my language skills development. We examine from the four-factor3 point of view. –– Drafting a need-based plan for our English course. We pool our thoughts. –– What do I want from this course? I reflect and share my expectations. –– The learning journal as a reflective tool for learning. Let’s understand and practice. –– Let us develop an evaluation rubric to assess our progress. –– Directing myself in learning English. How can being my own chairperson help? –– Revisiting English tenses: this is what I know and this is what I wish to learn anew. –– I understand my fears and take courage to speak before my group. –– Subskills in language and communication. Let us give a closer look. –– Solving the pronunciation puzzle: We clarify the basics and use them in our conversations. –– Looking back at the day’s process – I record my experiences, my feelings, my insights. –– I prepare and present a self-introduction. I receive feedback from my peer group. –– These are my career plans! I learn and use future time structures. –– Cracking the job interview. We support each other to fine-tune our performance. Methods of self- and peer assessment and teacher feedback on performance were also incorporated in the course. Towards this purpose, assessment rubric, particularly for speaking skills, were developed in a participatory mode during the initial workshop. Efforts were made to uphold the axiomatic stance of TCI and the practical orientation of the postulates4 with a view to realise the shift from teacher-­centred processes to learning-centred classroom processes where living learning takes place. The students were encouraged to be authentic participant leaders who are aware of the paradoxical reality of being autonomous and interdependent at the same time.

5  T  heme-Centered Interaction in the Language Classroom: Experiences, Insights and Perspectives The application of TCI pedagogy to an English language classroom at the tertiary level turned out to be a challenging and insightful experience. The prior experiences of the students with language learning and their preconceived notions about how language teaching and learning ought to take place created difficulties in accepting 3  Refers to the ideal of four factors in dynamic balance during all group work: I, we, topic and globe (for more information, see Scharer). 4  The TCI approach has specific concepts referred to here: postulates, living learning, participant leadership, authenticity, autonomy and independency are concepts explained in the contribution of Scharer’s introduction to TCI in this book and in short in the glossary at the end of the book.

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and following a different approach. Some students came from sociocultural backgrounds where set patterns of power relations and limiting belief patterns unconsciously maintained undemocratic social dynamics which side-lined the less privileged. A few of the participants from financially and educationally ‘backward’ families were mostly diffident and withdrawn in classroom interactions. For a few others – both male and female students alike – certain customs and values which were insisted on religious and social grounds restricted personal choices and impeded their personal growth opportunities.5 These background realities demanded reflective attention to wider and deeper aspects of the Individual, the Group and the Globe factors which were implicitly present in the classroom processes. The four-­ factor model in TCI which brings together I, We, It and the Globe helped to view language learning as a process involving biographical, academic, social and even political dimensions of education. The application of TCI was initiated with a change in the traditional row-wise classroom seating arrangement to a circle formation. Since the number of participants in the two classes was 20 and 28, respectively, such a change could be effected easily. The usual position of the teacher as a sage on the stage was changed into a participant leader who shared the learning experience in a spirit of learning with the participants. This repositioning of the teacher’s role was new to the students and took some time for them to accommodate. The value base of TCI expressed in the axioms permeated all the workshop processes. The postulates on chairpersonship and disturbances which made the axiomatic values practical, the four-factor model and the auxiliary rules were explicitly brought into application during the sessions. The class included students belonging to different religions – Christian, Hindu and Muslim. The socioeconomic status of the students ranged from those with financially sound family background to those from backward communities. There were first generation learners too in the class. The humanistic worldview of TCI with its emphasis on reverence and welfare to all was experienced as particularly relevant, given the socioeconomic and cultural diversity among the students within the class and the multireligious multi-cultural globe outside. With a pluralistic and diverse world outside rife with challenges of nationalism, communalism and fundamentalism, the didactics inspired by the humanism of Ruth C. Cohn offered a common ground for interaction, reflection, learning and change. This aspect of the approach gets reflected in comment made by Anju, one of the participants: In the group I felt confidence. I felt an equal feeling in the group. I also understood that the real problem is not that we don’t know but the fear of a foreign language.

Swapna, another participant, made similar observations while describing her experience in the group process: Everyone has equal rights and has different qualities. Each of us is important and is capable.

5  About intercultural issues and chances in TCI settings, see also the contribution of S. Kurtes in this volume.

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5.1  The Challenge of Participant Leading One of the main challenges experienced during the different stages of the course and most significantly in the initial workshop sessions was being a participant leader in the TCI way. The task of the TCI leaders as participating members is to be aware that they are also learners and at the same time bear the responsibility for the structures, the dynamic balance of the process, and heeding the interest and needs of the individuals. This requires ‘dismantling of authoritarian and non-authoritarian positions’ through selective authenticity, adequate communication, distribution of functions and transparency in the democratic workings of the group (Matzdorf and Cohn 1992, 91). In the educational setting of Kerala, this becomes a particularly challenging goal since the dominating figure of the teacher is the stereotype which the students are accustomed to. Participant leadership as envisaged in TCI is a challenge and learning opportunity for both to the leader and to the participants. The experience in this TCI-based language development course was not different. Initially most of the participants were not coming forth and involving in the process since participative leadership in teaching and learning was unfamiliar to them. The dynamics in the group process which exerts subtle pressure on the leader to maintain the patterns of teacher-centred approach became apparent from the beginning of the course. The leader experienced the countertransference6 demand of responding to the group as a traditional teacher who controls the group, offers his knowledge from a pedestal (guru) and advices them with solutions for their problems. In other words it was an invitation to pamper the learned dependence of the participants, to think for them and decide in disregard to their natural autonomy. Resisting to follow this familiar pattern turned out to be a highly demanding task and a learning experience for the course leader. Maintaining selective authenticity in communication and keeping up the transparency of the whole process supported the leader in dealing with this situation. The teacher-transference the students experienced in their interaction with the leader of the course was a challenging learning opportunity for them too. The students’ expectation about the teacher’s functioning was visible in several ways. There were participants who forthwith asked for teacher-given solutions for their language problems even though they had the experience of learning the language for more than 10 years. They wanted the teacher to ‘teach’ grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation in the traditional way so that their speaking skills could be improved. The ‘anti-interactional’ rounds of sharing initiated during the sessions in which they were invited to express learning experience were found to be quite challenging for many. For some it was a question of courage, while many found self-reflective sharing difficult. However, when the course proceeded more students started to take responsibility for becoming more expressive. The learning part came in terms of being and becoming participant leaders themselves, taking more responsibility for 6  See the psychological concepts of countertransference and transference explained in the glossary at the end of the book.

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the learning process. Students became more participative overall, and a few volunteered to co-lead sessions and to offer activities during the sessions. Annie’s observation highlights the perspective from the students’ side: This class is very different from other classes I got to attend. I feel free to do things because no one is controlling us but just coordinating. I can feel a difference in the attitude of my friends also.

5.2  A  utonomy as the First Step Towards Self-Directed Language Learning The didactics of TCI encourages learners to be their own chairperson and to take responsibility for their learning. This is implied in the shift from teacher to the learner and the learning process as the primary focus of classroom transactions. The learners are expected to be self-responsible and self-assertive in the classroom. The participants of the TCI-based language course, however, found this aspect challenging. In both the classes, there was resistance to share the responsibility of the process and to embark on a self-initiated learning process. The influence of the Indian sociocultural context where the value of group cohesion and thinking with the collective is placed in higher esteem than the value of individual autonomy which fosters assertiveness and encourages self-responsibility was evident. The option of a self-directed and autonomous attempt at learning did not seem to occur to them. There was demand for inputs from the ‘teacher’ in the form of lectures and handouts. In the beginning, when the individual chairperson was called upon to speak, there was silence in the group with only one or two attempting to express themselves. A progressive development of autonomous behaviour in the students was observed as the course proceeded. The participants showed greater appreciation to the process which tried to take into account each person with his different learning needs, their experiences with the world they live in, their expectations, attitudes towards the language, willingness to communicate and readiness to take risks. In one class, since the learners felt inhibited to speak in English on the first day, the entire session was conducted in the mother tongue giving each participant freedom to decide when they wanted to attempt speaking English. Interestingly by the end of the second day’s sessions, all the participants mustered courage and made at least one attempt to express themselves in English. Another instance of self-assertion occurred in the group of 20 when some of the participants had confusions regarding continuing the course. During the second day of the first workshop, some students were found distracted and were not involving in the process. Though they had got enrolled in the course initially, they felt that the course would be too time consuming. They were concerned that it would rob their time to study their core subjects and eventually affect their overall grade. They were invited to share their side talks which became a theme in the workshop. ‘Continuing

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in the course: I attend to my disturbance and resolve it by deciding for myself’. Six participants from the group of 20 decided to discontinue the course. It was difficult for them to decide to discontinue since the authorities might not approve of this decision. At the same time, some of those who wanted to stay faced much peer pressure to quit also. However, this was successfully overcome by those remaining in the course until the end. Ambili who chose to remain reflected on the experience: It was good to have a chance to take a decision of our own. Though I had a difficulty to take a decision opposing that of my friends, it turned out to be fine. I have never taken a decision like this because I am the youngest in family and I always seek the support of my elders for taking decisions. I am always a dependent person and when I took the decision to stay back without my friends even my family members were surprised. I wanted to learn English.

Autonomy in language learning, according to Holec (1981, 3), is ‘the ability to take charge of one’s own learning’. An autonomous learner develops the capacity to make decisions and directs their own learning process. Phil Benson views autonomy as exercising control over three interdependent dimensions: learning management which includes organising one’s own learning, cognitive processes of learning and learning content which brings in a social aspect which involves the learner’s “ability to negotiate over goals, purposes, content and resources with others” (2013, 61–62). The participants of the TCI-based course took minor steps towards some of these aspects of learner autonomy. They actively involved in self-, peer and teacher assessment of their oral communication skills and identified their individual learning goals. Some students initiated informal learning contracts to support each other in learning to speak by using it in different contexts like classrooms, hostels and on the campus. Two of them reported practising speaking in English at home with college-going siblings. Purposeful viewing of English movies and initiating a daily reading of English newspapers were other strategies adopted voluntarily by some students. The quality of classroom involvement of the students also improved significantly during the latter part of the course. In TCI, autonomy is always linked to interdependence. The anthropological axiom states the dialectical aspect of human existence which demands conscious efforts from the person to synthesise their decisions according to the day-to-day situations. In the student-centred approach, the freedom of the learner is highly respected, and he/she is expected to participate and contribute with responsibility in the learning process. However, during the language and communication workshops, a few of the students were not able to use their freedom responsibly as they started responding to the teachers’ suggestions without due seriousness to the process. There were also slips in observing punctuality, leaving the entire group waiting for them at times. These issues of tardiness and self-discipline were picked up in the group process for discussion, and the responsibility which accompanies autonomy was clarified. The students responded positively by keeping time and displaying more disciplined and perceptive behaviours in the classroom. It was interesting to note the dynamics of freedom and responsibility which became apparent in the classroom processes. The students who were familiar with the teacher-centred paradigm found it difficult to be exposed to a different pattern where they enjoyed considerable freedom of choice. They had to be educated to

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help them to make proper use of their freedom! This brings out the wider question of responsible functioning of individuals in the context of a democracy like India and the role of education. John Dewey’s conceptualisation of the link between education and democracy seems to be significant in this context in that it offers a rationale for a democratic pedagogy like TCI in a democracy. Dewey argues that “the very idea of democracy is implied in the core understanding of education as reconstruction, as the continuous growth of all persons. If that process is taking place, democracy itself emerges all the more substantively” (Dewey 1916, 89, as quoted in Hansen 2006, 11). TCI as a didactic method, with its respect for individual freedom and responsible decision-making, can possibly effect citizenship training by essentially living the democratic values in education, making them tangible and experienceable. “To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness…” states Gandhi, explaining what it takes to be a citizen of a democracy (Gandhi 1992, 418).

5.3  Growth in Trust as a Catalyst for Learning In a TCI process, the participants in the group become a group (We) through their attention to the theme and the interaction in the group. The English language learners also came together under a theme and through interaction developed their sense of interdependence and enhanced their group cohesion. The common task of enhancing their language skills was attempted in a holistic way engaging the head, hand and heart. The groups went through different phases of growth, and simultaneously the level of trust also deepened which created a conducive environment for learning and change. The target language learning proceeded at the pace of each learner, while there were other aspects of learning which also took place. A bird’s-eye view of the course delivery in the two different groups reveals various identifiable stages in the flow and development of each group as it developed its own unique process history. Changes in the way themes were approached, changes in the nature of interaction among the group members and subtle shifts in non-­verbal communication and participant behaviours unveiled the different phases of the group. Even though a watertight differentiation of stages is not possible, and space needed to be given for overlapping of process stages and repeat cycles of the patterns, the sessions can be roughly seen as falling into forming, maturing, performing and winding-up phases of the group. The group phases observed in both the classes were more or less similar except for the disturbance which occurred in one group during the second day which culminated in six students discontinuing the course.7 7  Please note that, in light of TCI, this is not a failure. The event can be interpreted as success since only truly interested parties stayed in class, while the decision of leaving honours the spirit of being one’s own chairperson and maintaining ‘selective authenticity’ of the six group members – staying true to their heart and deciding what they thought was best in that moment.

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The initial forming phase was marked by caution, maintaining of distance and watchful and guarded interactions. Though the students were together in the same class for almost 6  months, personal-level sharing opportunities and theme-based interaction among them were not usual. Even the classroom arrangement was not conducive for that. The group was looking up to the leader for guidance and orientation. The themes were chosen considering these needs, and a gradual progression from individual I’s to We was evident as the sessions offered opportunity for self-disclosure. The nature and the overall organisation of the course and the schedule of the workshops were made clear to the participants at the outset. An understanding of the general theme of the course and opportunity to respond to it and clarify their expectations slowly led to greater trust and openness. The sense of security gradually increased which reflected by and by in the enhanced involvement of the participants in the processes. At the time of forming subgroups for theme-based sharing, there was some confusion since they were asked to form groups voluntarily. A suggestion to take number counts to divide into groups came up. This was used as an opportunity to give a brief conceptual input on individual responsibility to chair one’s own situations for decision-making. The group listened and tried to follow the cue, but this was unfamiliar ground for almost all. It took many more sessions further for them to experiment on their self-leadership. During the maturing stages of the group, transference issues came up rather forcefully, demanding authoritative behaviour and interventions from the leader. The leader was expected to offer solutions to the concerns which were raised during the workshop sessions, placing the leader in a know-it-all position. The response “We’ll explore the answers together” did not seem to satisfy many. The energy level of the group in general was sagging towards the end of the first day, and it followed through into the second day. On the other hand, there were instances of growing authenticity and increasing trust in the sharing of feelings in the morning round. There was less pattern following, less pleasing the leader; instead those participants who mustered courage to share sounded self-reflective and genuine. “Confused”, “glad”, “tired”, “happy”, “thinking”, “feeling good”, and “I’m learning” were some typical expressions. The overall energy level of the group moved up in the three 1-day workshops during the latter half of the course and in the final 2-day workshop. The work satisfaction and productivity phase of group development became evident at this stage. The participants displayed autonomous actions and at the same time showed awareness of how they impact the group and its process. Sense of self-discipline and responsibility were quite evident towards the last workshops. Some of the students attempted leading a session or activity at this stage. In one of the groups, a one-act play was scripted by the students and staged. Any absence during the sessions was informed to the group in advance and punctuality illustrated a high sense of responsibility.

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In the final phase of the course, references to the imminent ending came up in the sharing of several participants. The awareness of the Globe out there which they were to meet soon started looming large: “Soon we’ll be back with the old system, we’ll be with other friends in the class, it would be difficult to continue the present way of learning” were some of the concerns expressed. Though it was a course which extended into 3 months and 30 sessions, offered as independent workshops of 2- or 1-day duration, the stages of the groups were fairly evident. However, the individual workshops had their own dynamics too, where the different stages emerged and re-emerged in subtle ways. The overall trend and flow of the process in the total course followed a more or less similar pattern in both groups. The growth of trust in the group and its influence on the learning process was a factor which could be observed. In both groups by the time the course reached its halfway mark, the initial diffidence, uncertainties and confusions had given way to a readiness to understand and cooperate with each other and to follow the activities in the sessions with responsibility. Voluntary learning contracts among students, forming partnerships to try out different strategies to improve oral skills and readiness to express themselves in spite of probable mistakes were suggestive of the trust which the group participants had developed among themselves. Those group members who remained silent or less involved and were not ready to open up during the interactions gradually eased out of the estrangement and related with the other participants and the leader. Initially the structures were presented and insisted with emphasis, but later on as the course proceeded – the group was taking care of the structure and the process was flowing with ease. The trust in the groups became palpable, and there was intimacy, openness and authentic sharing in the group. The structure-process-trust loop was generally indicating a healthy trend, and this facilitated language learning.

5.4  E  xpanding Boundaries: The Chairperson in ‘Critical’ Action The notion of inner voices was used to introduce and explain the chairpersonship postulate to the learning groups. As a concept dealing with the subjective experience of individual learners, it took time for the participants to come to discern it and to experiment on the insights. For many it was an insightful experience to become aware of certain voices which hindered them from being and doing what they wanted. The TCI process enabled many students to push the internal boundaries and move towards becoming self-confident and self-responsible. They became aware not only about the limiting thoughts and feelings and patterns of behaviours but also about the rights, capabilities and possibilities before them. Taking little steps and with support from the group, many of them gradually started to claim their space

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and assert their voice during various workshop sessions. This got manifested in different ways: –– Overcoming the fear to be in the group process and venturing to speak before the group, in English. –– Awareness about the fear of being oneself and to assert the ‘I’. Gathering courage to go against others’ opinion by expressing one’s own opinion and standing up for oneself. –– Becoming aware of the internal limiting thoughts, especially the ‘have tos’ and ‘shoulds’. –– Confronting the thinking that English as a language is beyond one’s reach. Instead, feeling that one can learn it. –– Learning to tolerate one’s mistakes and becoming confidently expressive in the use of English and not remain hesitant. Majority of these subtle changes in the participants were not about linguistic skills or knowledge per se but concerning their personality and psychological wellbeing. Some changes were effected by confronting the biographical influences which might have come from their personal or social environment. These experiences of expanding internal boundaries of students during the classroom process therefore have obvious implications in their personal and social situations (Globe). In the Indian context, coming to grips with a language like English is a passport to better life chances and possible upward social mobility in the long run, since it opens up promising career opportunities for the students. Moreover, it is important to each individual to find their own space and voice when surrounded by unfavourable social, cultural or economic realities. TCI becomes a socially just pedagogy since it serves as a value-based learning method creating an ethos of equality, equity, inclusiveness and empowerment for living learning to take place. The approach pre-­ empts any discrimination in the classroom on the basis of socioeconomic status, lack of talent or pace of learning. Instead, diversity and differences are valued. This is particularly relevant in a developing country like India where reservations and government support are still required for many backward groups and communities to gain access to the mainstream, through education and empowerment.

5.5  Banking Model Versus Living Learning All the participants of the language course were accustomed to the Indian higher education system, and it was not a surprise that they experienced difficulty to follow the attitudes and methods of the TCI-based course. The slow pace of the sessions and the de-emphasising of the content aspect were new experiences for them, and it took time to get inducted. Yash Pal, Indian scientist and educationist, observes that in the Indian system of education “a lot is taught, but little is learnt or understood”: Transmission of information rather than experimentation, exploration or observation characterises the

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teaching-learning process in most of the classrooms, and education remains unrelated to its holistic philosophical and social aims (Pal 1993, 3). Specifically about the higher education system he observes: Most instrumentalities of our education harm the potential of human mind for constructing and creating new knowledge. We have emphasized delivery of information and rewarded capability of storing information. (Pal 2009,3)

In the existing system, the university prescribes a syllabus for a programme determining the individual courses which should invariably be part of it. Flexible options according to specific interest and needs are a rarity in this system. When it comes to classroom teaching, the subjects are topics to be discussed which mostly remain outside the personal experience or contextual reality of the learner. Teaching remains mere transmission of information adding to the repertoire of knowledge, overtaxing the cognitive domain. Learning seldom becomes a whole person affair, involving one’s hand, head and heart, eventually bringing about a change in the learner’s perspective and action. The evaluation processes also often follow a similar pattern since the purpose of assessment is most of the time to test the retention of information than its application or assimilation. The joyless learning ambience is exacerbated by a competition-based social ethos which socialises the learners to look upon education as mainly a process of preparing for examinations. In general, the existing educational system in India at the tertiary level remains far removed from the practice of dynamic balancing of the four factors I-We-It and Globe envisaged by Ruth C. Cohn in Theme-Centered Interaction. The TCI process is not fast paced. It is slow since it takes into account the varied factors involved in learning – the Individual with their internal experiences, their biography, mind, body and soul; the Group with its interdependent existence and cohesion through interaction; the task at hand personalised and contextualised into a summoning Theme; and the Globe with its influences far and near – so as to make learning a deep and living experience. Less content is the norm in TCI since it becomes amenable to multifaceted and relevant reflections in connection with the four factors. This kind of learning can facilitate deeper understanding, growth and change – a mode of education which India requires.

5.6  TCI Didactics in India: Problems and Prospects The TCI approach in itself is a critique on the existing system of education in India which leaves much to be desired in being holistic and truly learner focused. TCI is also an alternative didactic paradigm which is pro-democratic, inclusive and experiential, which can hopefully stimulate qualitative changes in Indian higher education. However the approach brings with it challenges at the levels of teachers, learners and administrators. Theme-Centered Interaction involves a paradigm shift of role from teacher to participant leader. This demands changes in the notions and values

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associated with traditional approach to teaching. Certain cultural constructs of teaching (e.g. guru) may require a revisiting and a reframing of meaning since the teacher in TCI is not a sage on the stage or just a guide by the side. Instead he/she is also a learner, a co-explorer in the search for new knowledge, insights and perspectives. The student’s role changes from passive receptionist to active constructionist of knowledge hand in hand with the teacher who also participates in the process of learning. The classroom shifts from teacher-centred paradigm to learner and learning-­centred paradigm. The emphasis is much on the process and less on the product. The TCI group is not task forced but task centered, where outcome cannot be assumed; we merely start with the willingness to work toward success. We are goal aware but not goal directed. (Gordon 1972, 208)

It becomes the task of the teacher to transform impersonal topics into personalised themes which are also locally relevant and of here-and-now significance. Discovering themes with the group demands heightened awareness of internal and external realities and expertise in the domain concerned. Themes in the language classroom, for instance, need to facilitate authentic and meaningful learning which is intimately connected to Indian social and cultural reality. The possibility of identifying generative themes which can enhance the critical consciousness of the learners also exists in the language classroom as became evident in the examples introduced above. The concept of generative themes links the educational approaches of Paulo Freire and Ruth Cohn. According to Freire, the essence of education is ‘the practice of freedom’, ‘the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world’ (Freire 2005, 34). He suggests that one should look for themes in the human-world relationship and that such themes which are closely connected to people and their real problems will result in the awakening of critical consciousness which will eventually lead people to overcome their limit situations (ibid., 99). This is in line with the pragmatic-political axiom of TCI which speaks about freedom limited by the internal and external boundaries that are particular to every individual, but could be extended to varying extents (Kanitz 2017, 84). The themes are ‘generative’ in the sense that they contain the possibility of unfolding into deeper and related themes, which in their turn call for new tasks to be fulfilled (Freire 2005, 102). In TCI didactics too, the leader is encouraged to search for such uniting, generative themes and to formulate them appropriately for experiential learning. In TCI understanding, the theme is connected to the context. The Globe also is the task of the teacher and the learner. Learning process disconnected from the contextual realities of the environment and that of the personal globes of the learners would lack balance. This challenges the learners to adopt and practice a holistic perspective of teaching and learning. Process-oriented teaching-learning demands the skill of reflective analysis for both the learner and the teacher. The TCI-based sessions on language skills development required student competence in reflective thinking. Becoming aware of one’s

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own thinking and feeling and reflecting on the group process of interactive learning were found challenging, and it needed quite some time to initiate participants in the path of this awareness which a chairperson should possess. The teachers adopting TCI didactics will have to hone their skills in meta-analysis of what happens in the group situation and chart the progress of the classroom processes with flexibility.

6  Conclusion Applied in teaching language and communication, TCI didactics yields rich results owing to the holistic and value-based way of approaching the learners and the learning process. It facilitates language learning and at the same time empowers the learner to be autonomous, self-responsible and self-confident. The impact of TCI approach stretches beyond the classroom to the social, cultural and political facets of the learners’ personal globes. TCI sensitises the learners about intrapersonal and interpersonal realities of human experience. It links his learning to contextual realities of everyday life. To sum up, the process orientation of TCI is demanding reflective awareness of the teaching and learning dynamics, the balancing of the four factors which makes the process slow but sustainably efficient while experientially involving the whole person. The emphasis on deep and personalised understanding of content makes Theme-Centered Interaction a challenging didactic model with a potential to holistically influence Indian classrooms positively.

References Benson, P. (2013). Teaching and researching autonomy. New York: Routledge. Dewey, J.  (1916). Democracy and education: an introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan. Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniv.). New York: Continuum. Gandhi, M.K. (1992). An autobiography or the story of my experiments with truth. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House. Gordon, M. (1972). Theme-Centered interaction; an original focus on counselling and education. In Liberman, N.J. (Ed.), Baltimore: National Educational Press. Hansen, D.T. (2006). John Dewey and our educational prospect: A critical engagement with Dewey’s Democracy and education. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy in foreign language learning. Oxford: Pergamon. Kanitz, A. von (2017). Axiom 3: The Pragmatic-Political Axiom. In M. Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 84–88. Matzdorf, P., Cohn, R.C. (1992). Das Konzept der Themenzentrierten Interaktion. In Löhmer, C., Standhardt, R., (Eds.), TZI.  Pädagogisch-therapeutische Gruppenarbeit nach Ruth C.  Cohn. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 39–92. Oxford, R.L. (2001). Integrated skills in the ESL/EFL classroom. ESL Magazine, 6(1). Reprinted in ERIC/CLL Digest, EDO-FL-01-05, Sept 2001.

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Pal, Y. (1993). Learning without burden: Report for the National Advisory Committee to advise on improving the quality of learning while reducing the burden on school students, 26. http:// www.teinindia.nic.in/Files/Reports/CCR/YashPal_committe_report_lwb.pdf. Accessed 22 Nov 2014. Pal, Y. (2009). Report of the Committee on the Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education, 104. http://mhrd.gov.in/report-committee-advice-renovation-and-rejuvenation-highereducation-prof-yashpahl-committee-report. Accessed 12 Nov 2014. Singhal, C., Kurup, A. (2017). Redefining University Education in India: Pedagogy and Student Voices. In R. Osman, D.J. Hornsby (Eds.), Transforming Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Towards a Socially Just Pedagogy in a Global Context. Palgrave Critical University Studies. Cham: Springer International, 175–190.

Part III

Interdisciplinary Intersections

Theme-Centered Interaction: Intersections with Reflective Practice in North American Religious Contexts Mary E. Hess

Abstract  A variety of efforts in North America include frameworks for helping participants in learning events to listen more carefully, to attend more reflectively, to speak more slowly. Here is an important intersection in which the work of Theme-Centered Interaction, Ruth C. Cohn’s psychologically grounded and astute theorizing and practice, offers substantial affirmation of specific processes. There are clear resonances between strategies such as ‘being your own chairperson’ and ‘knowing your theory-in-use’. Reflective teaching practices support putting learning at the heart of higher education, rather than too narrowly falling into teaching-­ focused interaction. Keywords  TCI · Theme-Centered Interaction · Reflective teaching · Epistemology · Authenticity · Authority · Agency

1  Our Current Context It is difficult to overstate how tumultuous and confusing our experiences of the world are today, at least in the midst of so-called advanced democracies. Amid the turmoil and complexity of global shifts in telecommunication, pressing environmental challenges, and massive refugee movements spawned by violent conflicts, the very nature of higher education is being fundamentally questioned. I would point to three shifts in particular that are shaping our experience as designers and facilitators of learning experiences in these spaces: what constitutes authority, how authenticity is defined, and how personal and collective forms of agency are experienced (cf. Hess 2016). In the midst of these shifts, the central narratives of higher education are fundamentally being challenged. Is this form of learning primarily aimed at preparing young people for paid employment? Is it a space in which basic research is pursued for the development of more effective M. E. Hess (*) Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, MN, USA e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_8

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solutions to pressing issues? Is it an arena for sustaining memory over time, particularly of history? Is it a liminal space in which people of all ages come to retool and enter new forms of activity? Perhaps it is all this and more besides (cf. Richardson and Dixon 2017). Clayton Christenson, who in many ways has been the spokesperson of disruptive innovation, notes that the university of today and tomorrow may well be the one that best manages three tasks – discovery, memory, and mentoring (cf. Christensen and Eyring 2011). In that phrase you can identify all of the various goals I noted earlier. While I generally agree with these analyses, I would point to a particularly urgent challenge that is readily apparent in the contexts in which I teach – that is, in North America. I want to start there not so much because I believe I have diagnoses and prescriptions which are pertinent beyond these contexts but because I believe that engaging a very specific context can prove evocative for others, it can be a starting point for dialogue and engagement.

2  Competing Epistemologies At the heart of Theme-Centered Interaction, at least as I understand it, is a deep commitment to and recognition of a dialogical form of knowing, an epistemological assertion, if you will, that we inhabit what Parker Palmer has called a “community of truth” (Palmer 2007, 100–107). Such an assertion recognizes both that each of us has an authentic and valid experience of the world and that no one experience can ever encompass all of reality. Further, to gain a solid grasp of the reality which we inhabit, we must find appropriate and effective ways to ‘pivot our standpoints’, to ‘shift our perspectives’, to enter into spaces constructed so as to collaborate through difference (cf. Collins 2009; Bruffee 1993). Perhaps a shorthand way of framing this assertion would be that the more diverse the knowers, the more robust the knowing. Such a way of viewing the world is not easily arrived at, and far too many of our default practices in higher education shy away from such a stance. Note, for instance, how strongly polarized our current spaces have become or how ‘tribal’, to use Jonathan Haidt’s term, much public discourse has been (cf. Haidt 2012). Maria Popova makes an interesting point here, when she notes that in social media-driven spaces, the “biggest social sin is not to have an opinion”, no matter how little experience or knowledge one has of a specific issue (Popova 2014, timemark 3:44). Even within academic settings, at least within the United States, there is still a strong default assumption embedded in the structures of higher education that privileges expertise arrived at through very focused and narrow individualized research. The strongest resistance to such an epistemological stance can be found in the various fields of science, but as most people are aware, there is strong ideological pressure right now in the United States to resist scientific forms of inquiry, and the funding and other structural support for such inquiry are dwindling rapidly.

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Indeed, much of the funding for higher education in the United States is increasingly being tied to a narrow push for ‘job readiness’, for patterns of knowing that have narrow goals of helping students to ‘get a job’ (cf. Pellegrino and Hilton 2012).

2.1  Authority, Authenticity, Agency To some extent these default assumptions are being challenged by shifting dynamics amidst the influx of digital technologies. Media scholars note, for instance, that when authority is no longer conferred, let alone accepted, through structural means – such as conferring authority on the professor standing in front of a room simply because they are the professor – credibility becomes something which must be built anew in each setting, it must be crafted and demonstrated and deliberately shaped (cf. Hess 2015). Similarly what constitutes ‘authenticity’ changes from moment to moment. Whole industries – entertainment, marketing, etc. – are built on figuring out what signals authenticity and then selling the tools and processes to produce such signals to the industries which rely on consumerism. For many of the students with whom I teach and learn, ‘authenticity’ is the opposite of ‘manipulation’ – and manipulation is a facet of nearly every experience they encounter, certainly in public or civic settings. These students have very highly tuned ‘bullshit detectors’ – but their detectors rely on emotional clues and are often bound into hegemonic cultural forces which have blinded them to structural racism or, in the case of my students who are from marginalized or minoritized communities, have caused them to internalize the messages in damaging ways. The final dynamic – that of agency – has been thoroughly shaped in US contexts into agency experienced primarily, or even solely, through consumption. There are vanishingly few forms of collective agency in robust evidence in the United States right now. Labor unions have nearly disappeared, political action has been deformed into consumption of candidates packaged for particular constituencies to whom one can ‘donate’ funds (so consumption through ‘purchase’ of a candidate), and even the emerging rise of large rallies – the women’s rally immediately following President Trump’s inauguration, for instance  – are moments of visible presence which are experienced as brief glimpses of shared energy rather than sustained and collective building of structural resistance. Propaganda is increasingly the dominant form of public discourse, and in the US media sphere, where news media have to produce profit in order to function, and even so-called public media are dependent on corporate largesse, persons must work hard and intentionally to find and filter actionable information from the firehose pressure of data that is constantly being streamed to them (cf. Hobbs 2017). Perhaps there is some resonance here, or worthwhile analogies to be drawn, between the era in which Ruth Cohn developed Theme-Centered Interaction and our own. Certainly her work has some very specific implications for and relevance to higher education in the United States.

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3  Intersections with TCI I need to be clear in this essay: as someone who teaches and does research in the North American context, my experiences with TCI have been quite limited. I first encountered the methodology in the work of communicative theologians Matthias Scharer and Bernd Jochen Hilberath, and even then it was primarily through the translation work and efforts of Catholic theologians Mary Ann Hinsdale and Brad Hinze (cf. Scharer and Hilberath 2008). These four scholars led a team of Catholic theologians through an exercise in communicative theology at Fordham University in 2008. I was energized and inspired by that process and since then have been following the ideas and literature to the extent that I can in my own contexts. I am on the faculty of a Lutheran graduate theological school in the upper Midwest of the United States. I also teach in various other Catholic contexts (Seattle University, the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto, and so on). In these spaces, without ease of access to TCI trained facilitators, I have found analogous and resonant work in a number of other scholars, and in the rest of this essay, I will endeavor to note several of the more interesting intersecting points in this work. I will use the points on the TCI diagram as my organizing structure.

3.1  The Globe Let me begin with the notion of ‘globe’ in which this work takes place. There is strong consensus amongst theologians that context matters (cf. Bevans 2004). Yet as anthropologist Michael Wesch has demonstrated, we are inhabiting a world in which context has collapsed (cf. Wesch 2009). When video, audio, or even simply Twitter texts, which arise in one setting, can be floated on a vast sea of data and come to rest in another setting minus any of their original context, it is more imperative than ever that we focus intentionally on the ‘globe’ in which meaning is produced, in which it circulates, and how if at all we contest or negotiate with it (cf. Zuckerman 2013; Rheingold 2012). There are very few boundaries or borders any longer which mark, let alone obstruct, the flow of certain kinds of data. For some organizations – certainly those who rely on capital flows – this lack of border or boundary can be a boon. But for most of us, this liquidity can be problematic and even profoundly destructive (cf. Hylén 2015). Consider the challenges that arise around privacy norms, which vary by country to country, and yet which businesses like Google and Facebook regularly flout (cf. Rainey and Wellman 2012). Even financial capital is flowing without marker given the emergence of technologies like Bitcoin. How are we to understand let alone influence such flows? A first step might well be finding ways to intentionally, systematically, and thoroughly keep recognition of ‘the globe’ in our awareness. Theme-Centered Interaction invites that recognition, as does Parker Palmer’s “community of truth” framework (Palmer 2007, 100–107).

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In the upper Midwest of the United States, where I live, teach, and work, there is a set of practices which has proven profoundly energizing as well as empowering in myriad contexts. I say ‘practices’ to describe the Art of Hosting in the same way that I speak of the ‘practices’ of yoga, rather than a specific form of yoga. The Art of Hosting is, as one popular website notes, “an approach to leadership that scales up from the personal to the systemic using personal practice, dialogue, facilitation and the co-creation of innovation to address complex challenges” (cf. ArtofHosting. org). The University of Minnesota, for instance, an R1 university with more than 50,000 students, has staff that work through a Center for Integrative Leadership on the Art of Hosting as a form of participatory leadership. They have published a guide to cultivating this kind of change in this sector of higher education and regularly host workshops and seminars for faculty, students and staff, as well as other local constituencies (cf. Lundquist et al. 2013). The Art of Hosting is specifically concerned with how to convene, facilitate, and harvest conversations that bring together people from disparate cultures, backgrounds, and contexts. It has spread throughout the world and now has practitioners who lead and train facilitators in many countries. A glance at one of the websites notes trainings taking place in Greece, Croatia, India, Australia, Belgium, Chile, Brazil, Switzerland, France, Austria, the United States, and so on. (http://www. artofhosting.org). Like TCI, these practitioners work on structuring conversations in ways that draw on a way of knowing that is thoroughly participatory.

3.2  The I Another key intersecting point is the recognition Ruth Cohn brought to the necessity of supporting individual, personal awareness of one’s own interactions and embeddedness in discourse. This insight has long been a key element of many of the tools used within a variety of conversational practices focused in public conversation. Two in particular have been important in the theological contexts in which I work. The notion of ‘being your own chairperson’ can be supported through learning the difference between an ‘espoused theory’ and a ‘theory-in-use’. Anita Farber-­ Robertson draws on the work of Chris Argyris to note that an ‘espoused theory’ is what we say we do and what we think we are doing. She contrasts that to a ‘theory-­ in-­use’, which is a theory that “explains the actual behavior we have produced, even though we have not expressed it verbally” (Farber-Roberston 2000, 5). An espoused theory is often what we aspire to, and it offers a narrative, a way of perceiving what we are feeling, which privileges our own internal self-story while submerging awareness of another person’s. People who are familiar with the language of nonviolent communication will note the distinction between an ‘observation’ and an ‘evaluation’ (Latini and Hunsinger 2013, 62). An observation might be that s­ omeone has a furrowed brow, which could move to an evaluation that they were angry. But that same observation might be evaluated as concentration. How do we move from

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“directly observable data” beyond an “inferred meaning” to an “actual meaning”? (Farber-Robertson 2000, 42). Farber-Robertson offers a number of possible tools, and these are in part the kinds of practices which Cohn recommends when describing what it means to ‘be your own chairperson’. Another very useful framework comes from the work of Lisa Laskow Lahey and Robert Kegan (2001). They have compiled several different ‘languages’ for becoming reflective of, and intentional about, one’s self. Four of these ‘languages’ they describe as ‘internal’ or primarily directed to one’s self-engagement. To wit: • Moving from a language of complaint to commitment (13–32) • Moving from a language of blame to one of personal responsibility (33–46) • Moving from a language of ‘new year’s resolutions’ to one of competing commitments (47–66) • Moving from a language of ‘big assumptions that hold us’ to one of assumptions we hold (67–88) In each of these shifts, Kegan and Lahey (2001) offer ways to move from the narrative overlay of behavior from a narrowly focused individualist, and what Kegan would define as ‘third-order form of knowing’, to a frame which invites reflective practice which is grounded in community. A ‘language of complaint’, for instance, lifts up specific wounds, injuries, microaggressions, and so on. The shift to a ‘language of commitment,’ which identifies the underlying norms which have been transgressed or harmed, deepens and strengthens relationality. This shift has several very important and constructive implications for working with students in higher education contexts and sheds further light on why ‘being your own chairperson’ is such an essential practice (Kegan and Lahey 2001, 13–32). In the midst of turmoil over racial incidents, fears about immigration, concerns about difference, and so on, inviting students to reflect upon the hurts they experience as pointing to underlying commitments can transform the discursive terrain from one of focusing on the hurt – which often magnifies it, evokes debate about whether it is ‘real’ or not, and can stimulate too quickly moving to ‘fix’ something – to focusing on seeking to draw out shared norms of communal respect and mutual accountability. As Kegan and Lahey note, this language does not deny the harm nor does it seek to minimize or excuse it but rather deepens mutual accountability. So, too Kegan and Lahey’s discussion of moving from ‘a language of blame’ to one of ‘personal responsibility’ (ibid. 33–46): here there is a clear recognition that truth telling is essential, but the truth being told is intimately bound into relationship. The narrative overlay deepens that relationship, rather than contributing to dynamics which promote ‘othering’ or processes which further split and divide people. There is much more in their theoretical and research-based work to explore, but the two points I want to make here include noting the similarities to TCI and e­ mphasizing that Ruth Cohn’s insight about the power of ‘being your own chairperson’ can fruitfully be employed in higher education classrooms.

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3.3  The We Context collapse (the globe), personal reflection (I) – both must also flow into how it is that we engage notions of group identity, or ‘we’. In the US context, particularly in higher education, there is increasing recognition of the need to support students who have been externally identified by group into racial, sexual, class, or other oppressive dynamics, as well as developing affinity groups which students choose to belong to as a way of finding support and belonging in the midst of these very painful dynamics. Thoroughly permeating all of these groupings, however begun, is also the pervasive and almost subliminal grouping which is deliberately engineered by neoliberal ideologies which seek to ‘market’ consumption to ever more narrowly defined ‘target markets’ (cf. Brown 2015). How do we learn and explore, discover and mentor, in the midst of such dynamics? Ruth Cohn’s emphasis that one of the nodes of dialogical/relational forms of knowing is the ‘we’ – the group – is a key insight. Here again Kegan and Lahey (2001) have offered helpful insights suggesting that we need to move: • From the language of prizes and praising to the language of high regard (89–91) • From the language of rules and policies to the language of public agreement (103–120) • From the language of constructive criticism to the language of deconstructive criticism (121–145) Each of these shifts resonates strongly with Cohn’s discussion of ‘we’, but let me focus on the final one because the terminology might be somewhat off-putting. Many teachers in higher education contexts are familiar with ‘constructive criticism’, that is, with offering feedback on student work which highlights what might be changed to be more effective, more appropriate, more insightful, and so on. The intention of such criticism is to support growth and learning. The impact of such feedback, however, often reinforces that the giver of the feedback is the expert knower and that there is a ‘right’ answer. Of course in matters grammatical or otherwise factual, there is a right or a wrong answer, an appropriate or an inappropriate element. But in far too many of our learning contexts, particularly those in which we are seeking to support reflective and/or transformative learning, there is much more interpretation involved, and the potential for conflict that submerges or silences learning is high. Kegan and Lahey offer a set of what they term ‘deconstructive propositions’ which ground this shift in a more relational and dialogical epistemological foundation: • • • •

There is probable merit to my perspective. My perspective may not be accurate. There is some coherence, if not merit, to the other person’s perspective. There may be more than one legitimate interpretation.

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• The other person’s view of my viewpoint is important information to my assessing whether I am right or identifying what merit there is to my view. • Our conflict may be the result of the separate commitments each of us holds, including commitments we are not always aware we hold. • Both of us have something to learn from the conversation. • We need to have two-way conversation to learn from each other. • If contradictions can be a source of our learning, then we can come to engage not only internal contradictions as a source of learning but interpersonal contradictions (i.e., ‘conflict’) as well. • The goal of our conversation is for each of us to learn more about ourselves and the other as meaning makers. (Kegan and Lahey 2001, 141). These propositions can feel quite uncomfortable to faculty who are used to premising their authority on their position as a professor or their role in an academic discipline as an expert. But even experts – perhaps particularly experts in this postmodern world we inhabit – can be open to new insight, new perspectival grounding, new ways of engaging specific content. I hope readers can sense the resonance between this approach, and Ruth Cohn’s commitment to having ‘we’ be one element, one node, in the dialogical dance of knowing which Parker Palmer has labelled the ‘community of truth’.

3.4  The It or Theme The final node in the TCI dynamic is that of the ‘it’ or the overall ‘theme’ which focuses the work. I have less to say about this node, even though for many TCI practitioners, it is perhaps the most important, the ‘theme’ of Theme-Centered Interaction. I have less to say in part because in the settings in which I work, the ‘it’ has the further complication of being the ‘logos’, the ‘Word’, ‘divine revelation’, and so on. That is to say, in theological contexts the ‘it’ takes on an element of revelation which speaks to transcendence breaking into human knowing. The ‘it’, at least as I have encountered this work through communicative theology, is the node in which God’s active communication is engaged, recognized, drawn in (cf. Hess 2010). Unless you are a professor teaching in a theological context, this way of engaging the ‘it’ will be odd at best and highly problematic at worst. Still, I think it is worth noting that there is congruence between the humility, respect, and wonder with which theologians and other members of communities of faith approach the ‘it’ in this work, and the epistemological humility of which scientists write in their descriptions of profound scientific inquiry (cf. Palmer and Zajonc 2010). Further, pedagogical scholars (or to be more precise, ‘andragogical’ – focusing on adult learners – scholars (cf. Knowles et al. 2015)) recognize that higher educa-

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tion professors need to find ways to approach the subjects they are teaching with what Buddhists term a ‘beginner’s mind’ or Stephen Brookfield labels ‘critical inquiry’ if they are to be effective in supporting learning (cf. Brookfield 2017). Here again Palmer is useful, for his ‘community of truth’ model emphasizes the ways in which the ‘subject’ or ‘topic’ at center of a given learning event has its own agency (cf. Palmer 2007). In the midst of digital ecologies, in the midst of the competing epistemologies all around us, our task as professors supporting learning is no longer – if it ever was – simply unearthing and collating facts to be shared (i.e., the content, the ‘it’ of our work) but has to begin with a prior step: that is, catalyzing inquiry. Why would a student want to learn that which is at the heart of our discipline, our subject matter? I have found that TCI’s dynamic dance between the ‘I’ and the ‘we’, in the midst of the ‘globe’, invites that kind of catalytic curiosity around the ‘theme’ and invites a form of wonder which supports reflective and even transformative learning.

4  Spectrum of Reflective Practice To return to where I began in this essay, in a world awash in competing ‘facts’, in the midst of context collapse, Cohn’s Theme-Centered Interaction process offers a flexible yet structured, open yet bounded, hospitable yet charged framework through which to shape reflective practice. In many higher education settings, it is difficult to discern how best to move toward this kind of work, and that is one reason why – at least in the theological/religious studies environment – we have found the following table useful (cf. Hess 2008). Read vertically; each row offers a different element which pertains to reflective practice in such contexts. Read horizontally, from left to right; the columns begin in unreflective practice and move toward more reflective practice. We have found it quite difficult to jump columns. That is, it has proven very difficult for a given group of faculty to move from the far left of a row to the far right, without first going through the intervening steps. It is possible, however, to move from one column to the next, particularly given intentional support – which is precisely what Theme-Centered Interaction can offer (Table 1). This spectrum also helps to identify resonance and helpful patterns in a variety of disparate but nonetheless connected practices. The Art of Hosting,1 Liberating Structures,2 Essential Partners,3 Circles of Trust,4 Civil Conversations Project5: all of these grassroots efforts in North America include frameworks for helping ­participants in learning events to listen more carefully, to attend more reflectively, to speak more intentionally.  http://www.artofhosting.org  http://www.liberatingstructures.com 3  https://www.whatisessential.org 4  http://www.couragerenewal.org/approach/ 5  http://www.civilconversationsproject.org 1 2

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Table 1  Reflective matrix: spectrum of reflective practice in seminary teaching, by the author

This is an intersection in which the powerful work of Theme-Centered Interaction, Ruth Cohn’s psychologically grounded and astute theorizing and practice, offers a substantial support to these forms of pragmatic engagement. Ultimately such reflective practices support putting learning at the heart of higher education, rather than too narrowly falling into teaching-focused interaction.

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References Art of Hosting (2018). Online: http://www.artofhosting.org. Accessed 12 Jan 2018. Bevans, S. (2004). Constants in context: A theology of mission for today. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher (second edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Brown, W. (2015). Undoing the demos: Neoliberalism’s stealth revolution. Brooklyn, NY: Zone Books. Bruffee, K. (1993). Collaborative learning: Higher education, interdependence, and the authority of knowledge. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Christensen, C., Eyring, H. (2011). The innovative university: Changing the DNA of higher education from inside out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Collins, P. (2009). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (second edition). New York: Routledge. Farber-Robertson, A. (2000). Learning while leading: Increasing your effectiveness in ministry. Alban Institute. Haidt, J.  (2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. New York: Pantheon Books. Hess, M. (2008). Listening and learning to teach in theological contexts: An appreciative inquiry model. In M. Warford (Ed.), Revitalizing practice: Collaborative models for theological faculties. New York: Peter Lang, 67–97. Hess, M. (2010). From ICT to TCI: Communicative theology(ies), pedagogy and web 2.0. In M. Scharer, B. Hinze, B. Hilberath (Eds.), Kommunikative Theologie: Zugänge  – Auseinandersetzungen – Ausdifferenzierungen. Wien: Lit-Verlag GmbH & Co, 130–149. Hess, M. (2015). Learning with digital technologies: Privileging persons over machines, Journal of Moral Theology, 4(1), 131–150. Hess, M. (2016). Teaching and learning comparative theology with millennial students. In M. Brecht, R. Locklin (Eds), Comparative theology in the millennial classroom. New York: Routledge, 50–60. Hobbs, R. (2017). Create to learn: Introduction to digital literacy. New York: Wiley-Blackwell. Hylén, J. (2015). Mobile learning and social media in adult learning. Literature review prepared for the European Commission Working Group on Adult Learning. Available in online archive: http://www.janhylen.se/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Mobile-Learning-and-Social-Media-inAdult-Learning.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Kegan, R., Lahey, L. (2001). How the way we talk can change the way we work: Seven languages for transformation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Knowles, M., Holton, E.F., Swanson, R. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (8th edition). New York: Routledge. Latini, T., Hunsinger, D. (2013). Transforming church conflict: Compassionate leadership in action. Lexington, KY: Westminster John Knox. Lundquist, L., Sandfort, J., Lopez, C., Sotela Oder, M., Seashore, K., Mein, J., Lowe, M. (2013). Cultivating change in the academy: Practicing the art of hosting conversations that matter in the University of Minnesota. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy: http://hdl.handle.net/11299/155523. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Palmer, P. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Palmer, P., Zajonc, A. (2010). The heart of higher education: A call to renewal. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Pellegrino, J., Hilton, M. (Eds.) (2012). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Free download: https://www.nap.edu/download/13398. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Popova, M. (2014). Wisdom in the age of information. Presentation to the Future of Storytelling conference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjoO6Y29f7I. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Rainey, L., Wellman, B. (2012). Networked: The new social operating system. Cambridge: MIT Press. Rheingold, H. (2012). Netsmart: How to thrive online. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Richardson, W., Dixon, B. (2017). 10 Principles for schools of modern learning: The urgent case for re-imagining today’s schools. https://modernlearners.com/10-principles-schools-modernlearning/. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Scharer, M., Hilberath, B. (2008). The practice of communicative theology: Introduction to a new theological culture. New York: Crossroad. Wesch, M. (2009). Youtube and you: Experiences of self-awareness in the context collapse of the recording webcam. {EME}, 19–34, http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/6302/WeschEME2009.pdf. Accessed 24 Jan 2018. Zuckerman, E. (2013). Rewire: Digital cosmopolitans in an age of connection. New  York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Theme-Centered Interaction in the Context of Intercultural Education and the Constructivist-Inspired Pedagogy: Potentialities and Perspectives Svetlana Kurteš

Abstract  The chapter offers a concise critique of the Theme-Centered Interaction approach observed specifically from the point of view of intercultural education and its requirements within the post-modern competency-based education. Having democratic citizenship, global dexterity, cultural literacy and internationalisation among core values on its agenda, intercultural education requires cross-curricular presence and a joint effort across educational levels. Looking specifically at its applications in the higher education contexts (in Europe and beyond), Theme-Centered Interaction is linked to the above-mentioned core values of intercultural education and discussed as another example of best practice in developing interculturality and diversity consciousness. The chapter ends with brief recommendations for the future development in the areas, looking into potentialities and perspectives of the Theme-­ Centered Interaction approach not only in the context of intercultural education but – more widely – in the promotion of a tolerant and democratic society. Keywords  Intercultural education · Linguistic and intercultural education (LIE) · Interculturality · Intercultural communicative competence · Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) approach · Post-modern education · Constructivism · Constructivist Pedagogy

1  Introduction The chapter explores the Theme-Centered Interaction (henceforth TCI) pedagogical approach in the context of intercultural education and its current goals and requirements. I will specifically focus on the tertiary-level education (i.e. the university level), looking into its post-modern competency-based educational paradigm. Skills and competences associated with the concept of interculturality and issues surrounding their didacticisation have been studied within a number of fields (e.g. intercultural and interactional pragmatics, cultural studies, second and foreign S. Kurteš (*) European Network for Intercultural Education Activities, Cambridge, UK e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_9

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language learning and teaching, general pedagogy, etc.) for a number of decades now. What has been a more recent trend, however, is a rather unified approach to investigating the above-mentioned concepts, encompassing them under the designation of linguistic and intercultural education (LIE) (cf. Kurteš 2009, 2013; Kurteš and Kopytowska 2014, 2015; Kurteš et al. 2017; Larina 2015; Larina et al. 2017). This will be my specific anchor point, within which I will elaborate on a few key concepts, such as post-modern and post-method approaches to education (Kumaravadivelu 2001), constructivism as a learning theory (Marlowe and Page 2005; Nomnian 2002; Usher and Edwards 1994) and competency-based educational paradigm (Council of Europe 2001). I will then take a look at the TCI approach (cf. Schneider-Landolf et al. 2017; Scharer 2018; Meyerhuber 20181), arguing that it not only shares a common denominator with post-modern pedagogies (De Witt et al. 2015) but can also be identified as a powerful tool in a variety of LIE settings. Suggesting a possible way to teaching and learning interculturality within the Constructivist paradigm and illustrating it with an example from my own pedagogical practice, I will again highlight areas of common ground between the TCI and LIE approaches. In the concluding remarks, I will suggest further avenues of investigation and future development, whereby both approaches can benefit from having further insights into each other’s key principles and potentially joining forces in order to more effectively address the educational needs of the generations to come.

2  L  inguistic and Intercultural Education (LIE): Origin and Characteristics The world we live in is, without a doubt, rapidly becoming more globalised, and the process is permeating all aspects of modern life. Education is no exception in this matter. More specifically, when it comes to higher education systems worldwide, one may observe that the process of internationalisation is in full swing, responding to the needs of the ever-evolving professional arena (cf. De Witt et al. 2015; Kurteš et al. 2017). This, in turn, has created the environment in which students: …have become more pro-active, autonomous and goal-oriented, requiring their educational institutions to follow suit and embrace the latest approaches to teaching and learning, combined with advances in information and communication technology as well. The educational systems globally are expected to take these changes into account and respond to the challenges. Their task is to respond to current needs and predict future requirements, understanding fully their pivotal role in the formation of future global leaders and professionals. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 591)

1  Both in this volume. Since in this contribution the TCI approach will only be reflected in its similarity and potential for LIE-inspired seminars, for further introduction to TCI, the reader is advised to consult the introductory texts in this volume (Meyerhuber, Scharer, Reiser).

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This process is complex and has also required a reinterpretation and redefinition of the role of the teacher: …who ceases to be the sole provider of factual knowledge, distributing it mono-­directionally and taking centre stage in the classroom. Instead, the teacher becomes a partner in the learning process, prompting the students’ intellectual inquisitiveness, facilitating and supporting their academic development, mentoring their research initiatives and inspiring their subsequent career choices. (Ibid.)

Taking these two major characteristics – major changes of the roles of teacher and students – into account, it is important to notice how they influence the classroom dynamics. Classroom-based learning has become primarily and predominantly student-­focused, but the key feature of the learning process in this new, post-modern educational paradigm is actually its multidirectionality: [It] allows for a free flow and exchange of ideas, enabling the learning process to go multi-­ directionally: from the teacher to the students, from the students to the teacher, and – very importantly – peer to peer, i.e. students can learn from each other’s experiences and expert knowledge, building on their own expertise, academic and existential competences. (Ibid.)

The process described above epitomises the Constructivist-inspired pedagogy (cf. Kozulin et al. 2003; Marlowe and Page 2005; Nomnian 2002; Usher and Edwards 1994) that lies at the very heart of teaching and learning interculturality, and, more broadly, LIE (cf. Kurteš 2013; McConachy 2017, 2018; Starkey 2002). LIE underlines the importance of the development of intercultural communicative skills and competences (cf. Hymes 1972), necessary to function confidently and effectively in a variety of professional and public settings. For decades LIE has primarily been part of foreign/second language curricula and, so to speak, the sole responsibility of language teachers and their classroom-based activities, but more recently there have been pleads and concrete initiatives to make it a joint educational effort, straddling across curricula and educational levels (cf. Council of Europe 2001; Kurteš 2009, 2013). Implementing it in concrete classroom settings essentially requires the participants in the process to follow a few simple steps. The students are encouraged: …to reflect on cultural and communicative specificities of languages and cultures they are familiar with, systematize their previous knowledge and experience, draw conclusions based on these observations. They are also in a position to actively participate in interactive discussions, express their own opinion freely, ask questions, and as a result create new factual knowledge autonomously, consolidate and expand further their existential competence. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 592)

Well-developed and fine-tuned intercultural communicative skills are high on the list of mandatory learning goals and outcomes. They are also recognised and highly valued in professional and academic contexts, also referred to as general (transferable) skills (cf. Council of Europe 2001), or soft skills (cf. Schultz 2008). Observing the issue from a more general view, the importance of newly qualified graduates and professionals having been successful communicators and interlocutors in intercultural, cross-cultural and globalised communicative contexts is of paramount importance to the concepts such as democratic citizenship (Starkey 2002), global dexterity (Molinsky 2013) and cultural literacy (Hirsh 1988)  – widely recognised as

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cornerstones of modern European society (and other democracies worldwide2) and its core values. Among many benefits these skills and competences bring to the individual in this context, we can single out: …the promotion of tolerance and open-mindedness, enabling the students to overcome ethnic stereotypes, avoid ethnocentric worldviews and, more generally, any ‘in-group’ mentality, reservedness and negative attitudes towards ‘Other’. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 592)

Since its advent during the last couple of decades of the twentieth century, LIE has managed to establish itself as an essential part of the post-modern educational paradigm, featuring more and more prominently in a wide spectrum of academic and vocational curricula. In what follows, I will elaborate on the pedagogical underpinnings of the Constructivist-inspired pedagogy, primarily in the context of LIE, linking it subsequently to TCI and identifying the common ground that both approaches are built upon.

3  C  onstructivism as a Learning Theory: Uses and Potentialities Constructivism is an interdisciplinary perspective promulgated within social sciences, arts and humanities, which came into prominence in the first half of the twentieth century. It has: …multiple roots in the psychology and philosophy, among which are cognitive and developmental perspectives of Piaget, the interaction and cultural emphases of Vygotsky and Bruner, the contextual nature of learning, the active learning of Dewey, the epistemological discussions of von Glasersfeld, postmodernist views, and the paradigm and scientific revolutions of Thomas Kuhn. (Driscoll 2000, 375)

In their critique of Vygotsky’s work and his understanding of the nature of knowledge and the ways of its didacticisation, Kozulin et  al. (2003) highlight the following: [I]nstead of offering a definite model, Vygotsky prompts us to inquire into the nature of knowledge used in the classroom, for example, knowledge as information versus knowledge as concept formation. His theory makes us aware of our vision of students, for example, students as defined by their age and IQ versus culturally and socially situated learners. It forces us to formulate our ideal of a teacher, for example, a role model versus a source of knowledge, versus a mediator, and so on. (Ibid., 2)

Vygotsky’s framework, widely recognised as one of the cornerstones of Postmodernism in education, has brought about fundamental changes to classroom practice, curriculum design and general organisation of the educational process. More concretely: [c]ompared to traditional educational paradigms, it is characterised by a much more open, flexible and autonomous approach, decentralised and free from a ‘top-down’ control, less-­ 2  Cf. Cyriac in this volume on the specifics of TCI and language learning in higher education in India.

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restrictive, non-uniform, adaptable and able to respond to cultural and societal idiosyncrasies. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 592; cf. also Usher and Edwards 1994)

It was precisely the post-modern educational paradigm that recognised the importance of cultural context not only in human interaction but also in pedagogical terms, that is to say, in the design and delivery of an effective curriculum. Moreover, post-modernist education fully understands the concept of cultural diversity and introduces it as one of its major principles, without which a learning process cannot be effectively and fully carried out. This has particularly become prominent in the Constructivist-inspired pedagogy, giving the learners of diverse cultural and experiential background centre stage in the classroom and promoting them to the position of cocreators of their own knowledge and expertise. Usher and Edwards (1994) summarise it succinctly: Education in the postmodern, based as it is on cultural contexts, on localised and particular knowledges, on desires and on the valuing of the experience of learning as an integral part of defining a ‘lifestyle’, cannot help but construct itself in a form which would better enable greater participation in a diversity of ways by culturally diverse learners. (Ibid. 212)

As it has already been pointed out, Constructivist Pedagogy brings about a major change in the classroom dynamics in that it allows factual knowledge to be constructed and internalised in a multidirectional fashion, with all participants in the process taking an active and collaborative role. The teacher is no longer the ‘omniscient’ provider of encyclopaedic facts but an equal partner who supports the students in their efforts to cocreate and co-construct their own expert knowledge and develop and refine their skills and competences further. This is achieved through an interactive, creative and exploratory dialogue (e.g. in a form of a round table discussion or a similar format), where the teacher takes the role of a moderator and a fellow cocreator. Among the key tenets of the Constructivist pedagogical approach, the following should also be highlighted: –– Multiple perspectives of concepts and content are discussed and explored. –– Goals and objectives are derived by the students in the process of negotiation with the teacher or the educational system. –– The teacher assumes the role of a guide, mentor, coach, tutor or facilitator. –– Activities, opportunities, tools and environments are provided to encourage metacognition, self-reflection and self-awareness. –– The students play the pivotal role in mediating and controlling the process of learning. –– Learning situations, environments, skills, content and tasks are relevant, realistic and authentic and represent natural complexities of the ‘real world’. –– Knowledge is constructed in a joint, collaborative and interactive effort, not presented by the teacher and reproduced by the students. –– This construction takes place in individual contexts and through social negotiation, collaboration and experience. –– The learner’s previous knowledge, beliefs and attitudes are considered in the knowledge construction process, reflected upon, consolidated and expanded.

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–– Problem-solving, higher-order thinking skills and deep understanding are emphasised. –– Errors provide an opportunity for insights into the students’ previous knowledge construction. –– Exploration is a favoured approach in order to encourage the students to seek knowledge independently and to manage the pursuit of their goals. –– The learners are provided with the opportunity for apprenticeship learning in which there is an increasing complexity of tasks, skills and knowledge acquisition. –– Knowledge complexity is reflected in an emphasis on conceptual interrelatedness and interdisciplinary learning. –– Collaborative and cooperative learning are favoured in order to expose the learner to alternative viewpoints. –– Scaffolding is facilitated to help the students perform just beyond the limits of their ability. –– Assessment is authentic and interwoven with teaching (Nomnian 2002, 3; Kurteš et al. 2017, 593). In view of the above, it might be fair to say that a typical Constructivist classroom, buzzing with creativity and ingenuity, allows the students not only to get deeper insights into a variety of topics revolving around the concept of interculturality but also reach higher, more sophisticated levels of intercultural competence, allowing them to be non-judgemental, more tolerant and open-minded citizens of the world. They are constantly in a position to reflect on the previously internalised content, recontextualising it, reinterpreting and reapplying to different educational and experiential settings. Additionally, but equally importantly, the students are encouraged to express themselves using a variety of semiotic resources, choosing the one that is more in tune with their own expressivity and individuality. Modern technological advances fully support this process as well (cf. Prensky 2001). Summing it all up, one could conclude that the Constructivist theory poses knowledge as a ‘web of relationships’, (co-)constructed actively by the learners in an attempt to make sense of their experiences and environments (Can 2009, 62). In other words, learners are not to be perceived as ‘empty cans’ to be filled with knowledge but rather as dynamic organisms seeking meaning (ibid.).

4  C  onstructivist Pedagogy and LIE: Perspectives and Applications Having briefly revisited the foundations of constructivism, its major tenets and potentialities in educational contexts, I will now shift the focus to issues pertinent to LIE, elaborating on why I believe the Constructivist approach easily lends itself to being an efficient instructional method in the area of linguistic and intercultural education. As postulated above, Constructivist Pedagogy appears to be a natural

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choice when it comes to teaching and learning interculturality for the reasons that are rather easy to identify. Namely, in a typical Constructivist classroom: …the students are given the opportunity to engage themselves in a thorough and systematic investigation into topics related to language, culture and society, and gain deeper insights into their interrelatedness and interconnectedness. Through interactive and exploratory dialogues, collaborative coursework and project-like initiatives, they look introspectively into their current knowledge of the world and experience, comparing and contrasting it with the worldview, values and attitudes of the culture(s), language(s) and society(-ies) they are exploring. Using authentic material, they critically and analytically evaluate new factual knowledge, arriving at their own conclusions autonomously and internalising it into their personal experiential repertoire, building on their intercultural communicative skills as well. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 594)

The teacher, as previously stated, is an equal partner and cocreator in this process, providing tools and scaffolding to support the students on their journey to discover linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies of the languages and cultures they study, grasping their internal logic and patterns. Simultaneously, all participants in the process (i.e. both the students and the teacher) upgrade and refine further their intercultural communicative skills, competences as well as expert knowledge, necessary to function effectively and confidently in a variety of communicative settings in the globalised professional arena. In what follows I briefly revisit some of the key characteristics of intercultural communicative competence in the context of LIE and in relation to Constructivist Pedagogy. Intercultural communicative competence is a multifaceted concept, involving linguistic, communicative and cultural competences, which, in turn, include a range of interrelated subset of competences. Linguistic competence presupposes linguistic knowledge and skills, in other words, mastering of the vocabulary and grammatical structure of the target language. Communicative competence, on the other hand, focuses on the actual communicative activity. As observed by Hymes (1972), who originally coined the term: …a normal child acquires knowledge of sentences not only as grammatical, but also as appropriate. He or she acquires competence as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, when, where, in what manner. In short, a child becomes able to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by others. (Ibid., 277)

Finally, but equally importantly, in order to become a competent and successful communicator in the target language, it is necessary to develop (socio-)cultural competence, which enables the learner to possess a deeper understanding of norms, values and the general worldview of the target culture. These three facets are deeply interrelated and interconnected, which is graphically represented in Fig. 1 below. What is important to understand in this context is the fact that in order for interlocutors to engage in a successful intercultural communicative event, it is not ­sufficient for them to possess just an adequate level of linguistic competence (e.g. the relevant lexico-grammatical repertoire of the language they want to communicate in) but also a well-developed and refined set of cultural competences (cf. Hirsh 1988; Kurteš 2013; Larina 2015; Leech 2014; Samovar et  al. 2007; Scollon and

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Communicative competence

Socio-cultural competence

Fig. 1  Intercultural communicative competence. (Larina 2017, 168; Kurteš et al. 2017, 595)

Scollon 2001; Ting-Toomey 1999). Without this vital and indispensable component, the interlocutors may encounter difficulties while conveying and interpreting each other’s ideas and intentions. Despite the fact that they are using the linguistic code they both might have mastered sufficiently well, the underlying culture codes would be different, emanating the ones that the interlocutors experientially are more familiar with. In order to rectify the situation, what is required is to step out of their ‘comfort zone’ (cf. Molinsky 2017), upgrade and systematise their cultural fluency and cross-cultural awareness (cf. Kurteš et al. 2017, 595). It is not unusual for a second language speaker to have their linguistic competence developed to a higher level of sophistication while experientially still being firmly situated in their first/ native cultural norms and conventions. As a consequence: [t]heir communicative behaviour follows these norms and conventions even when they operate in their second or additional language, bringing about conditions for a potential critical communicative incident. Namely, this could lead to a serious communicative failure and intercultural misunderstanding, due to the fact that the interlocutors are much more likely to overlook and ‘forgive’ lexical and grammatical inaccuracies in the second language speakers’ linguistic performance, but any shortcomings in their cultural fluency could potentially be perceived as a much more serious stumbling block. In extreme cases of communicative misunderstandings, the participant in a communicative event may interpret their interlocutor’s low(er) level of cultural fluency as their deliberate intention to offend and disrespect. (Kurteš et al. 2017, 596)

This is a rather crucial point in LIE, and any effective and well-designed curriculum/course in intercultural communication should give it centre stage.

4.1  Example of an Interactive LIE Seminar Bearing this point in mind, I would now like to illustrate it by suggesting a possible classroom-based session taken from my own pedagogical practice. The concrete example, to be outlined and discussed below, is an interactive seminar originally designed for international students taking an undergraduate-level course in intercultural communication at a UK-based university and developed further for a number of international universities offering English-medium degrees in a variety of

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subjects, including business and professional communication, translation studies, teaching English as a second/foreign language, etc. The proposed session follows the principles of Constructivist Pedagogy, as outlined above, and is specifically designed to raise the students’ awareness of the importance of intercultural communicative competence and, in case of it not being developed to an adequate degree, the phenomenon known as pragmatic transfer. The topic itself also intends to provide the students with some subject-specific knowledge, introducing them to some relevant theoretical frameworks, and thus broaden their expertise in the area of intercultural and interactional pragmatics. The session is designed as an interactive seminar, practically arranged as a round table discussion (or a similar format), during which all participants (i.e. the teacher and the students) will assume equal and active roles, engaging in an exploratory dialogue on a selection of topics. A detailed Lesson Plan for the session as I conducted it is attached in Appendix A below. The topic itself is introduced by using a typical Constructivist approach. The students are encouraged to guess the discussion topic, having initially been presented with a couple of prompts. These are two short passages, illustrating different (but complementary) perspectives on the concepts to be discussed (communicative competence and pragmatic transfer). The two perspectives are the learner’s and the teacher’s. They are no limitations as to what can/should be identified as a potential topic, and the students can express themselves freely. Expected answers range from some more general associations (e.g. living abroad, being polite/rude, cultural misunderstanding, etc.) to more subject-specific (language learning and teaching, pragmatics, speech acts, etc.). If anyone would like to share their own experience in relation to the initial prompts, they are welcome to and all participants are encouraged to weigh in, if they feel inspired and/or provoked. The teacher moderates the discussion, suggesting to shift the focus onto possible theoretical considerations, inviting the students to reflect on their existing expert knowledge and locate the issues raised within the relevant frameworks. Depending on the composition of the class and the students’ previous experience with the Constructivist method, they will eventually arrive at the relevant conclusions, and the teacher will decide on the necessary level of intervention and the amount of time allocated for this step. The students are likely to already be familiar with the concept of communicative competence, so this would be a moment to revisit some key characteristics and seek further contextualisation. Once that has been achieved successfully, the teacher introduces the concept of pragmatic transfer, offering a simple, introductory-level explanation and inviting the students to actively create further insights by engaging in a lively debate, during which the exchange of ideas go multidirectionally. Typically, the teacher will initiate the dialogue by posing a series of questions and moderate the discussion, giving further guidance as and when necessary. The students can refer to the Handout (Appendix B), which gives further particulars about the specific theoretical frameworks and technical terms (Sections 2–3, Appendix B). In the next step, the students are invited to form smaller groups (3–5 students, depending on the class size) and continue their discussion within their own group,

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focusing on a specific critical incident (Handout, Section 4). Their task is to decide if there is a case of pragmatic transfer in any of those incidents and, if so, identify its nature and suggest a possible solution. Each group assigns a representative who will report their findings and recommendations to the rest of the class. These are further debated, looking for alternative solutions and their implications. In the concluding part of the session, the students are again referred to the Handout (Section 5), outlining suggested follow-up activities. There are a number of them, giving the students an option to engage with the topic at a level that feels appropriate. The only mandatory activity is a short list of references dealing with the theoretical background of the topic in focus, which the students need to consult and summarise. The rest of the activities are optional and range from some rather light-hearted ones (inviting the students to browse suggested newspaper articles, video clips, films, novels, etc.) to more serious guidelines and recommendations, if the student wishes to explore the topic and its wider context in a systematic and in-­depth way. Time allowing, the students are invited to fill in a Feedback Questionnaire, answering brief questions on the form and content of the session. This helps the teacher to reflect on the session, its strengths and weaknesses, and get pointers that will direct him or her in designing future sessions (and possible subsequent curriculum improvements), possibly even more in tune with the students’ expectations and needs. In what follows I intend to identify and discuss the key commonalities between the two approaches, i.e. the Constructivist-inspired LIE and the TCI approach. In the concluding part, I would like to suggest possible ways forward, pleading for a more integrative approach3 that would incorporate all the strengths and benefits of both pedagogical approaches, in an attempt to devise an instructional model complex enough and flexible enough to respond to the constantly evolving requirements of the labour market and, more widely, to the development of a more tolerant and democratic society.

5  W  here Next for the Constructivist-Inspired LIE and Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI): Interfaces and Integrations TCI as a pedagogical approach, well respected and widely used in the German-­ speaking and, broadly, Germanic-influenced educational contexts, has only recently become more visible in the English-medium educational and academic settings, largely through the work of major proponents of the approach and their organised and systematic endeavours to popularise it more widely (cf. Schneider-Landolf et  al. 2017, RCI-international4). Additionally, steps towards collaborative  Another  perspective on common ground between TCI and the Constructivist approach can be found in Reiser (2006). 4  RCI-international: http://www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/home.html 3

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inter-­institutional initiatives have already been successfully taken, the results of which have been reported in this volume as well.5 When observing the TCI approach through the lens of the Constructivist-inspired pedagogy, what immediately appears to be quite strikingly obvious is the compatibility and complementarity of the two approaches. Let me briefly zoom in on this point and examine it more closely. Among the key cornerstones lying in the very foundation of the TCI Pedagogy are its interactionality and multidirectionality, recognised in the dynamic balance of the four factors known as the ‘I’, the ‘We’, the ‘It’ and the ‘Globe’. More specifically: –– ‘I’ stands for the individual, the group participant (→ I). –– ‘We’ stands for the interconnectedness that is strengthened (or weakened) by the interactions of group work (→ We). –– ‘It’ means the matter that lies behind the group coming together in the first place, the task at hand that is to be dealt with (→ It). –– ‘Globe’ is understood in TCI terms as the circumstances and conditions under which the group works (→ Globe) (Kügler 2017, 101). TCI, therefore, seems to be complementing neatly the Constructivist-inspired LIE in that it highlights the importance of the group dynamics in which the individual respects the rest of the group members as equal partners, collaborating with them during the process of investigation and cocreation (i.e. the ‘I ↔ We’ interaction). Additionally, but equally importantly, the process of discovery and cocreation of new knowledge and principles that govern it can never be fully accomplished without taking into account its contextualisations (i.e. the ‘It ↔ Globe’ interconnectedness). In case of LIE, contextualising a concept typically means understanding the dynamics between universality and culture-specificity in its nature and internal logic (cf. Kurteš and Kopytowska 2015; Larina 2015). This dynamic relationship is in constant flux, requiring our permanent epistemic vigilance in order to fully understand the reality we live in and its cross- and intercultural characterisations. The compatibility and complementarities of the Constructivist-inspired LIE and the TCI approach could exemplary also be identified in the three major axioms that further define the tenets of TCI.  The axioms in question are Existential-­ Anthropological Axiom (1), Ethical Axiom (2) and Pragmatic-Political Axiom (3) (cf. Schneider-Landolf et  al. 2017, 73–88, cf. Scharer and Meyerhuber in this volume). In his explication of Axiom 1, Faßhauer (2017) points out: ...that physical, intellectual, mental, as well as emotional and (indirectly) spiritual-religious needs, perceptions as well as both conscious and unconscious human experiences are considered to be inseparable basic units. They form the basis of the holistic principle of Theme-­ Centered Interaction and its conception of humankind. (Ibid. 75)

 Cf. Pereira in this volume.

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Axiom 2, referring to the ethical component, has been elaborated on in the following way: Respect is due all living things and their development. Respect for development is what stands behind value-based decisions. What is humane is valuable, what is inhumane is threatening. (Cohn 1975, 120)

The Third Axiom, on the other hand: ...concerns above all the freedom to decide and determine things so innate to all human beings. This freedom is limited by the internal and external boundaries that are particular to every individual, and that may be extended to varying extents. Inner limits are set by the mental mechanisms described by psychoanalysis as well as by limitations concerning one’s own body, certain skills, or the lack thereof as well as by the availability and type of learning and experiential opportunities in life. (von Kanitz 2017, 84)

In addition to the three axioms mentioned above, TCI is also based on the so-called Chairperson Postulate, defined as: ...a humanistic call to be autonomous, self-responsible, self-assertive, and not controlled by ideals or authorities. This postulate is at once a motive and a goal in the overall concept of TCI, and it is used in exercises in self-direction and group management. It has both intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions to it – and thus also social and political ramifications. (Röhling 2017, 89)

From the point of view of the Constructivist-inspired LIE, the above-mentioned principles come across as manifestly relevant and complementary. As LIE encourages the learner to become a socially engaged and responsible individual, so does TCI. This is further elaborated in the axioms and postulates, highlighting the human dimension and its complexities, which is of particular importance in pedagogical contexts. Moreover, it might be fair to say that TCI presents itself not only as primarily deeply humanistic but also as a rather holistic approach, empowering the individual not just with skills and competences to discover the world in a more systematic way but – perhaps more importantly – to become a more empathetic person, nonjudgemental and tolerant, able to put himself/herself in ‘another person’s shoes’ and thereby see the world from a different perspective. TCI offers concrete, specific guidelines on how to achieve these important goals, giving deeper insights into the psychological components of human interaction. This has potentially been the ‘missing link’ in LIE practice, but now all the participants of the learning process could reflect on and appreciate the key tenets of TCI and the benefits their dynamic balance brings to classroom-based collaborative learning experience. Being able to better understand human needs in the context of group learning enables the LIE classroom to reach a new level of sophistication, for the benefit of all involved. Additionally and rather crucially, TCI enables the individual6 to function both autonomously and collaboratively as a learner and monitor and manage own progress, 6  This is specifically promoted by the TCI guiding principles in groups, particularly the chairpersonship and disturbance postulate, and the auxiliary rules. Here not further discussed, cf. Scharer’s introduction of TCI and the glossary, and for concrete relevance in academic contexts, cf. Reiser et al., Meyerhuber, Schulz von Thun, Padberg, Pereira and Cyriac and Lal in this volume.

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cognitive and academic. These are among the core values that lie at the very heart of LIE and are widely recognised as one of the most desirable learning outcomes of a well-designed LIE curriculum. Looking more closely into pedagogical potentialities of the two approaches, one could also observe that while LIE seems to focus more on understanding human interaction in inter- and cross-cultural contexts, TCI apparently offers deeper insights into specific processes of group interaction, as well as the specific needs of each individual, giving possible suggestions and guidelines on how to maximise the group dynamics in a more productive and creative way, both in the classroom contexts and beyond. In other words, it might be fair to say that both approaches very neatly complement each other, supporting all participants of the learning process: LIE by suggesting what to do in order to achieve intended goals (communicative, intercultural, etc.) and TCI by offering further guidelines on how to achieve them. These are rather powerful pedagogical tools, and their implementation could further be explored in a variety of settings (academic, professional, general).7 There is, therefore, little doubt that both approaches could immensely benefit from joining forces and looking for avenues for future collaborative opportunities. I will elaborate on this point further in the concluding remarks and recommendations.

6  Concluding Remarks and Recommendations The role of the chapter was threefold: (1) to briefly present Constructivist Pedagogy and its application to linguistic and intercultural education, (2) to identify commonalities between the Constructivist-inspired LIE and the Theme-Centered Interaction approach and (3) to suggest further collaborative avenues for the two approaches (Constructivist LIE and TCI), exploring their pedagogical potentialities, specifically in the context of the educational requirements in the post-modern era. In an attempt to illustrate how the Constructivist-inspired LIE works in concrete classroom-based situations, I presented briefly a session taken from my own pedagogical practice, developed for an undergraduate-level course in intercultural communication. Following key tenets of Constructivist Pedagogy, the presented session highlighted the multidirectionality of the learning process, during which all the participants assume equal roles and responsibilities, the teacher being a fellow cocreator. The TCI approach has been observed through the lens of Constructivist Pedagogy, specifically the Constructivist-inspired LIE, allowing for a number of commonalities to come to the fore. TCI is both interactional and multidirectional, giving the 7  Cf. Meyerhuber in this volume on the application of TCI in educating the next generation of academics and professionals in leadership positions, focusing specifically on the development of their social skills and attitude. Additionally, van der Horst discusses the applicability of the TCI approach in academia and beyond in this volume.

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students an opportunity to experience different perspectives and acquire deeper insights into the investigated matter. Additionally, but equally importantly, TCI understands fully the importance of specific contextualisation (the ‘Globe’ factor), which rather neatly complements the dynamics between culture-specificity and universality, an important tenet in LIE and, more widely, in intercultural communicative competence. Crucially, TCI, observed from the Constructivist-inspired LIE, comes across as a holistic pedagogical approach, able to instil a range of important values into the learner, among which are empathy, tolerance, open-mindedness and humaneness. They all feature prominently on the list of desired learning outcomes in a well-­ designed LIE curriculum as well. More concretely, TCI seems to promote individualised pedagogy, allowing the teacher to fine-tune his or her approach to suit each individual student, taking into account their specific learning needs and preferences, as well as understanding better their personality traits; social, cultural and academic background; etc. There is little doubt that this could further promote equality and co-operation in a variety of educational settings. Concluding the chapter, I would like to suggest possible avenues for future collaborative initiatives, capitalising on the achievements of both approaches and, perhaps more importantly, on their commitment to common goals and values. What could be explored in the first instance is a joint effort on the development of an instructional and assessment model, able to respond proactively and effectively to constantly changing and ever-evolving requirements of the professional world. Steps towards that goal have already been taken within the LIE agenda, where a possible model has been piloted recently (cf. Kurteš et al. 2017), embracing the latest technological advances combined with the key principles of Constructivist Pedagogy.8 Addressing specifically the needs of ‘digital natives’ (cf. Prensky 2001), the model makes ample use of digital (social) technologies, encouraging the students to explore the world in a manner more attuned to their cognitive processing and encouraging their intercultural development. Additional opportunities should be sought in the area of socially engaged research, bringing onto the agenda issues in the development of a more tolerant, open-minded society, diversity consciousness and global citizenship. TCI and LIE are best placed to join forces and make real, impactful advances in both theory and practice, blazing a trail for the engagement of future generations of researches, professionals and, more widely, socially responsible citizens.

8  Cf. Van der Horst’s contribution in this volume with her discussion on analogue ideas for TCI in the context of MOOC pedagogy.

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Appendices Appendix A

Class/level: Module: Topic: Focus on: Mode of delivery: Time available: Seating arrangement: I. Key didactic objectives

II. Structure of the lesson

Lesson plan Undergraduate Intercultural communication Communicative competence Pragmatic transfer Interactive seminar 60 min Semi-circle or round table General:  Developing the students’ transferable skills (analytical, reflective, interactional, etc.)  Raising their intercultural awareness  Promoting interactive and collaborative learning opportunities Subject specific:  Widening the students’ specialist knowledge in interactional pragmatics  Fine-tuning the students’ communicative competence  Developing a deeper understanding of the process of communication in inter- and cross-cultural contexts (i). Introduction: up to 10 min (ii). Theoretical framework: up to 15 min (iii). Group work and general discussion (critical incidents): up to 30 min (iv). Q&A, concluding remarks and follow up activities: up to 5 min (i). Introduction (continued)

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Lesson plan The topic is introduced by showing the students slides 1 and 2 (Hobson 2001 & Thomas 1983; Handout Section 1) illustrating the learner’s and the teacher’s perspective on communicative competence and culture-specific differences leading to pragmatic transfer. The students are encouraged to guess the key concepts to be discussed (expected answers, e.g. culture, cultural conventions, stereotypes, teaching language and culture, multiculturalism, intercultural awareness, living abroad, politeness, rudeness, etc.). Their suggestions are noted and put into the wider context of Communicative Competence (slide 4; Handout Sections 2–3). The term is defined and explained further (if necessary). The concept of pragmatic transfer is then introduced (slide 5; Handout Sections 2–3) and its relevance in language education briefly explained. The whole class is invited to actively participate. (ii). Theoretical framework The main points discussed (communicative competence; pragmatic transfer) are elaborated further and contextualised within the relevant theoretical frameworks (Hymes; Kasper, etc.), followed by a brief Q&A session (if needed). The handout provides further guidance (Sections 2–3). (iii). Group work and general discussion The students are divided into groups (3–5, depending on the class size) and encouraged to discuss critical incidents (Handout, Section 4) illustrating instances of pragmatic transfer. Group leaders are then asked to choose a few key points and share them with the class. The teacher moderates the discussion and gives further guidance if necessary. (iv). Q&A, concluding remarks and follow -up activities The seminar is concluded by a Q&A session and a summary of the main points discussed. The teacher then gives brief instructions and suggestions for follow-up activities (full details provided in the Handout, Section 5). The students are encouraged to carry on the discussion independently and, optionally, to fill in a feedback questionnaire. The teacher takes the comments and suggestions on board, factoring them into the design and delivery of the remaining sessions. III. Required reading See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it seriously...’). IV. Recommended See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it further...’). reading V. Suggested material See Handout, Section 5 (‘Taking it lightly...’). for further browsing, viewing and consultation (continued)

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Lesson plan The students are invited to explore the topic further by keeping an intercultural diary, starting with notes on their own perception of university life and reflecting upon their own experience of living and/or studying abroad (if applicable). They are encouraged to identify (cultural) similarities and differences characteristic of university life in the city they live in and/or other countries/regions they may have studied/lived in, or be familiar with, focusing on a chosen aspect of university life (academic, social, extracurricular, etc.). They should summarise their thoughts and observations, trying to come up with a more general account of culture-specific vs. universal aspects of living and studying abroad and discuss it with other students. The topic will be investigated further at a series of interdisciplinary workshops involving staff and students of the Department/School/ Faculty (suggested workshop title: The (inter)cultural context of communication: theory, practice, pedagogy).

Appendix B

Undergraduate module: Intercultural communication (student handout) Topic: Communicative Competence Focus Pragmatic Transfer on: Section From the learner’s perspective… 1 I realised after a time that learning Russian was as much a matter of adapting my tone as accumulating vocabulary. Russians, for example, have none of the contorted, apologetic manner of the English. If you start out on ‘Would you possibly be so kind as to help me, if you’ve got a moment, to point out where the post office might be?’, any Russian who is not a bureaucrat or an official will look at you as though you are mad. After a time I learnt to ask simply ‘Where is the post office?’(…). Both the tone and the sentiment behind it came to feel quite natural. I was becoming Russian, it seemed to me; and the happy, swift feeling of losing myself was part of the process.9 From the teacher’s perspective… It is not the responsibility of the language teacher (…) to enforce Anglo-Saxon standards of behaviour, linguistic or otherwise. Rather, it is the teacher’s job to equip the student to express her/himself in exactly the way she/he chooses to do so – rudely, tactfully or in an elaborately polite manner. What we want to prevent is her/him being unintentionally rude or subservient.10 (continued)

 Hobson, Charlotte (2001). Black Earth City: A year in the heart of Russia. London: Granta Books; 81–82. 10  Thomas, Jenny (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics: 4; 96–97. 9

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Your perspective? Section Communicative competence: the term, originally coined by Dell Hymes in the 2 1960s,11 refers to the learner’s ability to use the language appropriately in order to accomplish communicative goals and intentions.12 It empowers the learner to act using specific linguistic means and includes the following: (a) Linguistic competences (b) Sociolinguistic competences (c) Pragmatic competences (a) Linguistic competences: the range and quality of knowledge and the way it is stored (lexical, grammatical, semantic, etc.)13 (b) Sociolinguistic competences: sociocultural condition of language use; knowledge and skills required to deal with the social dimension of language use14 (c) Pragmatic competences: functional use of linguistic resources, drawing on scenarios or scripts of interactional exchanges; knowledge of the principles according to which messages are: (i) Organised, structured and arranged (discourse competence) (i) used to perform communicative function (functional competence) (iii) sequenced according to interactional and transactional schemata (design competence)15 Section Pragmatic transfer: the situation in which one’s pragmatic performance in cross- and 3 intercultural contexts is influenced by their first/native language and culture. In the context of foreign language learning and teaching, it refers to the situation in which the learner’s knowledge of functional use of linguistic resources characteristic of his/ her first language (L1) influences his/her second language (L2) production. Kasper16 defines it as:  the influence exerted by learners’ pragmatic knowledge of languages and cultures other than L2 on their comprehension, production and learning of L2 pragmatic information (1992: 207) and proposes the following distinction: (a) Pragmalinguistic transfer: … the process whereby the illocutionary force or politeness value assigned to particular linguistic material in L1 influences learners’ perception and production of form-function mapping in L2 (1992: 209) (b) Sociopragmatic transfer: … the social perceptions underlying language users’ interpretation and performance of linguistic action in L2 are influenced by their assessment of subjectively equivalent L1 contexts (1992: 209) (continued)

 Hymes, Dell (2001). On communicative competence. In Alessandro Duranti (ed.). Linguistic anthropology: a reader. Oxford: Blackwell; 53–73. 12  http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/goalsmethods/goal.htm 13  Council of Europe. 2001. Common European framework of reference for languages: learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 9–14. 14  Ibid., 13; 118. 15  Ibid., 123–127. 16  Kasper, Gabriele (1992). “Pragmatic transfer”. Second Language Research 8(3): 203–231. 11

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Main manifestations of pragmatic transfer: (a) Negative (interference) (b) Positive (facilitation) (cf. Bou Franch 199817 and Yamagashira 200018) Section Group discussion: critical incidents 4 Below are a few examples of critical incidents, illustrating cross-cultural communicative situations in which pragmatic transfer may have occurred, leading to a possible misunderstanding of the (communicative) intentions of the interlocutors. Split into groups of 3–5, choose one of the critical incidents (1–3), and discuss with your group members the nature of the communicative situation. Specifically, decide if there is a case of pragmatic transfer there, and, if so, suggest a possible solution to the misunderstanding it might have caused. 1. Sales representatives from Germany and Britain are in a difficult negotiation. Things are getting tense. Franz Bauer sits upright and is disturbed as Jim Banks relaxes in his chair. Franz Bauer feels that Jim is not taking the negotiation seriously. Jim feels that Mr Bauer is getting more and more aggressive. What went wrong? Can you suggest a solution? 2. Julio, an Argentinean student, who is keen to improve his English, is attending a course in Business English. He often stays behind after the class to ask the British lecturer, Jim Ford, some questions. When Julio approaches, Mr Ford looks uneasy and begins to move away. Julio wonders whether Mr Ford doesn’t like him, if he is asking too many questions or whether students are not supposed to ask questions after class. What seems to be the issue here? Can you suggest a solution? 3. Rebecca, a recently recruited British executive in an international law firm, was asked to chair a meeting with her French and British colleagues. From Rebecca’s point of view, the meeting went well. She did her utmost to make sure that everyone was heard and the relevant issues discussed and summarised in a diplomatic way. She even changed the agenda and extended the meeting to accommodate new issues that some British delegates had brought up. At the end of the meeting Rebecca was shocked to hear one French colleague whisper to another ‘… typical British, just typical. No proper preparation…’. She was even more surprised to hear the reply: ‘Yes, and they never say what they mean, do they?.’19 (continued)

 Bou Franch, Patricia (1998). On pragmatic transfer. Studies in English Language and Linguistics 0: 5–20. 18  Yamagashira, Hisako (2000). Pragmatic transfer in Japanese ESL refusals. Bulletin 31: 259–275. Retrieved from: http://www.k-junshin.ac.jp/juntan/libhome/bulletin/No31/Yamagashira.pdf 19  Taken from Intercultural training exercise pack, Culture-wise Ltd.: 31–32. http://www.culturewise.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Cultural-awareness-training-exercise-pack.pdf. Accessed 28 Jun 2018. 17

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Is there some kind of cultural misunderstanding here? If so, can you suggest a solution? Section Follow-up activities 5 Taking it lightly… Browse the suggested titles below – some will make you laugh, and some may even make you cry – and think about the issues they touch upon in the context of the topic(s) we discussed today (e.g. culture, cultural stereotypes, culture shock, culture specific vs. universal, ‘foreignness’, cultural displacement, etc.). The hundred-foot journey [film], directed by Lasse Hallström (Entertainment One, 2014). Hoffman, Eva (1991). Lost in translation: a life in a new language. London: Minerva. ‘Polite’ Britons died on Titanic (2009, 21 January). BBC News. Retrieved from: http:// news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7843154.stm. Crystal, David (2013). The future of Global English – coping with culture (The English Speaking Union Annual Lecture).The British Council. Retrieved from: http:// englishagenda.britishcouncil.org/seminars/future-global-english-coping-culture. Taking it seriously… The following titles cover the theoretical background of the topics we discussed today (communicative competence, pragmatic transfer, intercultural pragmatics). Please read the articles/chapters carefully and summarise their main points (up to 300 words per title). Bou Franch, Patricia (1998). “On pragmatic transfer”. Studies in English Language and Linguistics 0: 5–20; Retrieved from: http://www.uv.es/~boup/PDF/Sell-98.pdf. Kasper, Gabriele (1992). “Pragmatic transfer”. University of Hawai’i Working Papers in ESL. Volume 11, No. 1: 1–34. Taking it further… If you find yourself inspired by the topic and want to explore it further, some of the titles bellow might be a useful starting point: Félix-Brasdefer, César (2017). Interlanguage pragmatics. In Yan Huang (ed.). The Oxford handbook of pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 416–434. Kecskes, Istvan (2017). Cross-cultural and intercultural pragmatics. In Yan Huang (ed.). The Oxford handbook of pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 400–15. Kurteš, Svetlana (2013). Key competences in foreign language learning: historical perspectives and theoretical frameworks. In Maria Eisenmann and Theresa Summer (eds). Basic Issues in EFL Teaching and Learning (2nd revised edition). Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH: 43– 54. Larina, Tatiana (2015). Culture-specific communicative styles as a framework for interpreting linguistic and cultural idiosyncrasies. International Review of Pragmatics, Volume 7, Issue 2: 195–215. Spreckels, Janet, Kotthoff, Helga (2007).Communicating identity in intercultural communication. In Helga Kotthoff & Helen Spencer-Oatey (eds.). Handbook of intercultural communication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 415–439. Wierzbicka, Anna (2006). Chapter 1: English as a cultural universe. In English: meaning and culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 3– 19. (continued) Taking it all the way…

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If you would like to explore similarities and differences between languages and cultures you are familiar with in a more systematic way, here is a suggestion how to make a useful contribution. Start keeping a reflective intercultural diary, noting down your own thoughts and observations. You can focus on a particular aspect of communication, culture and society or – perhaps – reflect on cultural similarities and differences relating to university life in your country (or region, city, town, village) and any other country (or region, city, town, village) you may be familiar with. Finally, you can summarise your findings and observations, trying to come up with a more general account and discuss them with other students. We are planning to organise a series of interdisciplinary workshops that will address more fully the question of the (inter)cultural context of communication. Would you like to be actively involved? Your questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome. Thank you!

References Can, T. (2009). Learning and teaching languages online: a constructivist approach. Novitas-­ ROYAL 3(1), 60–74. Cohn, R.C. (1975). Von der Psychoanalyse zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion [translates as From Psychoanalysis to Theme-Centered Interaction]. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Council of Europe. (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: learning, teaching and assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. De Wit, H., Hunter, F., Howard, L., Ergon-Polak, E. (2015). Internationalisation of higher education. Brussels: European Parliament/Committee on Culture and Education. Driscoll, M.P. (2000). Psychology of Learning for Instruction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Hirsh, E.D. (1988). Cultural literacy: what every American needs to know. New York: Vintage. Faßhauer, U. (2017). Axiom 1: the Existential-Anthropological Axiom. In M. Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbart (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 75–79. Hymes, D.H. (1972). On communicative competence. In J.B.  Pride, J.  Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics: selected readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 269–293. Kanitz, von, A. (2017). Axiom 3: The Pragmatic-Political Axiom. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J. Spielmann, W. Zitterbart (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 84–88. Kozulin, A., Gindis, B., Ageyev, V.S., Miller, S.M. (Eds.) (2003). Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kügler, H. (2017). The four-factor model of TCI.  In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbart (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 101–107. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001). Toward a postmethod pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly 35(4), 537–560. Kurteš, S. (2009). Pragmatic competence for intercultural communication: a foreign language classroom perspective. In I. Lakić, N. Kostić (Eds.), Languages and Cultures in Contact: Conference Proceedings. Podgorica: Institute of Foreign Languages, University of Montenegro, 385–391. Kurteš, S. (2013). Key competences in foreign language learning: historical perspectives and theoretical frameworks. In M. Eisenmann, T. Summer (Eds.), Basic Issues in EFL Teaching and Learning. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH, 43–54.

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Kurteš, S., Larina, V.T., Ozyumenko, I.V. (2017). A constructivist approach to intercultural communication teaching and learning. In EDULEARN17 Proceedings: 9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies. Barcelona: IATED Academy, 591–597. Kurteš, S., Kopytowska, M. (2014). Communicating identities in daily interaction: theory, practice, pedagogy. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 10(1), 1–17. Kurteš, S., Kopytowska, M. (2015). Communicative styles and genres: between universality and culture-specificity. International Review of Pragmatics 7(2), 161–169. Larina, T. (2015). Culture-Specific Communicative Styles as a Framework for Interpreting Linguistic and Cultural Idiosyncrasies. International Review of Pragmatics 7(2), 195–215. Larina, T. (2017). Osnovy mezhkul’turnoi kommunikatsii [Introduction to intercultural communication]. Moscow: Academia. Larina, T.V., Ozyumenko, I.V., Kurteš, S. (2017). I-identity vs we-identity in language and discourse: Anglo-Slavonic perspectives. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 13(1), 109–128. Leech, G. (2014). The pragmatics of politeness. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Marlowe, B.A., Page, M.L. (2005). Creating and Sustaining the Constructivist Classroom, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. McConachy, T. (2017). Developing intercultural perspectives on language use: exploring pragmatics and culture in foreign language learning. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Mc Conachy, T. (2018). Critically engaging with cultural representations in foreign language textbooks. Intercultural Education, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2017.1404783, 1–12. Accessed 20 Jun 2018. Molinsky, A.I. (2013). Global dexterity: how to adapt your behaviour across cultures without losing yourself in the process. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business School Publishing. Molinsky, A.I. (2017). Reach: a new strategy to help you step outside your comfort zone, rise to the challenge and build confidence. New York: Avery Publishing. Nomnian, S. (2002). Constructivism: Theory and Its Application to Language Teaching”. Studies in Languages and Language Teaching: Occasional Paper, 1–7. Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon 9(5), 1– 6. Reiser, H. (2006). Psychoanalytisch-systemische Pädagogik. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Röhling, J.G. (2017). The Chairperson Postulate. In M.  Schneider-Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 89–94. Samovar, L.A., Porter, R., McDaniel, E.R. (2007). Communication between cultures (6th edition). Boston: Wadsworth. Schneider-Landolf, M., Spielmann, J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Theme-­Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Schultz, B. (2008). The importance of soft skills: education beyond academic knowledge. NAWA Journal of Language and Communication, June 2008, 146–154. Scollon, R., Scollon, S. (2001). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach (2nd edition). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Starkey, H. (2002). Guide for the development of Language Education Policies in Europe. From Linguistic Diversity to Plurilingual Education. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. Ting-Toomey, S. (1999). Communicating across cultures. London: The Guilford Press. Usher, R., Edwards, R. (1994). Postmodernism and education. London: Routledge.

Part IV

Reflections on the Future

Theme-Centered Interaction In- and Outside of Academia: MOOCifying TCI Annelies van der Horst

Abstract  In this chapter, a stand is being made for developing a TCI massive open online course (MOOC). A MOOC seems to provide a contemporary approach to the realisation of Ruth C. Cohn’s societal ambition. MOOCs are considered a disruptive development in academia. However, for ‘Bildung’ of a wide – academic – audience, an assessment of the potential of this innovative technology is an avenue to be explored. In the context of my PhD research, the link between the societal dissemination of the principles of TCI and enhanced dialogical competence is being investigated. The digital instrument that is being developed for this study could be integrated into a cMOOC on TCI. A second aim of a MOOC is to establish a knowledge database for staff who want to use TCI in their teaching. Furthermore, a MOOC could serve as a showcase on TCI, accessible for all interested parties. Keywords  Massive open online course (MOOC) · Theme-Centered Interaction · MOOC research · Societal ambition · Concept of ‘Bildung’

1  Introduction This book about Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in academia should be considered a breakthrough in many aspects. There is some literature on TCI in the English language,1 but this is one of the first times that TCI is explicitly linked on a broader scale to higher education, to university curricula, and to students and faculty. Therefore, it provides a great opportunity to spread knowledge on TCI, living learning, and the different ways of applying TCI in academic courses amongst a wider audience than the TCI community. Practitioners of TCI worldwide comprise a comparably small community. Nevertheless, the TCI community is very reflective, productive, and creative by

1  Early texts on TCI are in English. In India, several English contributions on TCI were published in the last years. In 2017, a handbook on TCI with latest developments has been published.

A. van der Horst (*) University of Humanistic Studies, Utrecht, Netherlands © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_10

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character. A relatively large number of (German) academics are committed members of this community, developing TCI on a voluntary basis in their workshops, in books, and in the TCI Journal, a specialist, scholarly journal (foremost in German), for about 50  years. Hence, besides a body of high-quality articles, there is little scientific connection to other disciplines. Hopefully, the publication of this book will prove to be a seminal step in the dissemination and application of TCI in the curricula of higher education. Yet, I would dare go a stage further with this chapter. I want to explore the possibility of making TCI available to a wide international audience, starting with a target group of students and professors. In the different contributions of the compendium, we have seen many applications of TCI or TCI-inspired education, learning, and teaching. The ‘problem’ remains, though, that TCI is not a commonly known concept. A question that is asked often, and must be asked in this context, is, ‘If so relevant and important, then why is TCI not more commonly known and in use as a method?’ The multidisciplinary basis (rooted foremost in branches of psychology and pedagogy) of TCI hinders its inclusion in the ‘body of knowledge’ of a professional domain. Therefore, the distribution of the intellectual TCI legacy is not an inherent part of the social, pedagogic, or psychological mainstream education. As mentioned before,2 Ruth C.  Cohn has written many guiding essays, while the theoretical groundwork of TCI has emerged from the work of other professionals, elaborating on TCI as an attitude and method. Possibly, because she was not an academic scholar in the first place, few scientific articles have been published by R. C. Cohn. TCI emerged from praxis first, and the underlying ‘theory’ was – in the beginning – mostly applied and practically proven by others. Later, Ruth C. Cohn received two honorary doctorates. Moreover, her remigration to Europe in 1974 closed off her connections with American academia.

2  Using TCI in Academia Following this line of reasoning, I posit TCI is used by a variety of professionals in a multitude of contexts, but for outsiders it is not recognisable as a specific method adaptable to their field of study. This contradiction may be reinforced by how it is not always clear (and not always useful to mention!) that the method used in a group is TCI.  Also, every trained TCI professional finds his or her own way of working with TCI. Another relevant factor may be that the trajectory towards a certified, licensed, and, eventually, graduated professional TCI practitioner is a long road. It takes at least 7 to 10 years to complete all the steps and graduate in TCI. Because of the long educational phase, there is only a relatively small community of TCI graduates, mainly based in German- and Dutch-speaking countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Lately, there are also some in  See the introductory text on TCI by Matthias Scharer in this book.

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India. This community, however, has a strong educational orientation. Besides, many practitioners with undergraduate training are active in all areas of society (schools, parishes/churches, profit and non-profit organisations, and counselling, e.g.) without emphasising which approach they use in their work with groups. Building on the expected effect of this book on university staff, the question may arise: ‘How do we provide access to and knowledge of TCI?’ – preferably without having to wait for a cohort of faculty staff to finish a prolonged training programme. A second question might be: ‘Is it enough to train lecturers and professors in TCI? Can students also profit in additional ways from the intellectual legacy of TCI?’ To ask the question is to answer it. I think that TCI can offer a substantial improvement of the ‘Bildung’ of students. Improved interaction skills can already make a massive contribution to personal growth. It could be considered ‘theft’, in the meaning of Ruth C. Cohn’s expression (Cohn and Ockel 1981, 142), to withhold TCI from students, adolescents, and interested others.

2.1  T  CI as Pedagogical Method, As Well As an Instrument for Identity Building and Social Therapy In this book, TCI is explored for its function as a pedagogical method and attitude. That is one of the ways in which TCI can be successfully used; some are even sure that TCI is at its best as a pedagogical method (Reiser 2009, 46–47, 209–213, e.g.). TCI is a special pedagogical method, intended to design interaction in a way that enhances intense experiencing of oneself, related to we, theme and globe in the here and now. It is designed to promote personal and societal development, not just transferring of knowledge or opinions. These three elements, experience, interaction and development, elucidates the working of TCI. TCI can, thus, be considered as a concept of conduct that integrates the humanistic values, formulated in the fundamental axioms, into a helping hand for the individual to live a responsible and creative life, together and in interaction with others (Reiser, 2014). Stemming from psychotherapy and practical work in groups, TCI is nowadays used as a (team-)coaching method as well. Moreover, Ruth C.  Cohn, with her personal biography, had an extended vision for TCI: she also considered it a societal therapeutic methodology in support of a humane world (Cohn 1988). The aim of this chapter is to reconcile the different views and applications of TCI into a specific approach. It explores specifically whether a MOOC on TCI is a viable option. A MOOC is short for ‘massive open online course’, which is explained in detail in the continuation of this chapter. A MOOC on TCI is thought to serve multiple goals: 1. To educate students (and a wider audience of interested parties, including professors and other lecturers in higher education) on the basic ideas of TCI.  TCI serves, then, as an aspect of ‘Bildung’ and education for citizenship.

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2. A showcase for TCI to ‘the world’ and at the same time providing a (knowledge) database for scholars who want to work with TCI in their professional teaching in academia. Furthermore, I research the possibility of introducing, with a MOOC, a ‘technical’ instrument into the TCI community.

3  Living Learning One of the most well-known applications of TCI lies in the concept of living learning.3 Living learning challenges the lecturer as well as the student. In acknowledgement of a good balance within a class, the teacher must provide learning material in a way that stimulates a real connection of the ‘I’ (a single person) with the ‘It’ (the subject matter at hand) and connects them to the others (the students and teacher as ‘We’) in a defined ‘Globe’ (the course or classroom). Usually, this method means that an inciting ‘theme’, introduced by the scholar, starts off the learning experience. From the perspective of a student, experiencing a real living-learning practice requires some basic conditions. First, there needs to be an open attitude towards self-leadership in learning. Second, it demands conforming communication skills to partake in a learning experience that is different from a ‘normal’ classroom experience conducted by an omniscient teacher. Only when both sides are properly prepared can a living-learning encounter take place. So, besides investing in the educational philosophy and skills of the university’s staff, TCI-based education can function as an adequate training programme for students’ social skills.4 I see a double function of TCI in this respect; the living-­learning experience itself can already function as a partial ‘education’, because interaction and leadership skills are being trained ‘on the job’ in the learning group. On the other hand, teaching the basics of TCI explicitly can also be part of a specific online training programme. Such a training programme could transfer the basic ideas of TCI by means of animation. This ‘instruction programme’ could be a component of a comprehensive MOOC on TCI. In fact, the construction and testing of this instructional element is the theme of my PhD research at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, in the Netherlands.

3  In the first section of the volume this text is published in, Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) and main concepts of the approach are introduced (cf. Meyerhuber, Scharer, and Reiser). Therefore, I take these concepts under consideration for future MOOC application but without explaining the concepts themselves in detail. 4  This thought is in detail discussed by Meyerhuber in her contribution to this book.

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3.1  P  ersonal Experiences with Living Learning and Problem-­ Based Learning (PBL) When I was ready to enter secondary school, my parents – advised by my grandmother, who studied educational theory – decided on a Dalton school. The Dalton system was invented by Helen Parkhurst in the early 1900s. Her aim was to educate ‘fearless human beings’. The so-named Dalton Plan ‘creates conditions which enable … the learner to learn’. In this light, learning is the same as experience: “Experience is the best and indeed the only real teacher” (Parkhurst 1922, 43 and 152). True living learning, with the same paradoxes as Ruth C. Cohn later developed in her axioms and postulates, is described in such terms as freedom and responsibility and self-leadership and cooperation. The Dalton Plan is still relevant today and was then ahead of its time. Van der Ploeg chose a respectable title for his latest paper: “The Dalton School: teaching 21st century skills eighty years ago” (Van der Ploeg 2017, 1). Six years in a Dalton school system prepared me for almost 30 years in an academic setting with problem-based learning (PBL)5 at Maastricht University, starting as a student in the first year of a new curriculum on Social Health (1980) and later in the then-new Faculty of Law (1984). Afterwards I worked for Maastricht University from 1988 until 2008 as a researcher, lecturer, policy adviser, and project director. At Maastricht University, from its origin in 1976, PBL6 has been practised. PBL can be viewed as a certain type of living learning; students work in small tutorial groups, engage in hands-on training, and attend (far) fewer lectures. Under the supervision of a tutor, 10–15 students tackle real-life challenges. PBL is an active way of learning, aiming for a better retention of knowledge and enhanced motivation (Schmidt, 1983, 35). It encourages the development of skills that are essential for the labour market and life, including: • • • • •

Truly understanding the subject matter rather than just learning by rote. Collaborating with partners and small teams. Thinking critically with a view to solving problems. Studying and working independently. Feeling comfortable with public speaking.

However, I did not make the connection explicitly before I started writing my chapter for this book, although it should come as no surprise that TCI took hold of me in 2004. My education practically spoon-fed me with the chairperson postulate on self-leadership. I even chose TCI as subject for my PhD, which I am now working on. In my research, the focus lies on Ruth C. Cohn’s societal ambition regarding 5  The approach of problem-based learning (PBL) goes back to the 1980s. Henk Schmidt, former Dean of my faculty at Maastricht University, depicted the rationale and description of PBL in an overview in 1983. 6  Also see chapter of Sylke Meyerhuber in this book.

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TCI, in particular how the basic idea of TCI can be transferred to a wider audience. The aim is to research the possible contribution of TCI to the fostering of a humane citizenship. In this chapter, I attempt to connect this aim to – the development of – a MOOC on TCI. Therefore, I begin with a concise look at the societal ambition of Ruth C. Cohn for TCI.

4  Ruth C. Cohn’s Societal Ambition TCI founder Ruth C. Cohn transformed her existential experiences (persecution and emigration7) into the hope of supporting humane action in all areas of society by strengthening self-confidence and employing a vital system of humanistic values. In the early 1980s, she specified the political aim of TCI, calling it “societal therapy” (Cohn and Ockel 1981, 178) and “an attempt to [sic] humanistic societal therapy” (Farau and Cohn 1984, 334). In the second edition of the book, Von der Psychoanalyse zur themenzentrierte Interaktion, in 1983, Ruth C. Cohn reinforced her humanistic societal belief that TCI – and other humanistic initiatives – has a potential to influence the world for the better (Cohn 1983, 13). In the same edition, Ruth C. Cohn recalled her college days, a time when she was already struggling with an agonising question: Couldn’t we use psychoanalysis and psychodynamic knowledge to help larger groups of people with upbringing, education and in organizations, instead of only individual clients? Can large groups of people overcome sadist masochist fixations, illusions and prejudices? Working on Theme-centered Interaction is the expression of the thriving power of this question. (Cohn 1975, 21)

In later years, Ruth C. Cohn stressed her societal concerns repeatedly, in essays, chapters of books, and – often – in letters and in person, as the leader of TCI courses and seminars, culminating in het book ‘Es geht ums Anteilnehmen’ (It’s all about participating) (Cohn, 1989). Many of her ambitions are chronicled in transcripts of interviews; in a conversation with  Friedemann Schultz von Thun, Ruth C.  Cohn called the whole (TCI-)community politicians and expressed her expectations of the contribution of TCI to a more humane society  (Cohn and Schultz von Thun in Standhardt & Löhmer, 1994, 43). In 2010, the year that Ruth C. Cohn passed away, Erica Brühlmann-Jecklin published a collection of conversations and encounters titled Das Mögliche tun (translates as Doing all one possibly can). The book included, besides the devastating Holocaust, current themes such as Europe, refugees, environmentalism, and feminism (Brühlmann 2010). It illustrated that Ruth C. Cohn had lifelong societal ambitions. Cohn had to restate her societal ambition often; in the TCI community, there was (and still is) debate on how, and even whether, this effort is realistic or too high a burden on TCI as a method. The battle is – as of now – undecided. Krämer stated 7  See the detailed biographic information in the second chapter of the book by Matthias Scharer as an intimate expert and guardian of R. C. Cohn’s intellectual heritage.

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that TCI is a logical continuation of ‘the movement of 1968’, while Zitterbarth dispatched the societal aspirations as ‘an empty promise’ (Krämer and Zitterbarth 2006, 11). In 2013, Matthias Kroeger judged this dispute as complementary, because both come – in his eyes – to correlative conclusions: “TCI empowers people who want to take up responsibility to change the world” (Kroeger 2013, 65). In his article, he explores the function of the globe and concludes that the globe is essentially unclear (the globe is situational, i.e. to be defined as significant environment of a given process), thus allowing for personal interpretations and choices. Kroeger sees an inherent political aim in the humanising ambition of TCI.  However, he raises caution where TCI is believed to realise specific political expectations (ibid.). These ongoing dividing questions are too important to ignore. Ruth C.  Cohn herself had always pursued her goal: From my window, from my world of flowers, waterfall and birds, I would want to have eyes that are able to watch over meadows, mountains and borders to the boats that drift on the cold waves, with women and children raped by soldiers and robbed from their clothes and last grains of rice. I would want to have ears to hear the screaming of the drowned and that of men in torture vaults […] and the crying of children and parents who have to witness the torture of their loved ones. I would like to encourage people, who do not care for all this suffering, not to resign or feel hopeless, but to use their imagination and ability to work actively in solidarity, as long as we are able to feel our own autonomy. This is what I really want to do with TCI. (Ruth C. Cohn 1984, 375)

5  Actual Awareness of the Potential of Living Learning In the context of the so-named Bologna process, attempting to raise the percentage of higher-educated Europeans, standardising learning routes, and increasing the quality of higher education, awareness for the learning process itself is gaining ground  (Bologna Process Benelux, 2009). In continuing statements, the EU Ministers of Education decided in favour of student-centred learning. Specifically, in a meeting in April 2009 in Louvain-la-Neuve, they established student-centred learning as one of the priorities for the Bologna process for the next decade: Student-centred learning and mobility will help students develop the competences they need in a changing labour market and will empower them to become active and responsible citizens. We reassert the importance of the teaching mission of higher education institutions and the necessity for ongoing curricular reform geared toward the development of learning outcomes. Student-centred learning requires empowering individual learners, new approaches to teaching and learning, effective support and guidance structures and a curriculum focused more clearly on the learner in all three cycles. We ask the higher education institutions to pay particular attention to improving the teaching quality of their study programmes at all levels. This should be a priority in the further implementation of the European Standards and Guidelines for quality assurance. (Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Leuven & Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April, Eurydice, 2009)

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More specifically, student-centred learning is being recognised as essential for improved learning outcomes, as well as preparation for active, participative citizenship. The 2014–2015 vice-chairperson of the European Students Council, Erin Nordhall, labelled it a full paradigm shift to give students real choices, autonomy, and responsibility in their learning process and ensuring their voices are heard in the decision-making and feedback mechanisms of academia (ESU, 2015, 1). In this PASCL research study, ‘Overview on Student-Centred Learning (SCL) in higher education in Europe’, students were generally positive on SCL, defining it as: Interactive learning with specific goals and outcomes and using a modern teaching aids and with adequate mentoring professors. Gaining practical and applied knowledge through the education system. (PASCL, 2015)

Here, I see a clear link between knowledge outcomes and ‘Bildung’ as in a broad sense of education. The Bologna process was first criticised for its definitions of quality, because they would be more applicable to research quality and teaching outcomes. The quality-assurance systems seemed to overlook the character of traditional academic education, in which personal development and fulfilment were part of a comprehensive training. In the recent past, the recognition of student-centred learning in higher education is enjoying a revival of increased attention, as may be deduced from the recent resolutions and studies (Eurydice, 2009; European Union, 2017). Interactive learning requires, however, a certain training in interaction skills, for lecturers as well as students. This opens an opportunity for TCI, as essentially a value-based, reflection-stimulating, self-leadership-enhancing interaction method.

6  ‘Bildung’ and Teaching Common Values The goals of ‘Bildung’ and Teaching Common Values are strongly interrelated. Bildung – in English, fulfilment or education – can be traced back to Wilhelm von Humboldt.8 In his words, ‘Bildung’ was to be defined as: Education [Bildung], truth and virtue must be disseminated to such an extent that the ‘concept of mankind’ takes on a great and dignified form in each individual. However, this shall be achieved personally by each individual, who must absorb the great mass of material offered to him by the world around him and by his inner existence, using all the possibilities of his receptiveness; he must then reshape that material with all the energies of his own activity and appropriate it to himself so as to create an interaction between his own personality and nature in a most general, active and harmonious form. (von Humboldt 1793, 94)

In actuality, von Humboldt’s ideals are still being elaborated upon. Personal engagement is one of the key factors, as it reads in a current definition: ‘Bildung’ is achieved through practical activity that promotes the development of one’s own individual 8  Wilhelm von Humboldt, educationalist, scholar, and statesman who founded the University of Berlin (Germany), aiming for the unity of teaching and research for the overall goal of an allaround humanistic education for attending students

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talents and abilities, which in turn leads to the development of one’s society. In this way, ‘Bildung’ does not simply accept the sociopolitical status quo, but rather it includes the ability to engage in a critique of one’s society and to ultimately challenge that society to actualise its own highest ideals (Lüth 2000, 63). However, ‘Bildung’ as a conscious choice of extended education is to be considered a model still, continuously adjusted and formed into a more current form that can be integrated in curricula. Beginning in 2012, UNESCO launched actions to promote global citizenship education. This concept was built on the following conviction: The world faces global challenges, which require global solutions. These interconnected global challenges call for far-reaching changes in how we think and act for the dignity of fellow human beings. It is not enough for education to produce individuals who can read, write and count. Education must be transformative and bring shared values to life. It must cultivate an active care for the world and for those with whom we share it. Education must also be relevant in answering the big questions of the day. Technological solutions, political regulation or financial instruments alone cannot achieve sustainable development. It requires transforming the way people think and act. Education must fully assume its central role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful, tolerant and inclusive societies. It must give people the understanding, skills and values they need to cooperate in resolving the interconnected challenges of the 21st century. (United Nations, 2012)

UNESCO identified the following as barriers that hinder global citizenship education: • • • • •

Legacy of the current education system. Outmoded curricula and learning materials. Lack of teacher capacity. Inadequate focus on values. Lack of leadership on global citizenship.

To continue the interrelationship and indivisible evolution, the United Nations initiated a new Global Development Agenda: “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (ibid.). In this agenda, global citizen education was one of the 17 interrelated goals. In addition to this worldwide call for transformative education, Europe has its own programme: The declaration on promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance, and non-discrimination through education (Paris Declaration, March 17, 2015). The CULT Committee has only recently carried out a study on Teaching Common Values (TCV), explicitly on democracy and tolerance, in 12 European member states. The conclusions were that although there was increased attention on values, a strong implementation in education policy was lacking and there was too little attention on inclusiveness and the creation of an inclusive society (Veugelers et al. 2017, 64–66). Overall, global citizenship education must be viewed as ‘transformative Bildung’. The challenge lies in the development of theoretically sound curricula, teaching on controversy and pluralism, and working with dilemmas. These programmes should, at the same time, promote analytic, judgement, and reflection skills. Room for

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thinking and reflection is indispensable in such programmes, creating the microcosm of a learning community and inciting the exploration, testing, and practising of a new global community (Grobbauer 2016, 16). The most compelling analogy between ‘Bildung’ and TCI is – in my eyes – the starting point: individual growth as a prerequisite and function of humane global development. Therefore, in the next section, this analogy is elaborated upon.

7  TCI, ‘Bildung’, Citizenship, and Society I take the societal ambition of Ruth C. Cohn as a fundamental idea of ‘Bildung’. My presumption is that the basics of TCI can function as a foundation for inclusive citizenship. By transferring the groundwork of TCI, possibly – at least a part of – Ruth Cohn’s aspirations for a more humane society may be realised or at least supported. One of the main purposes of developing a MOOC is, as I conceptualise it, to connect TCI to ‘Bildung’ and furthermore to the societal level, more specifically to citizenship. ‘Bildung’ is then understood as a prerequisite for inclusive citizenship. In this respect, citizenship is chosen as a term of operationalising the societal ambition of TCI. The leading question is then: (How) can TCI contribute to citizenship? The definition of citizenship, as meant in this context, can be founded on the description from TCI expert and theologian Matthias Scharer: According to him, citizenship should be understood as ‘the good life’ for every human being. From his communicative theological perspective, Scharer (2015, 71) had a broad view on citizenship when he emphasised: “Citizenship includes deep biographical, interactive, contextual dimensions”. He contrasted this thought, where citizenship is itself aiming for inclusion, to the cold, legal, and excluding interpretation of citizenship that is common in the late modern context (Scharer, 2015, 74–75). This explanation came, not surprising, from a TCI graduate, hermeneutically interplaying Communicative Theology and TCI. An absolute precondition for citizenship is a society that is open for participation from all. A good society must enable a good life. British psychologist Mick Cooper extends this idea to a ‘fully functioning society’, paraphrasing Carl R. Roger’s9 concept of “the fully functioning personality” (Cooper 2016, 584). Referring to Philosopher Heidegger and Behavioural Psychologist Maslow, Coopers appeals to his fellow humanistic psychologists to actively play a humanistic part in the implementation of this idea(l) (Cooper 2016, 592). Cooper (cf. 2016, 2012) defines the good society as one that maximises the extent to which people can realise their wants, referring to earlier publications by his own hand. 9  Carl R. Rogers (1902–1987) was an influential American psychologist. He developed the nondirective approach of client-centred therapy and a head figure in the development of humanistic psychology.

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Finally, Cooper calls upon the humanist psychology movement to (re)assure a basic trust in people and, even more noteworthy in the scope of this article, “Helping people to communicate more effectively with others, by helping people to trust, recognise, and articulate their true feelings and experiences – along with developing skills for dialogue and negotiation” (Cooper 2016, 591). In this passionately expressed vision, Cooper builds on an earlier publication, where he – together with co-authors – explores the function of dialogue in bridging personal, community, and social transformation (Cooper et al. 2013). In this article, several dialogical traditions (Buber, Bakhtin, Freire, Habermas) are assessed on how the respective traditions value dialogue as instrumental for social transformation. The authors develop eight questions for further inquiry regarding the role of dialogue in social transformation. They conclude with “Dialogue (…) has the potential to be an enormously useful concept in understanding – and facilitating – the transformative potential of human interaction” (Cooper et al. 2013, 86). Could Ruth C. Cohn have hoped for a more ardent partner to underpin the importance and chance of TCI today?

8  General Didactics of TCI In 2010, TCI graduate Stefan Padberg10 published an article in the TCI Journal, in which he promotes TCI, in the light of the Bologna process, as a model for general didactics and ‘Bildung’. He compares TCI to the models of Klafki and Reich and concludes that TCI beats both other approaches with its sound, humanistic value base, as well as the usability in pedagogical practice (Padberg 2010, 81). Padberg points at the four-factor model, which makes TCI applicable in all kinds of educational settings, as model and attitude are strongly interrelated. The author (ibid.) qualifies TCI as a vision on society, the path and destination rolled into one. To implement this vision as often as possible and make it come to life is the true concern of TCI, manifesting itself in the term ‘living learning’, Padberg says (ibid. 80). Since theoretical and paradigmatical arguments have been presented, my next step is connecting them to the potential of online learning about TCI and using TCI, specifically in MOOC applications.

9  Reflections on MOOCs The acronym MOOC stands for massive open online course. In 2008, Stephen Downes began the birth of the first MOOC (Downes 2008, 2). The course, “Connectivism and Connective Knowledge”, was the first e-learning programme at the University of Manitoba that complied with the combination of three elements, 10

 See also contribution of Padberg in this volume.

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distinguishing it from earlier online courses and e-learnings, such as its large size, its openness, and its for-credit status (ibid.). Because the number of participants exaggerated the expectations, it was called a massive open online course. The title and content of this course call for attention, ‘Connectivism and Connective Knowledge’. The term connectivism refers to the idea that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections and that learning consists of the ability to construct and traverse those networks (Siemens 2004, p. 41). Since then, MOOCs have evolved from a novelty to an undeniable market for online higher-education courses. Via several platforms, universities and other parties present courses on practically every theme and subject. A MOOC is more than a recorded university lecture; a MOOC is an extensive online course, usually consisting of several modules or sections. At first, a distinction was made between xMOOCs and cMOOCs. xMOOCs are instructivistic and idealistic and resource-­ based while utilising classic e-learning platforms (Bates, 2014). cMOOCs, on the other hand, are considered connectivistic, based on social learning and using web services, like forums and interaction platforms (Fidalgo-Blanco et al. 2016, 2). The difference between xMOOCs and cMOOCs has been discussed since its introduction by many authors and from different fields of expertise. Initially, user interaction and collaboration were the distinguishing features between the two. However, the asynchronous design requirements, plus the necessary scalability of the courses, come into conflict with current technologies. Subsequently, MOOCs should be approached as a learning model continuum made possible by social media and the net: the xMOOC can be seen as one end of a continuum, representing deductive learning processes, while the cMOOC, on the other end, stands for inductive learning. According to the author’s notion, they share more than they differ in terms of learning potential, community building, knowledge processing, reflective learning, and design architecture. Universities, as the main deliverers of MOOCs, have a position to maintain considering research. It is not surprising that, already in an early stage, research has been carried out and numerous articles have been published on the phenomenon of MOOC. The abundant amount and variety of empirical research on MOOCs has led to meta-analyses. Here, I discuss the outcomes of one of the most recent meta-studies, carried out by George Veletsianos and Peter Shepherdson in 2016. They reviewed all empirical studies published between 2013 and 2015, emphasising gaps they discovered in the literature, such as geographical distribution of MOOC research, publication formats, citations, data collection and analysis, methods, and research strands. Noteworthy here is that they identified, based on the findings of other authors, that the challenges for MOOCs related mostly to course completion, economic challenges in relation to the business models of ‘traditional’ universities, the limitations of mass-teaching methods, accreditation, and the assessment of complex writing (Veletsianos and Shepherdson 2016, 201–203). A recurrent issue is whether online education can fulfil the essential context for a true learning experience, as learning theories always stress the importance of interaction (Anderson 2011, page 86). However, the MOOC format itself originates

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in the connectivist’s teaching paradigm, and most MOOCs are experienced as behaviouristic and frontal teaching. The actual norm is collaborative learning (Staubitz et al. 2014, 4). The search for an integrated model is continued by Picciano, who built a multimodal model for online education. He drew on the concept of a learning community as promoted by Garrisson, Anderson, and Archer, as well as earlier by Wenger and Lave. In his multimodal model, Picciano connected the key factors of connectivism by Siemens and online collaborative learning (OCL) by Harasim with appropriate technology to achieve the pedagogical aims (Picciano 2017, 182). Collaborative learning, student-student interaction, learning communities, and student-teacher interactions are in development, but – primarily due to scalability until now – only poorly supported on most MOOC platforms (Staubitz et al. 2014, 5). Most current MOOCs are xMOOCs with collaboration features that are adequate and continuously developing. However, for a MOOC on TCI, the connectivist design seems to be the best option; networking, connecting, and interaction lie at the heart of TCI. With respect to one of the intended functions of the TCI MOOC – to serve as a knowledge base for lecturers – Panchenko, a professor from the Ukraine, worked out a plea for the use of MOOCs as an alternative way of advanced training for higher-education established professors. He saw several advantages for professors to take – at least a part of – their permanent training in the form of MOOCs, especially introduction to the ideas and teaching styles of peer-professors and interaction-­ experiences in forums (Panchenko 2013, 10). One of the most interesting qualities of MOOCs, with respect to the usability in transmission of TCI, is the capability of conveying attitude. Sunny Lee Watson, a researcher on learning design and technology, explored the possibility of inducing attitudinal change by means of a MOOC. Watson et al. concluded from a thorough investigation that MOOCs were particularly well-suited for promoting attitudinal change on a massive scale, which could play a critical role in attitude and social change at a global level (Watson et al. 2016, 25). The research and theory building on MOOCs is extensive. That the development of online courses started in a connectivist tradition offers room for thinking and development of a cMOOC on TCI. The instructional design is essential, as well as the possibilities for interaction and community building to enhance living learning.

10  Living Learning by Means of a MOOC? Ruth C.  Cohn’s observation that the therapist’s couch is too small to generate enough impact for social transformation led to her idea of a humanist societal therapy with TCI. In her time and with her background as a therapist, it made sense to enlarge the couch to a group, to reach more people, and, therefore, to generate more effect. She even enlarged further, to a circle and then a community. Nevertheless, it would be impossible to reach the minimum population needed to achieve the desired

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effects in society using this group by group concept. The small steps approach may have caused the failure of these social ambitions and resulted in scepticism regarding this theme in amongst TCI theorists. However, society is again (and still) in need of the therapy Ruth C. Cohn had in mind. And now, by my account, new opportunities to realise the societal potentiality of TCI are feasible. The possibilities of modern social media, which most people have access to, were unimaginable in Ruth C. Cohn’s time but may be usable today. One of the aims of this research is to disseminate the basics of TCI to a wider audience. Therefore, an exploration of the ‘real core and basics’ of TCI has to be part of the project. In addition to that, an orientation on the possible use of current (social) media in TCI must be studied. The proposition to introduce social media for disseminating TCI might lead to clashes of opinion with the current ideas on TCI and the way it is being transferred and used. However, a clash of opinion will also shed light upon the question. Six aspects which may chafe the ‘traditions’ of TCI are presented here as major points of discussion. In the sequel of this section, these issues are explored in separate paragraphs. 3. The decision on what the ‘core’ of TCI is, and how it can and may be shared with a wider audience, will demand prudent processes and procedures. 4. The educational system of TCI is designed to move practitioners from participant to expert in leading group processes in TCI style. The final level is to become an educator in TCI, training next cohort TCI professionals in their learning route. 5. TCI is considered a group-interaction facilitation method; all courses and trainings are focused on enhancing living-learning group processes, either as participant or as the (participating) leader. 6. The role of the leader seems to be an indissoluble element in TCI. The leader has a specific role, as participating and yet regulating force and managing the group process. 7. In the current TCI community, attitude is by far the most important precondition for working with or participation in TCI groups. This is a key element. 8. The use of media, especially new media, in transference of TCI is a new issue. This issue requires careful introduction at least.

10.1  Positioning and Justification The proposed project aims at ‘inventing’ a method to realise – at least in part – the societal ambition and chances of TCI. There is no pretence in educating people in TCI. It is assumed that, when people understand, communication will become less violent and more inclusive. This understanding is based on a conviction that listening to others, and reflecting on your own viewpoint in comparison to theirs, will aid the realisation of discussions’ positive outcomes. The knowledge and skills that this

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way of communicating requires are not to be acquired via an animation. However, skills cannot be acquired without guidance and training, while examples of living interaction rules can contribute to a better exchange of ideas. The training feature (cMOOC) is also intended to (re)develop trust in one’s personal impact and thus stimulate openness in encounters. Therefore, the suggested project is an operationalisation of the idea that micro-level interaction skills lead to meso- and macro-level improvements in society (Cooper et al. 2013, 85). I would like to suggest using the terminology ‘TCI-inspired behaviour’ to describe the relation of MOOC-presented TCI aspects towards ‘real’-life TCI in actual groups.

10.2  The ‘Core’ of TCI The most noteworthy feature of TCI is the ‘simple’ way to clarify the four factors that are always present in the here and now: I, We, It, and Globe. The TCI model with the ‘triangle in the sphere’ instantly illustrates that not one aspect operates alone. The equal importance of the four factors is the main working hypothesis of TCI (Abraham and Kuebel 2002, 45). The triangle expresses the equal value that TCI attributes to I-Thou (interpersonal) and I-It (subject) relations (cf. Buber 1958; cf. Cooper 2003; cf. Zitterbarth 2009). The more theoretically inclined members of the TCI community often warn against the ‘apparent simplicity’; TCI is, at the same time, an ingeniously simple and very difficult method. The leader and the participants of a given group must master the art and craft to be involved while keeping enough distance to manage the group process with respect to the theme. Therefore, Löhmer and Standhardt (1992, 5) called TCI “a higher form of art”. A theoretical topic of importance in the understanding of TCI is the specific function of the theme. This is an intensively examined issue amongst TCI theorists. The theme is considered the ignition of a truly engaging interaction process. The theme is not similar to It, as Herman Kügler explained in an article from 1997. The editors of the second handbook Elemente der Themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI)11 reviewed his ideas as admissibly important to include the article (von Kanitz et al. 2015, 46–52). The globe stands for all facets that influence the situation, from the background of the participants to the political situation in the world, and even beyond that – a cosmic and religious consciousness (Kroeger 2013, 62–78). Ruth C. Cohn stressed the importance of the notion that every individual can influence only a “million trillionth part” of the world owns (Cohn 1994, 59). It is precisely this recognition which may activate engagement and awareness of the partial power that everyone possesses. The underlying humanistic values which constitute the groundwork of TCI undeniably form the core of TCI. The axioms and postulates express these values in a 11

 Translated title of the second handbook: The elements of Theme-Centered Interaction.

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constructive and inviting manner. Spreading and providing a notion of how to bring these values into practice is a project aim. This method is the special way of living learning, as it was originally meant to be. The essential elements are an awareness to lead yourself (and others) in a manner that advances growth and healing but not obstructions and disorder. This idea comes to live in three objectives of TCI: the promotion of cooperation instead of rivalry, realism instead of illusions, and responsibility instead of adaptive behaviour (Löhmer and Standhardt 1992, 9). Responsibility is the ‘real’ heart of TCI, as Ruth C. Cohn stated: “Be accountable for your actions, personally and socially” (Cohn 1994, 2, 85–87).

10.3  Disseminating TCI Partially The idea of using the theory and terminology of TCI in a concise and ‘popular’ manner can be expected to give rise to discussion or interpreted as ‘cherry picking’. The – still – actual societal questions on the furthering of citizenship legitimise a serious investigation into the effectiveness of transferring a limited part of TCI. This research on MOOCs in TCI education may be beneficial not only for the user but also for TCI, by making it known to the larger public. Nevertheless, the project is an attempt to realise – at least a part of – the societal ambition of Ruth C. Cohn in the present time, using present-day means of communication. Therefore, it is valuable to stay connected to wisdom while, at the same time, commencing new activities. A true example of the third (pragmatic-political) axiom: Free will occurs conditional to internal and outer boundaries; expansion of these boundaries is possible (Cohn 1983, 120).

10.4  TCI-Inspired Conduct Outside of a Group Process In this MOOC research project, the learning does not take place in the context of a – physical – learning group, the usual context for working with TCI. The function of the group process, the different stages, and interventions are well thought out and documented by many authors. The stages in group development that Rubner and Rubner (1991, 2; 34–48) described are still helpful and often used by TCI (and other) professionals or sympathisers. Furthermore, there are thorough analyses on crisis in groups (Raguse 1987, 1; 25–36). Kroeger (2010, 1; 9–21) related the developments in groups to the ‘disturbances postulate’, whereas Rubner (1993, 2009) outlined the interplay of the individual, the transference towards the leader, and the group process. The section on the understanding of group processes in the second TCI handbook (von Kanitz et al. 2015) ended, suitably, with an article on the closing of groups (Stollberg and Härle 2015, 1; 72–83). In the 2009 TCI handbook, Gernot Klemmer discussed the psychoanalytically inspired model of Rubner and Rubner (revised in 2006) as well as a cooperation model by Helga Belz.

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He evaluated both concepts as a more classical (Rubner & Rubner) versus a pedagogical approach (Belz), resulting in a more inviting group atmosphere (if. Schneider-­Landolf et al. 2009). All authors strongly connect the group development to the position of the group leader, who is responsible for the process and guardian of the method. The incorporation of these articles, mostly originating from before the turn of the century, and published in a handbook in 2015, indicate two after-effects: Firstly, the issues on group processes are still very important and deserve acknowledgement in actuality. Secondly, there were apparently no other influential authors on this theme in recent years. However essential the group process is in the ‘traditional’ form of TCI, it must be tested whether TCI-inspired conduct can be learned via MOOC consultations, therefore being put into practice apart from the context of a learning group.

10.5  Leaderless TCI? One of the questions in the experimental transference of elementary aspects of TCI is: How necessary is the role of the leader? Are living-learning interactions possible without a (formal) leader? In the context of my research, these questions must be asked and explored, irrespective of the importance of leading and leadership in TCI. The position of the leader is very special in TCI. Cohn saw the leader firstly as participant and, secondly, as the leader who has the specific task to safeguard the dynamic balance with as less intervention as possible (Farau & Cohn 1984, 368). The leader has, thus, a multiform role, perceived as a combination of attitude and skill (Abraham and Kuebel 2002, 39–53). The terminology, participant leader, is believed to have been coined in the context of TCI; it is anyhow typical for the TCI concept of leadership, as it stems from the concept of mutuality, at first between therapist and client, and, in the context of learning environments (living learning), also applied in (TCI) groups. This idea can be traced back to the works of Buber and Rogers on ‘dialogic moments’, which were, in their view, conditional for real humane encounter and real learning. In their description (based on a transcription) of the 1957 ‘landmark meeting’ of Martin Buber and Carl Rogers, Cissna and Anderson distinguished indispensable principles for effective relations in role-­unequal attempts at dialogue. In a therapeutic setting, Buber, as well as Rogers, required that the therapist is the more active participant, providing permission to the other ‘to be’, and that temporary mutuality can develop in uneven relationships while dialogic moments make the therapy essentially complete (Cissna and Anderson 1998, 70–71). Participant leadership fits seamlessly with these principles. In the past decades, several authors in the domain of TCI addressed the concept of participant leadership. The perception of leadership evolved to TCI-driven ­leadership in other circumstances, practised by managers, inspiring their team members to develop contributory responsibility (van de Braak 2011, 61–63). On the grounds of TCI, Callens (cf. 2005) has developed his concept of ‘generative leadership’.

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The conception of leadership in my project on a TCI MOOC aims at enhancing self-leadership (chairpersonship and more) in all circumstances. Ruth C. Cohn’s first ideas and actions within the political and societal environment were always initiated by the ‘leader’. He or she went to a specific context, whether it be a factory, a neighbourhood, or a university, and started to work with TCI around the ‘societal’ themes (Cohn 1969, 257). The goal was to arrange interactions in which all persons were concerned and could participate on an equal basis, where partakers would listen to others, give voice to their own considerations, and were helped  – by the leader  – to stay on theme, practise the auxiliary rules, and reach progress with respect to the theme. I attempt to prove that value-based, TCI-inspired self-leadership is a crucial factor in commencing citizenship. Online in a MOOC, the ‘crowd’ of the community functions as ‘WE’; every ‘I’ can, will, and should take up their own leadership/ chairpersonship. The research question applicable to a MOOC is: How can the basic insights and skills of TCI be transferred?

10.6  Transference of ‘Attitude’ The aim of the ‘MOOC-for-TCI project’ is to teach people to engage in productive interactions. Productive interactions can be understood as interactions with a primary focus on cooperation, listening, helping the other(s), and making progress together. In the TCI community, it is common to view TCI not only as a method that can be ‘learned’ but – perhaps even more – as an attitude. The concept of attitude draws back on Carl Jung (cf. 1921), who coined the terminology and is still of importance today (cf. Perloff 2016). The key idea for this context is: It is an individual’s predisposed state of mind regarding a value and it is precipitated through a responsive expression toward a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object) which in turn influences the individual’s thought and action. (Allport 1937)

Of interest might be that both Jung and Allport had intense relationships with the father of psychoanalysis, Dr. med. Sigmund Freud. In TCI, the main underlying principles are the values (‘Werte’ in German), as laid out in the axioms and postulates. In English translations, the way a person lives these values is often described as attitude, a very common concept in social psychology. Attitude is translated into German as ‘Haltung’. In 2014, a special issue of the TCI Journal (2014/2) was dedicated to ‘Haltung’. For Ruth C. Cohn, TCI was always method and attitude (Menzel 2014, 5). Attitude and method in TCI should be understood as two elements of action or attempted action (von Kanitz and Lotz 2014, 7). Attitude is the expression of a humanistic mindset towards mankind and the environment. It is the ‘living’ accomplishment of the postulates, with a specific emphasis on the chairperson postulate: “Take respon-

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sibility for your acting, personally and socially” (Reinhaus 2014, 9). In the same issue, Jens Röhling (2014, 16) pointed out that attitude should be understood as a composition of authenticity, respect, resource orientation, wholeness, and responsibility. Also, in the same issue, Gerhard Härle (2014, 32ff) opposed the idea that authenticity, understood as a holistic true experience of personal identity, does not just exist on its own but that it can be acquired.

10.7  Communicating TCI Via New Media It is apparent that TCI is commonly learned in a training group, physically together. Practising and communicating in a group are substantial parts of the training. Ruth C. Cohn had her own thoughts on the dissemination of TCI to a larger audience. As mentioned before, already in 1969 she published a chapter in a book, Group Therapy Today, titled ‘From Couch to Circle to Community: Beginnings of the Theme-­Centered Interactional Method’ (Ruitenbeek 1969). Some 25 years later, in 1993, she wrote – together with Irene Klein – a book on educating larger groups (200–400 participants) with TCI (Cohn and Klein 1993). Ruth C. Cohn, and all TCI practitioners, theorists, and educators, held on to the group-wise approach. This is quite natural, given the fact that the group is the core of working with TCI. Yet, I want to explore new roads, making use of present-day options. I would propose to enlarge Ruth C. Cohn’s heading to: ‘From couch, to circle, to community – to crowd and cloud’. As stated previously, it is not my intention to let a MOOC or an animation take the place of TCI education and real group encounter. My goal is to find ways to spread the essence of TCI and basic skills and attitude to a broader section of the population, in an attempt to actualise Ruth C.  Cohn’s ideas of TCI as societal therapy, contributing to a more inclusive, sustainable, and harmonious society. In the context of my MOOC project, the group setting ‘at the computer’ is not a realistic option. In accordance with the aim of reaching a crowd, instead a visual medium to address a crowd, for example, an animation, could be used and, after testing, publicised via social media. Such a concept can be interpreted as a deviation from the trend in TCI training and education. MOOC participants could apply their understanding of TCI in their real-life group situations without the long practice and reflection in formal TCI courses. This is a novelty, inseparably linked to the uncertainty that characterises innovation. Nevertheless, the TCI community faces the challenge to orientate itself on the potentiality of the digital era. In 2015, a special issue of the TCI Journal highlighted the role of (social) media (2/2015). Reading the contribution of Theo Hug, who posed many ethical, theoretical, and even media anthropological questions, one can almost physically sense his ‘cold feet’ concerning new media (Hug 2015, 9–18). He formed no exception to most of the other authors, apart from Ursula Mosebach (2015, 40–49) and Christine

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Brun (2015, 50–61), who both perceive great opportunities to enhance living learning by mixing/transferring TCI into e-learning programmes. It is remarkable that the actual use of social or digital media in the transference or education in TCI is not addressed as a theme more broadly. Obviously, this is not yet a main concern in the TCI community, at least it was not in 2015. However, long before 2015, Professor of Mathematics and TCI-initiate Eva Hornecker had already published about designing spaces for interaction and experience, exploring how systems can embody facilitation methods (Hornecker 2004, 240). More ideas on the use of an interface in dialogues and mediated communication were sampled by Gill and brought together in the book Tacit Engagement (cf. Gill 2015). It can be concluded that communicating TCI via new media is a work in progress.

11  A MOOC on TCI The explicit aim I gain for is to develop a TCI MOOC able to reach a larger audience by the following: 1 . Making the theory of TCI transferable. 2. Educating people in basic TCI interaction skills. A second function of a MOOC could be the transferring of TCI knowledge to (academic) faculties all over the world. This transference may help to spread knowledge and ideas on integrating TCI in academia. And: 3. In the third place, such a MOOC could function as a TCI showcase and source of inspiration for all who want to integrate TCI in their personal and professional lives. An important part of the MOOC will be an animated feature that explains the groundwork and gist of TCI in a non-verbal way. In the creation of this feature, international TCI professionals will have to play an important role. The effect of this animation on the interaction skills and attitude of a test group will to be measured by means of an experiment. Moreover, the showcase will provide a stage for online – MOOC-ified – lectures of TCI professors and professionals. In this design, the expertise of several (emeriti) professors, being TCI professionals as well, would be made accessible for future generations of scholars, lecturers, and students. Since interaction is the main part of TCI itself, an online community, learning groups, and other varieties of current online communication features ought to be indispensable components of the proposed MOOC. Perhaps some readers as lecturers in higher education have further ideas they would like to share with me considering my TCI-MOOC development?

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Theme-Centered University Didactics: An Answer to Bologna Summary of a Dissertation with the Same Title Sandra Bischoff

Abstract  In this article I present results of my dissertation, i.e. a comprehensive university didactic theory based on Theme-Centered Interaction by Ruth C. Cohn. This theory deals with the convictions and attitudes of university teachers as well as didactic design principles and emphasizes the interlocking of the various dimensions of university teaching. Important results of this study are (1) the outstanding importance of personality development also at the university teacher level and (2) that a comprehensive understanding of competences can serve as a connection between Humboldt’s traditional teaching ideal ‘education through science’ and the Bologna reform. Accordingly, Theme-Centered University Didactics can also lead to ‘living learning’ at universities, even in times of the Bologna reform. Keywords  Theme-Centered Interaction · Higher Education · Didactic theory · Bologna reform · Personality development · Competences · Living learning · Theme-Centered University Didactics

1  Introduction of the Research The Bologna reform at universities has led to a profound change in both the Higher Education landscape and teaching. The original aim of standardizing study programmes throughout Europe, in order to enable students to be more mobile and to be employed within the European community, has, among other things, led to a shift in learning within Germany and has thus also pushed the goal of personal development during studies into the background. Those who study today have much fewer options than 30 years ago due to the specifications of the module manuals for the individual courses of study. Moreover, the university teachers have fewer possibilities to freely define their teaching content. At the same time, the pressure to perform This article was first published: Bischoff, S. (2018). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik – Eine Antwort auf Bologna. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 1, 7–18. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. It is a brief synopsis of her dissertation finished in 2016. S. Bischoff (*) Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Kiel, Germany © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5_11

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has risen sharply as a result of credit points/certificates to be earned and the continuous examinations during the course of study. Such studying leaves less room for independence (the timetable is more or less fixed), pursuing one’s own interests (because contents are more fixed) as well as thinking (because under performance pressure contents are only ‘crammed’). The Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s Teaching Quality Pact, which was launched in 2011, will bring Higher Education teaching back into focus, but in a more methodological and pragmatic way, with less emphasis on the promotion of personal skills. In this context, I interviewed a total of 13 individuals, mostly TCI graduates, with the help of a guideline; overall there were nine professors and four university teachers. Since I have worked with Grounded Theory (cf. Glaser and Strauss 2008, Strauss and Corbin 1996) as a research style and method, my initial research question was developed further in the course of my work, so that a theory based on Higher Education didactics, the Theme-Centered University Didactics, emerged. The historical development of university didactics is traced to Humboldt’s ideal of education through science to this day, and Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) is located within the development. It is remarkable that at the beginning of the nineteenth century Wilhelm von Humboldt was convinced that students develop their personalities through their engagement with science, thus educating themselves. In his opinion, education can only be achieved through an intensive individual examination of (scientific) content. For my theory, I include humanistic, systemic-constructivist, as well as university didactic concepts and models. In doing so, I fall back on a comprehensive concept of competence, which aims not only at professional but also at personal, social and societal competences. In this sense, the orientation towards competences makes it possible to link Humboldt’s educational ideal with current Higher Education policy and thus the Bologna reform.

2  First Important Results Three of the professors surveyed emphasized the proximity of TCI to Humboldt’s concept of education. Matthias Kroeger: “Ruth’s [Cohn] concern terms are not exactly Humboldt, but compatible, completely compatible” (2012 p.  2). What Humboldt and Cohn have in common is the reference to dialectical opposites (e.g. autonomy and interdependence or loneliness and community) and work on an eye-­to-­eye level (between tutor and participants or between professors and students). Both refer to an educational concept that includes self-activity. Today this is called self-education. An important difference between Humboldt and Cohn is the concrete GLOBE of university and (mostly) adult education. In terms of Humboldt, science requires an explicit researching and a sceptical attitude. In my opinion, Theme-Centered University Didactics should take up and emphasize these aspects. A second important theoretical result of my dissertation is an extended competence model. Birgit Menzel has correlated the TCI model by Lotz and competences

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for the training of teachers at school (2011 pp. 45–50). In her model, Menzel assigns the competences (personal, social and professional competences) to the three factors (I, WE, IT). Basically the idea is very good, but this model is also problematic. Menzel herself critically notes that she works with two different concepts of education: a narrow concept of education (see Fig. 1) and a rather broad concept of education (by Roth). I would like to add that competences can only be trained related to the I, not the IT, WE or GLOBE.  Competences are always related to the I.  This means that within the model the competences should be visually much closer to the I. In turn, the relationship between the TCI structural model and the competences would then no longer be as clear as shown. This is where graphic representation reaches its limits. Menzel did not consider one aspect, probably also because Roth neglected this aspect with regard to professional education and training, and that is, in Lotz’s words, responsibility or – as I propose – societal competence (cf. Ufert 2015). The German language distinguishes between social and “gesellschaftliche” (societal) competence. Social competence refers to other people, whereas societal competence relates to society as a whole. Thus it includes aspects like ‘social responsibility’, ‘civic participation’, ‘reflection seeking truth’ and ‘social commitment’ (ibid. Ufert, pp. 186–190). TCI takes into account societal competence through considering the GLOBE (Cohn) and further responsibility (cf. Lotz 2003). This should definitely be taken into account in the TCI competence model. Due to the social responsibility students have with regard to social developments and thus our future, societal competence must necessarily be supplemented into the TCI competence model. As a result, when planning their lectures, university teachers may not only have their students’ professional but also the development of their social, personal and societal competences in mind.

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Fig. 1  The extended TCI competence model based on Lotz (2003) and Menzel (2011), modified by Bischoff

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3  Theme-Centered University Didactics as Rhizome Let us return to the empirical results of my research. I created codes from the interviews and classified them in form of superordinate categories. This means that codes are formed from the statements of the interviewees, such as ‘support in case of difficulties’. In the course of my work, I have assigned this code to the category ‘didactic design’. This category contains further codes, such as ‘participatory leading’, ‘process-oriented teaching’, etc. The categories and codes are continuously correlated and condensed into a core category, in this case Theme-Centered teaching competence. This means that as a result of the interviews and my dissertation there is a differentiated concept of what Theme-Centered teaching competence is. Teaching competence is conceived from the subject, and when it is generalized and systematized, Theme-Centered University Didactics emerges. It is a theory and concept that university teachers can use as a guide to develop their individual teaching skills. Following the university didactic teacher Heiner (2012), the concept of Theme-­ Centered University Didactics I have generated is based on the metaphor of the rhizome. Originally Deleuze and Guattari (1977) worked with this representation in the context of knowledge organization. A rhizome is a network of “anarchic deformations, aerial roots and underground stem(s)” (ibid. p.  33), a map with many entrances and exits and different plateaus (ibid. p. 35). Accordingly, the rhizome can be understood as a metaphor that depicts a complex, even unmanageable process, that turns against dualisms and hierarchies and emphasizes the processual, the dynamic. ‘Rhizomatically’, university didactics is based on three root strands: convictions, attitudes and didactic design principles (Fig. 2). In the context of beliefs, fundamental epistemological beliefs are distinguishable from the understanding of education in the narrower sense. Epistemological beliefs are “beliefs about how knowledge is defined, how knowledge is constructed and evaluated, where knowledge is localized and how knowledge takes place” (Hofer 2001, quoted in Wegner and Nückles 2012 p. 71). Wholeness, gradualness, personal growth and connecting dialectical opposites were crystallized from the interviews (cf. Reiser and Lotz 1995) as fundamental convictions for the Theme-Centered Understanding of Teaching. These convictions are closely linked to the axioms of TCI.  Further, the understanding of education refers to ‘living learning’ (Cohn 1975/2009, p. 167). ‘Living learning’ considers the human being with one’s intellect, one’s (also physical) feelings and needs, etc. holistically. It ties in with the interests of the students, stimulates their research spirit and also takes place in social contexts. The university teachers I interviewed agree on these points. They are less unanimous in their deepened understanding of education. Here we can distinguish more humanistically from more systemic-constructivist professors (Bischoff 2016, pp. 69–74 and pp. 167–182). Despite these main perspectives, Cohn’s understanding of education already has systemic-constructivist references, alongside ­humanistic values such as personal growth and cooperation. Aspects such as the subjectivity of one’s own perspective, responsibility for one’s own learning process

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Fig. 2  Theme-Centered University Didactics as rhizome, by Camilla and Sandra Bischoff

and the connection to the interests of learners also correspond with a systemic-­ constructivist understanding of education. Both positions, the humanist and the systemic constructivist, may not be identical, but they are compatible in many ways (see also Reiser 2006). The second ‘rhizomatical root strand’ deals with the attitude of theme-centred university teachers. The convictions just described are reflected in the attitude of professors. Personal growth is possible only in an appreciative, trusting atmosphere (Bischoff 2016, pp. 98–107). This requires teachers to be mindful of themselves and their students with a holistic view on feelings, physical reactions and thoughts. Personal growth needs a counterpart, a ‘you’ (cf. Honneth 2010), meaning that appreciation by teachers and fellow students supports personal development. Accordingly, cooperation within a group, for example, in a seminar, is important. Personal growth does not arise ad hoc, but it is a gradual process that can also stagnate in the meantime. From the point of view of TCI, this attitude includes selective authenticity, i.e. a congruent attitude against the background of which teachers decide for or against a certain utterance or action. Authenticity in turn presupposes mindfulness for oneself, while selectivity emphasizes the other. For example, university teachers selectively and authentically consider which behaviour or actions are appropriate for the specific didactic context or what exactly is beneficial for their students. That is, if necessary they keep something to themselves and do not confront the students, etc. ‘Selective authenticity’ can in itself be understood as a dialectical pair of opposites. Behaviour should be congruent and yet not everything is shown. Here it becomes

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clear how convictions (e.g. dialectical pairs of opposites) and attitudes (e.g. selective authenticity) intertwine. Just as beliefs and attitudes are interwoven, this also applies to the didactic design. The didactic design reflects the attitude and convictions of (university) teachers. ‘Living learning’ in the sense of TCI arises, among other things, from the personal relationship to the content, both on the side of the professors and on the side of the students, and from the balancing of I, WE, IT and GLOBE. Although the personal relationship to the content has much to do with the dynamic balance, it is explicitly emphasized in the theory of Higher Education didactics because of its importance for the concrete didactic design. In addition to the I-WE-IT-GLOBE aspects, autonomy and interdependence, or closeness and distance, can also be balanced. The aspects ‘including experience and practice’ and ‘including passionate involvements and disturbances constructively’ are particularly interesting from a university didactic point of view. The latter resumes the disturbance postulate and could possibly be renamed ‘including involvements constructively’. M.E., a sustainable judgement formation and thus societal competence with regard to the GLOBE, can only develop on the basis of feelings and a weighing of different arguments. This means that a balance of emotions and rationality, a supposedly contradictory pair, leads to the ability to judge. The aspect ‘including experiences and practice’ refers to past (childhood) experiences, job-related practical experiences as well as group and team experiences during the course of study. The latter can refer to different formats that are more educational, training- or research-oriented in character. This third ‘rhizomatical root strand’, ‘didactic design’, is also presented below as a plateau (see Fig. 3). A plateau is a systematic, structured but simplified representation of reality. The plateau corresponds to a model, while the rhizome rather represents the complexity and interlocking of reality and can make a structure more complex (again). Teachers need both structure and rhizome to design professional teaching processes. Overstructured teaching processes leave little scope for the pro-

Fig. 3  Plateau: didactic design, by Sandra Bischoff

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cess, while a lack of structure can lead to chaos and may confuse students (Stollberg 1982, p. 40, about the interconnectedness of structure–process–trust). From my remarks it becomes clear to what extent convictions, attitudes and didactic design are intertwined. Training in Higher Education and Higher Education itself are currently concerned with concepts such as research-based teaching (cf. Schurig 2007) or problem-based teaching (cf. Rummler 2012, Tribelhorn 2007). These concepts are primarily methodologically oriented. Only in recent years have existing Higher Education competencye models been developed and further systematized. For the first time, these competence models include aspects such as Higher Education as a contradictory undertaking (cf. Wegner and Nückles 2013) or a ‘teaching-learning philosophy’ (cf. Trautwein and Merkt 2013). This suggests a theoretical foundation of university didactics, which I would like to deepen and advance with my dissertation. According to my findings, especially with regard to university teacher training, an in-depth examination of aspects of attitude and conviction is necessary.

3.1  T  he Importance of (Teaching) Personality Development for University Didactics So far I have worked out the technical side of university didactics. However, the didactics of Higher Education in itself says little about actual teaching competence. Rather, university didactics and teaching competence are two different approaches to the same field, whereby teaching competence can also be developed without further training in Higher Education didactics (Heiner 2012, p. 167). In addition to the orientation towards teaching models from schools and universities, (university) teachers develop an individual teaching style based on their personality and convictions. This style of teaching in turn affects one’s own convictions and attitudes (Bischoff 2016, p.  254). And yet the examination of Higher Education didactics helps to change and further develop individual didactics and teaching competence. Theme-Centered University Didactics suggests certain convictions to professors, e.g. wholeness, gradualness, dealing with dialectical pairs of opposites, personal growth, and yet there are quite different convictions in the TCI community with regard to one’s own understanding of education beyond ‘living learning’, based foremost on the humanistic and/or systemic-constructivist understanding of education. This means that there is not one TCI, but there are various, individual interpretations of TCI, which (must) be adapted to the context according to the respective (specialist) culture. This also applies to the dimension of didactic design. Certain design principles support the development of a theme-centered and individual teaching style. This is achieved in particular by dealing with participatory leading and dealing with passionate feelings and disturbances within university lectures. However, this does not

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mean that all theme-centered professors teach in the same way, but rather that they embark on a systematic search for their own teaching style. For this reason it seems advisable to deal with university didactic theory as well as with one’s own learning and teaching, so that the students and ultimately also their later target groups benefit from this. Accompanying advanced training in Theme-Centered University Didactics can support the didactic design of lectures. It is more difficult to change one’s attitude. This requires an in-depth examination of one’s own transmission and countertransference processes, among other things, which inevitably come to bear in teaching processes. Mindfulness, both internally and externally, presence, selective authenticity and appreciation can serve as signposts for such a debate. At many universities in Germany, the enrolment in modules for university didactics is now obligatory for newly appointed lecturers. Whether university teachers want and have to deal with their own teaching personality in the depth described above can be answered differently. With regard to education, university lecturers should not only deal with the didactic design of teaching and learning processes but also with their teaching personality (cf. Schwer and Solzbacher 2014). In addition, university lecturers should make this decision themselves and receive appropriate remuneration from the universities. In an interview, Sielert suggests the establishment of teaching professorships in addition to research professorships (Sielert 2012, p. 154).1 I am expressly opposed to the establishment of different professorships, because this could exacerbate the already existing imbalance in favour of research. Rather, I believe it would make sense, e.g. in connection with offering a chair, to recognize individual publications as alternatives through further training in teaching and thus fundamentally enhance the value of teaching. A similar procedure could be followed for university rankings.

4  T  heme-Centered University Didactics as Response to Bologna As described above, the Bologna reform has led to substantial changes at universities in Europe. With a view to this reform, some questions arise, especially at the levels of conviction and didactic design. One question is what kind of understanding of education professors (and other lecturers) have: Is it just about imparting knowledge or also about action orientation? What role does research play in which phase of the study programme? What about personality development and the training of social or societal skills? Furthermore, the question is how exactly these beliefs affect or reflect the didactic design of teaching.

1  With newly created tenure-track options as (senior) researcher or (senior) lecturer, the University of Bremen is the first in Germany to experiment with such distinctions in positions installed for academic employees (cf. Bremisches Hochschulgesetz 2017, § 24).

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The valuable objectives of the Bologna reform, such as a uniform three-stage course of study throughout Europe and the mutual recognition of qualifications, have so far only been partially achieved. This is shown, among other things, by the fact that even within Germany the mutual recognition of academic achievements is still proving problematic. Side effects of this reform, such as economization, schooling and continuous grade pressure throughout the entire course of study, can be remedied in different ways. The pressure of grades and performance can be countered by reintroducing ungraded ECTS or credit points to be earned. This has already been partially implemented in the revision of some module manuals. More complex and also more interesting is the question of how to counteract schooling.2 It cannot and should not be a question of reversing the Bologna reform but of linking the positive aspects of Humboldt’s idea of education through science with the reformist intentions. Theme-Centered University Didactics can do both. By stimulating learning processes, it can counteract school-like teaching and economization and reintegrate personality development and the ability to judge as adequate goals of a course of study. This bridging between Humboldt’s ideal of education and the Bologna reform can succeed, among other things, through an orientation towards competences. On the one hand, competence orientation suggests knowledge transfer and the application of knowledge, i.e. action orientation. On the other hand, comprehensively understood competences refer not only to content but also to personal development; to cooperation in groups, in teams and with superiors; and finally to the ability to judge reasonably. Here, the TCI structural model, especially with regard to the aspects of I, WE and GLOBE (IT), can serve as a structuring aid and thus help to take all areas of competence into account in the teaching process. However, competences should not only refer to professional practice but should build on the broad wealth of experience of the students and thus include personality learning and social experiences. On this basis, the corresponding competences can be further developed, e.g. with the help of personal reference to the content, the reflection of group and team experiences during the studies as well as the reflection of research practices. In other words, competences are ideally oriented not only to the areas of competence or the TCI structural model but also to the three fundamental goals of the TCI university degree programme, namely, education, training and research (cf. RCI international). The TCI model is not only suitable for the preparation and design of university lectures but also for reflecting on one’s own research practice. Pörksen (cf. 2015) bemoans the de-intellectualization of science through alleged quality criteria for researchers in the form of third-party funding acquisition and peer-reviewed publications in special journals. The consequence of this practice of offering a professorship is the withdrawal of many social scientists and humanities scholars from social discourses in academia. Above all, this field is rather occupied by ‘writers, journalists and artists’. Against this background, the reflection of one’s own research 2  In Germany, on the tertiary level of education, a difference to frontal school teaching style is aspired.

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p­ ractice seems to me to be of particular importance. Observing the GLOBE or one’s own judgement can become the starting point for critical social commitment and thus the (re-)assumption of social responsibility appropriate to the sciences, not only in the social sciences and the humanities but also in the natural sciences. For Higher Education didactics, this means not getting stuck at the methodological level or the level of models, but that a sound didactic theory is required, e.g. Theme-Centered University Didactics. Only then will Higher Education teaching and learning processes meet both the Bologna reform and Humboldt’s educational ideal of “education through science” and thus the social requirements of higher education.

References Bischoff, S. (2016). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik  – Eine Antwort auf Bologna. Kiel. http://macau.uni-kiel.de/receive/dissertation_diss_00020194. Accessed 6 June 2018. Bischoff, S. (2018). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik  – Eine Antwort auf Bologna In: Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 1. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 7–18. Bremisches Hochschulgesetz (2017). https://www.transparenz.bremen.de/sixcms/detail. php?gsid=bremen2014_tp.c.116887.de&asl=bremen02.c.732.de&template=20_gp_ifg_meta_ detail_d. Accessed 24 Jun 2018. Cohn, R.C. (1975/2009). Von der Psychoanalyse zur themenzentrierten Interaktion (16th edition). Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Deleuze, G., Guattari, F. (1977). Rhizom. Berlin: Merve. Glaser, B.G, Strauss, A.L. (2008). Grounded Theory. Strategien qualitativer Forschung. Revised editon. Bern: H. Huber. Heiner, M. (2012). Referenzpunkte für die Modellierung der Kompetenzentwicklung in der Lehre – Impulse für die hochschuldidaktische Weiterbildung. In R. Egger, M. Merkt (Eds.), Lernwelt Universität. Entwicklung von Lehrkompetenz in der Hochschullehre. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 167–192. Honneth, A. (2010). Das Ich im Wir. Studien zur Anerkennungstheorie. Berlin: Suhrkamp. Menzel, B. (2011). Der Beitrag der TZI zur Debatte um die Kompetenzorientierung – Ein Versuch. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion, 2, 40–50. Lotz, W. (2003). Sozialpädagogisches Handeln. Eine Grundlegung sozialer Beziehungsarbeit mit Themenzentrierter Interaktion. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag. Pörksen, B. (2015). Wo seid ihr, Professoren? Das Wissenschaftssystem drängt seine besten Denker ins Abseits. Ihre Stimmen fehlen in den gesellschaftlichen Debatten. Das ist fatal. http://www. zeit.de/2015/31/wissenschaft-professoren-engagement-oekonomie. Accessed 16 Sep 2016. Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international: https://www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/training-in-tzi. html. Accessed 6 June 2018. Reiser, H., Lotz, W. (1995). Themenzentrierte Interaktion als Pädagogik. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald-Verlag. Rummler, M. (Ed.) (2012). Innovative Lehrformen: Projektarbeit in der Hochschule. Projektbasiertes und problemorientiertes Lehren und Lernen. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz. Schwer, C., Solzbacher, C. (Ed.) (2014). Professionelle pädagogische Haltung. Historische, theoretische und empirische Zugänge zu einem viel strapazierten Begriff. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Sielert, U. (2012). Interview zum Thema Hochschuldidaktik, 03 Sep 2012 in Kiel. Unpublished transkript.

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Stollberg, D. (1982). Lernen, weil es Freude macht. Eine Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. München: Kösel. Strauss, A., Corbin, J.  (1996). Grounded theory: Grundlagen Qualitativer Sozialforschung. Weinheim: Psychologie Verlags Union. Schurig, V. (2007). Wissenschaftsdidaktik: forschendes Lernen in Aktion. In M.  Merkt, K.  Mayberger (Eds.), Die Qualität akademischer Lehre. Zur Interdependenz von Hochschuldidaktik und Hochschulentwicklung. Festschrift für Rolf Schulmeister. Innsbruck: Studien-Verlag, 89–113. Trautwein, C., Merkt, M. (2013). Struktur und Entwicklung von Lehrkompetenz im Spannungsfeld von Überzeugungen, Konzepten und Praxis von Lehren und Lernen. ProfiLe-Teilprojekt Hamburg. In J. Wildt & M. Heiner (Eds.), Professionalisierung der Lehre. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 179–210. Tribelhorn, T. (2007). Situiertes Lernen in der Weiterbildung. Konzeption praxis- und problemorientierter Kurse für Hochschullehrende. In S. Wehr & H. Ertel (Eds.), Aufbruch in der Hochschullehre. Kompetenzen und Lernende im Zentrum – Beiträge aus der hochschuldidaktischen Praxis. Haupt: Bern, 31–75. Wegner, E., Nückles, M. (2012). Mit Widersprüchen umgehen lernen: Reflektiertes Entscheiden als hochschuldidaktische Kompetenz. In R. Egger, M. Merkt (Eds.), Lernwelt Universität. Entwicklung von Lehrkompetenz in der Hochschullehre. Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 63–81. Wegner, E., Nückles, M. (2013). Lehrkompetenz als der Umgang mit Widersprüchen. Wie hochschuldidaktische Weiterbildung die Fähigkeit zur reflektierten Entscheidung fördert. ProfiLeTeilprojekt Freiburg. In J. Wildt, M. Heiner (Eds.), Professionalisierung der Lehre. Bielefeld: Bertelsmann, 211–235.

Theme-Centered Interaction in Personnel Development Schemes in Academia: Good Reasons and Practise Examples Sylke Meyerhuber

Abstract Which role could or should Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) play within personnel development schemes in academia? While other texts in this volume shed light on didactics in seminars or compare the approach to others, here the interest is shifting to the strategic level or, in TCI terms, the Globe of lectures and research in academia. What interest does a university have to support TCI didactics and group facilitation skills? The virtue of TCI as a means of personal growth of academic personnel comes into play, in addition to the individual’s professionalisation of attitude and methods for dealing with groups. The author does not only put academic personnel development in its political and strategic context but also includes insights and examples from TCI expert talks with Matthias Scharer (Prof., University of Innsbruck, Austria), Giesela Liebens (RCI, Hanover, Germany), and Matthias Kroeger (Prof. emerit., University of Hamburg, Germany; founding member of RCI Europe). Keywords  Theme-Centered Interaction · Personnel development · Needs of academic personnel · Didactic · Personal growth · RCI strategy · Strategic management in academia

1  Personnel Development in Academia Personnel development (PD) in academia can be considered “one of the central issues in the development of higher education” (UniNetzPE 20171). PD cannot be divided from the tradition of the country an academic institution is located in.

 UniNetzPE – Network for Personnel Development at Universities, Germany

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Nowadays though, education and sciences are a global virtue,2 and also academic personnel development is of high interest to both of these objectives. What is PD? “All systematically planned and implemented activities of advanced occupational training of the personnel of an academic organisation in order to heighten work-related competences, attitudes and motivations”, Neuberger (1991, 3) explains in his standard book on the subject. Webler (2003, 246f), renowned expert of didactic training at the University of Bielefeld (Germany), differentiates the following areas of PD in higher education: –– –– –– ––

Research and scientific work Lectures, knowledge transfer, and presentation Support for entrance into a scientific community Career-related needs and support

Nevertheless, for his international overview, Schmidt (2007, 125) speaks of personnel development in higher education as “the undiscovered land”. On a global scale, it seems that universities, polytechnics, and colleges have very different ideas and standards about the issue. Some do a lot already; others do not care at all, and many shades in between can be observed. In his reflection of the status quo, Schmidt (ibid. 127) points out that PD nowadays becomes a considerable factor of strategic meaning for academic institutions in times of ongoing change and a globalised ‘bildungs’ market. In this light the author speaks of a need to move academic personnel permanently forward, expanding their abilities to incorporate and transform new knowledge, as part of the overall goal universities have to achieve in society. In accordance with this direction of argument, also Neuberger points out: PD is transformation of a person’s work capacity in light of an intended utilisation. It is not (only) a matter of a person and their qualification but about the personnel. It is not about manifest work performance but about work capacity. Strategic goals of the organisation (especially: utilisation) and not goals of the employee are paramount. Because not only systematically planned and hierarchically controlled changes should be gathered, also self-­ development of work capacity must be taken into account, stemming not only from own initiative but also from the dynamic of social relationships and complex structures (Neuberger 1991, 3).

The academic apparatus has an inherent interest in its personnel development – qualification is the ongoing motivation of academia, not only in light of students but also most of the academic personnel. How different though the angles – beside qualification via research – actually can be, Schmidt (2007, 131ff) shows with reference to an analysis by Becker (2007). According to him, PD for academic personnel is understood and brought to life quite differently: How is PD instigated, from which angle

2  I am not willing to discuss here the notion of education as a global commodity, something foremost interesting in terms of trade and yield. Some discuss that education is to be above all a part of the basic public services, while others point out that education is factually already a global commodity. I decline from commenting on this debate here, though perhaps on the structural and funding level of TCI in higher education, this might play a role on a broader political scale.

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understood and practised? In this respect, the author differentiates ten basic models of PD with their implicit value systems and practise examples (ibid. 132): –– A first group of models put their focus on the individual  – this can aim (1.1) towards individual effectiveness with a “job-man-fit approach” supported by specific competence development measures, (1.2) towards individual growth with a border-crossing model supporting transitions of a scientist by specific programmes or interventions, or (1.3) at freedom and self-determination supported by coaching or mentoring concepts. –– Schmidt then defines a second group of PD models in academia, focussing on the organisation: here, four ways are differentiated further – (2.1) logic- and reason-­based rational problem-solving seminars like didactics of higher education, employee management, etc.; (2.2) a focus on institutional effectiveness in a contingency-­theory model by staff units and strategic key topics as quality management, e.g. Bologna; (2.3) a return-of-investment approach with PD in a profit centre logic; or (2.4) a flexible and systematic PD which is target group-specific and individually variable, allowing for course corrections on its way. –– Schmidt then constitutes a third group which focuses on PD itself, (3.1) in the fashion of PD as a research project with experimental character, (3.2) in an evolutionary sense building on trust in institutional self-organisation without central responsibility while supporting innovative PD ideas from within, or (3.3) from an angle of legitimisation and acceptance mainly for political purposes, leading to a pro-forma PD with lighthouse projects and a focus on marketing effects. These shortly differentiated schemes mirror specific viewpoints promoted within a given organisation. Accordingly, they will lead to different effects within an academic institution (Table 1). Table 1  From a compilation by Becker (2007, 132f), selected and translated by the author Basic models Group 1: Individual as focal point

Group 2: Organisation as focal point

Group 3: Personnel development as focal point

Values evident Individual effects and growth, freedom and self-determination

Examples for implementation in academia Individual competence development based on target actual difference, specific offers for defined transitions, coaching, mentoring, and workshops; strengthening ability for self-organisation Focus on current problems, defined PD Logic and reason, operation cycle (as university didactics, institutional effectively, employee management), staff positions define return of investment, strategic topics (Bologna, quality management), flexibility PD as a “profit centre” Alternative offers of PD, no central Trust in institutional responsibility, support for innovative PD ideas self-organisation, legitimacy and acceptance instead systematic offers, lighthouse projects, marketing focus, pro-forma PD, scientific security, enlightenment analysis and theories of PD as research project

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Following this classification by Becker 2007 and Schmidt 2007, it should be evident from the very rough overview already that Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) – with its axioms3 pronouncing an overall humane attitude, ethical responsibility, and political learning in group-processes – can be associated foremost with the first and second group of PD approaches. An interest in implementing TCIbased methods and attitude in lectures and/or in research groups as a common skill and practice could arise from such angles. Universities favouring the third approach will be less prone to be interested, I assume. In conclusion, academic institutions with PD focus on the individual or on organisational problem-solving should theoretically have more likely an interest in adapting TCI into their portfolio.

1.1  From the Individual’s Perspective From the individual’s perspective, many good reasons of interest in TCI come to mind: Most scientists are researchers as well as lecturers, though in varying proportions. While being a productive researcher might secure a position at the academic institution, teaching often remains an area of additional tasks one muddles through more or less successfully. Country-specific though, period-based evaluation tools are implemented, and the feedback of students then co-determines whether a researcher/lecturer is allowed to continue their work or lose their position. For own career development, from the PD angle, the approach of TCI can be seen as something that is worthwhile including in one’s knowledge skill set, perhaps even more so if interested in a position on the global academic job market. Overall, dealing with groups in a productive way is a skill all scientists need. Different groups  – be it a group of students, a team of researchers, a group of research partners, or subjects cooperating in a study  – need to be as productive, creative, motivated, and dedicated as possible. For a group leader in academia, this can lead to great pressure. For some, individual social skills at one’s disposal – or the lack of them – can decide about success or failure. In this book though, none of the authors do promote the use of TCI as a purely psychotechnical method! They argue for its appropriate appliance only in combination with a humanistic ethical attitude. This leads to a growth-inspiring, wellbeing-promoting, and social skill-­ developing group setting, which benefits leaders and members of a group alike. Since 2011 TCI is officially titled as “the art of leading” (oneself and others) in RCI4 publications and similar (cf. Engel and Zitterbarth 2015, 59ff; cf. Löhmer and

 The Ruth Cohn Institute RCI International is responsible for training in TCI on different levels, organised as a club with regional institutes but also overall statutes, etc. 4  In this contribution, TCI is not explained but rather referred to, while formeost its merrits for academia from a structural viewpoints are discussed. For introduction into the approach the reader is remitted to the introductory texts by Meyerhuber, Scharer, and Reiser in this volume, for further reading to Schneider-Landolf et al. 2017. 3

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Standhardt 2015). Its use as a mere toolset without honest interest in others and their wellbeing will be unveiled as a manipulative technique by recipients/participants soon enough, with devastating results for the level of trust and the work relationship. People are not stupid and recognise precisely how the leader of a group setting is steering them – sincerely in the interest of the group, its individuals, a shared theme and perhaps even corresponding environmental aspects, or in a selfcentred instrumentalising and strategic way. As sociologist J. Habermas (1981, 385) analyses in his work “Theory of Communicative Actions”, a purely strategic communication abandons any basis of sociality; it leaves the common ground and aims for manipulation instead of communication as a process of engagement and agreement. Such an approach is, with all respect for the pressure and demands researchers might find themselves in, not promoted here. In my understanding, personnel development must also include considerations of an ethical development as a person and for the role. In this respect, TCI offers a consistent theoretical and humanistic foundation.5 After all, the question is an ethical one: Do I aim strictly for success as an academic, despite the odds? Do I literally walk over dead bodies, using my co-workers as mere tools in order to accomplish defined content goals? While consciously most academics would deny such a notion, indicators as mostly precarious working conditions, the rate of work addiction and burnout in academia (particularly for ­assistant professors, lecturers, academics with (repeating) temporary contracts, or assignments only on royalty basis) suggests an overall work culture not likely orientated towards the wellbeing of the individual. A better balance between content goals and the goal of socially sustainable work places in academia should mitigate these issues. As outlined in the Ottawa-Charta of the WHO in 1986,6 participation is a prerogative of health and wellbeing in life. In the Charta is explained that human beings need to be able to partake in the shaping of circumstances they find themselves subjected to, for example, in their work. With this in mind, social skills in groups aim for much more than a mere technique of group facilitation. Just in this spirit, TCI encourages participation and chairpersonship; I am sure with piggyback results for occupational health. Additionally, not only among colleges but also with respect to external partners, an academic might ask: Do I use my collaborators or subjects of research foremost as information givers, as objects of my research, or do I see them as partners in a shared process of exploring and understanding something better? This is foremost the spirit in many qualitative research methods. For a more elaborated attitude in this respect, TCI also can offer distinct guidelines.7

5  For me as researcher and counsellor for ‘acting socially sustainably in organisations’, this is an important aspect with respect to the levels of the individual, group resp. interaction, and structural consequences. 6  The World Health Organization (WHO) is an organisation of the United Nations. 7  Reiser et al. in this book describe the value of TCI within research in more detail.

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Last but not least, self-management and self-development8 questions could be raised: What kind of a person do I want to become over time in my job, and what kind of impact do I want to make over time in my field – not only content-wise in my role as an expert but also humanely, as a person, in encounters with other human beings? If academics are societies’ frontrunners, such knowledge can not only be limited to subject matters but must also deal with subjects in a way that they matter. The ‘educated elite’ (Bildungselite) has to be measured by their ability to help building a better world  – socially as well as technically. Personnel development schemes in academia should support this goal.9

1.2  From a University Management’s Perspective A university management’s foremost interest lays in positions, functions, competitively acquired funds, visibleness in an academic domain or in rankings, and the overall excellence as an academic institution. In this light, it is the function one has to perform, or will be replaced (cf. Neuberger 1991, 3). This kind of instrumental thinking is understandable but leads to certain problems within the academic system. For example, in Germany, laws are prone to protect employees from working overtime, but in academia some of them are explicitly not enforced and often are contradicted by ‘enthusiasm and dedication’ without limitations (especially if the team leader turns a blind eye, is a workaholic himself or herself, etc.). In other countries the mixture might differ. However, any academia’s management should develop an interest including aspects of the social atmosphere as a strategic quality feature. I would like to argue that in research groups, in lectures, and in further areas of academia, internally as well as with external partners, a conscious decision for promoting social skills and wellbeing leads to overall reasonably social guiding principles as an organisation. On the structural level, this is often addressed programmatically: in terms of occupational health management schemes, diversity management, or leadership guidelines. Besides audits concerning environmental protection, occupational safety, and health protection, family-friendly certifications become more common in universities. Nevertheless such programmes seldom impact the actual attitude of the single employee in research or in everyday teaching. It might be 8  Self-management aspects are meant here in the sense of postmodern demands towards the individual (cf. Beck 1986; Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1994; Keupp et al. 1999; Pongratz and Voss 2001), which I set in contrast here to ethical considerations, in accordance with the first axiom of TCI, stating that self-determination and autonomy cannot be thought without interdependence (the “beyond within” Cohn). 9  In a similar direction seems to think Bischoff (2018; English version ot this text cf. Bischoff in this volume), who presents first in 2016 her PhD paper on “Theme-Centered Didactic in Higher Education as an Answer to the European Bologna Process”, developing a theoretical and ethical foundation for a TCI-based didactic in academia.  Also see Arndt (2013) for effects of “dead learning” in conferences and the need to be able to address colleagues in such settings in an engaging way.

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considered bold, but introducing TCI as a guiding principle within the broader strategy of a university might offer a solution in this respect, since the approach supports an ethical attitude towards people and encourages the expression of different needs, viewpoints, and ways of doing things. People aware of group dynamics, trained in a mindful attitude towards themselves and others, are more inclined to develop a heightened awareness for the wellbeing of all parties involved. Personell development in light of dealing with groups in academia could address different levels: interested individuals, larger groups of employees, or the structural level, as outlined henceforth. Single persons learn about TCI for their work with groups in teaching, in research and in transfer, such as: –– Full or assistant professors, tenure-tracked colleagues, lecturers, academic employees, and other interested colleagues dealing with groups in the teaching area and/or also in research, meetings, or workshops –– Employees in university administration who work with groups and want to broaden their ability to deal with this aspect of their job –– PhD students or regular students who are interested in learning more about working with groups, especially if they are taking on group leading roles (e.g. as a teacher, tutor) This can be imagined as an option within the university, or as something the individual is trained in externally but supported by their university, or it can be a private learning activity carried out alone by personal choice and then transferred into a person’s academic work. Specific groups of university employees could be offered TCI trainings as a way of leading work groups. On such a level, TCI trainings would become more likely structurally anchored. If larger groups of personnel were systematically trained in the approach, I assume the overall impact on attitude and viewpoints on working with groups were more likely to shift within the university. A broadly shared understanding of living learning and human growth within groups – as described in other contributions of this book about TCI in higher education – would become more likely to take root within the corporate culture. That would make it easier for all parties to apply TCI principles in social situations (explicitly or implicitly), in support of overall humanistic practises. That thought leads us back again to the level of structures at the university. Decisions to promote the work in groups with TCI as a broader scheme could even result in an aspect of the organisational development strategy, in favour of strengthening humanistic values or social sustainability. I can imagine this idea, for example, as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR10) agenda. This would foremost

 Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an international policy of corporate self-regulation as part of a business model or managerial strategy. The approach encourages organisations to make positive impacts by their own choices, in compliance with the law and beyond (like labour regulations, environmental regulations, etc.).The ethical approach is based on the standard ISO 26000, and measures can aim to achieve ecological or social goals.

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lead to structural changes as routine processes and procedures, the ways in how things are done at the university. Taking into consideration the humanistic, ethical, and societal-political TCI understanding (as laid out in the three axioms11 of TCI), its participative approach of dealing with people and groups in order to work on a theme/subject matter/task could lead to other forms of interaction in lectures, in research teams, and in administrative meetings. University management and a shared vision throughout the campus become imaginable at the horizon of such a layout. Neuberger points out that PD schemes are often not only qualification and training but more often than not they overlap with aspects of team development and organisational development. Accordingly he stresses that the individual never develops isolated ‘itself’ but simultaneously the material, social, and organisational conditions under which one works. The spotlight model of Neuberger (ibid. 19) illustrates this (Fig. 1). However, the question occurs how the addressees of PD measures transfer newly acquired knowledge into their work. As a main rule, the more integrated and practical a PD measure, the better the transfer. TCI thinking nurtures the advantage of very practical, immediately evident effects and benefits within groups, making them more vivid, engaging, and memorable. Thus the plausible and intuitive approach to working with/in groups ought to be effectively conveyed if a general willingness of recipients is a given. personal perspective

apersonal perspective

States & processes “in” the organisation

interpersonal perspective

Fig. 1  Spotlight model by Neuberger (1991, p. 19), modified and translated by the author

 TCI-relevant corner stones as the axioms are referred to here, but not explained. In this volume, the reader is introduced to TCI in the introductory chapters by S. Meyerhuber and by M. Scharer, and finds a glossary at the end of the book for short orientation.

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2  E  xperiences with TCI in Academia and Conclusions for Personnel Development In some universities, systematic academic personnel development is not or merely present. In other universities though, a wide range of offers have been developed. First, one example from the author’s background: University of Bremen (Germany) had a mainly rudimentary personnel development until about 2007. Since then, this area of expertise has been systematically developed, and today a large variety of programmes, seminars, and coaching is available for all academic employees and furthermore open to interested scholarship holders. The progressing programme ranges from courses for didactics to an overall higher education certificate, offering language courses and coaching, 2-day trainings for specific social skills and selfpresentation techniques, writing workshops for doctorates, training on how to apply for specific funding, project management, communication techniques, trainings on body language, and use of voice – you name it. Colleagues are supported nowadays in the planning of their career within or outside of academia, e.g. by counselling, trainings, and networking. Cooperation between different domains of the university involved in these offers is paramount and very successful. The effect is that on all levels of their career, interested academic employees and junior professors find themselves supported in their individual development process. While in such a broad variety of personnel development options TCI might be introduced in one workshop, other universities developed a deeper interest in this method and adopted it more systematically. A second example comes from the University of Innsbruck (Austria), provided by this book’s co-editor and contributor Prof. Matthias Scharer, appointed inherintance trustee of the Ruth C. Cohn archives in Berlin: “At the University of Innsbruck, the Department of Practical Theology established TCI on a broader scale; first on the research level, and second as a teaching approach. On the one hand, research seminars on guiding PhD-­ students were based on TCI attitude and methodology. On the other hand, many seminars for students were regularly facilitated in TCI fashion. Additionally, some researchers on the PhD and Master level include TCI explicitly as a subject to work on in more detail. Fourth, on the structural level TCI provided a valuable compass for communication and cooperation in the Department of Practical Theology itself: Being chaired by a TCI-graduate for 10 years, the TCI principles were established as a structural moment in all meetings and influenced the overall communication culture within the department in the most positive way. Some researchers at the department received TCI-education at Ruth-Cohn-Institutes and mastered different levels, proving beneficial for all employees and external partners of the department.”

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Clearly shown here is how convinced TCI practitioner at universities can act consistently, making the approach feasible and tangible for their partners in everyday work life, with structural impact at least on the level they control. Another example comes from the University of Hanover (Germany), which holds a contract with a nearby Ruth Cohn Institute (RCI) and thus gets systematic support of authorised TCI graduates. Gisela Liebens, a psychologist and TCI graduate, is member and chairperson of the RCI Niedersachsen e. V. (Lower Saxony, Germany). She told me more about this:

“As professor at the Leipnitz-University Hanover, Helmut Reiser developed a special tutorship training module for the faculty of Special Pedagogy/ Education, based on TCI-principles. By contract between a nearby Ruth-­ Cohn-­Institute and the faculty he ensured continuance of this successful model. Then, 8 years ago, when his retirement drew nearer, he handed over this task to me. So, what is it about? First up, this three-days-training is based on TCI – future tutors experience personally how they are supported by TCI attitude and method. The goal is to enable tutors to plan their own tutorial group supported by TCI. It is a phenomenon to me how much these students learn in only 3 days, how enthusiastic they are. This starts with the interaction on eye-level, addressing all participants by name, and goes on to the overall feasible logic of the approach. They work from an understanding of the concerns of freshmen in light of the university structures, planning their tutorial from that angle. All participants leave the training strengthened and with confidence. I hold it together with a male colleague as a team; a setting quite common in TCI-trainings. There is a very long waiting list for participation – this tutorial-­training is cherished as a privilege, very beneficial to students lucky enough to be considered. Therefore lately we offer two parallel courses each year, in two teams (four TCI-teachers). Additionally, while tutors attend to their groups, during the semester they are supported by a supervision12 group, held by a licensed supervisor and TCI-expert.” What is particularly interesting to me in this example is that the university has a long-term contract with its regional RCI, continued from year to year. However, the person in charge must be open for the idea, and it is always better to have someone in the system really standing in for it. Thus, concerns are raised as to whether, after more than a decade of very good results, the concept will continue when all persons with first-hand TCI experience are obliged to retire:  The term “supervision” (in German) means not control-like supervising, as in other countries. Supervision is here established as a specific setting of process reflection in work groups, often between colleagues and with a person who is trained in this methodology (with several options from which expert’s angle; cf. Pühl 1994). If no trained person is available, a group can also be trained to observing classic rules for their sessions of reflection and problem-solving, then called ‘Intervision’ (cf. Schlee 2012; Tietze 2008). 12

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“This contract is an anchor to stay in contact, to talk about the experiences with people in charge. (…) Now, there is only one professor left supporting the concept actively. When she ultimately leaves the university I feel a bit concerned for the tutorial training module. But the concept is loved by students, the tutorials go very well, and the contract is an ongoing one. Therefore I will hope for the best; making contact and talking to those responsible.” In the here and now, the interest in TCI seems high at this faculty; students are felt to be eager to learn about it. Ms. Liebens describes how the faculty has lately reacted to this interest: “Since not all interested students can gain from the tutorial experience, a lecture on TCI is given once each winter term. This lecture is very popular. (…) And students who gained experiences as tutor or during this lecture later often contact the RCI section for young adults in order to partake in further TCI training.”

The example Ms. Liebens speaks of reminds me of a similar but less formalised design we conducted for over a decade at the psychology department at my home university in Bremen: Psychology is a study programme chosen by a large number of new students each year. In the 1990s, though, the drop-out rate was quite high as well, about 50%. After careful analysis of reasons, a former colleague of mine developed together with members of the university’s psychological counselling staff a special tutorial programme for freshmen of Psychology. After this colleague of mine left for a full professorship, I took care of this programme for about 9 years, therefore knowing quite well how it was designed, facilitated, and what impact it had. The reader might already have guessed that the tutorial was designed in TCI style. All parties concerned with the development knew about TCI, but none of them received official RCI training. This is what we did: Student tutors could apply for a tutorial. Selected students received a training over five full days. The training was designed to experience first-hand a good ‘dynamic balance’ and its ‘living learning’ effects while reflecting on the needs of freshmen, raising questions from this angle about their role as tutors, and to design a plan for their own tutorial. Small inputs, discussions, role plays etc. helped them gain a sure footing. Thereby, in 5 days tutors-intraining developed good ideas of how to act overall and in difficult situations, how to develop their own tutorial programme (when do the freshmen need to know what, and how do I provide it engagingly). It was also a measure of (continued)

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team building, since generally the tutorials were held with a partner. For eight parallel groups of 20 freshmen each, 16 tutors were needed. Only if not enough suitable tutors were found, sometimes successful repeating tutors were allowed to work alone, but never first-time-tutors. Another criterion was gender-mixed teams if possible. During the term/tutorial, tutors met three times as a supervision-group with me, in order to talk about the processes in their groups and about how to deal with difficult situations that might have been building up over time in some of the groups. Thus, occurring problems were avoided or solved, and tutors learned a great deal about themselves and groups. The programme was very successful and ran to my knowledge from about 1993–2011. Over the years, first-semesters and tutors alike expressed manifold to me how much they benefited from these tutorials. Former freshmen tried to become a tutor as well, in order to learn what their tutor knew, and in order to pass on what they received and cherished, they told me. Also, the drop-out rate decreased immensely – from about 50% to about 5%! In its developmental phase, the department received special funding for the 16 tutors, later it funded them by itself. This tutorial was established as a pilot project, an accompanying study documented the process from development to results. Still it stayed, to my knowledge, a singular occurrence at my university, despite overall impressive results. The example illustrates also that TCI-affine lecturers in academia can, even without a formal RCI contract, achieve great results, supported by the approach. It also shows that continuity and trust building depend on persons running such a programme. When I left the department, a professor expressed a long-harboured wish to control and steer these tutors more autocratically... well. The example also makes clear what structural benefit can be gained from TCI knowledge while dealing with groups – the successful decrease of drop-outs speaks for itself. Another issue is money  – employees facilitating such a programme are paid already, but tutors have to be financed! Returning to my talk with Ms. Liebens, I asked her as an active member and chairperson of RCI Niedersachsen e. V. about her experiences with academic personnel in trainings of the institute: Do academic employees or professors take part in TCI trainings held by RCI (differentiated in modules on methodology and personality development)? Liebens said: “As far as I perceive this: not many. I think this might have to do with the fact that nowadays people want a ‘certificate’ for everything they do. As RCI statutes require, a TCI-certificate is granted for a certain effort of modules, including some in personality development. Academics might be drawn foremost to the methodological aspect of TCI first, though. And for single courses only a confirmation of participation is offered.”

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In light of overall participants in RCI courses, only few are professors and academic employees, but some at least in former times so intensely that they achieved the status of a TCI graduate.13 Overall though, I agree with Ms. Liebens’ assessment. Additionally to the reasons she names, I see most employees at a university deeply involved timewise and content-wise. Additionally, a professor or scientific team leader will seldom encourage their employees to go outside of academia for advanced occupational trainings since academic employment itself is foremost a qualification phase within the academic system. Therefore I strongly argue in favour of inviting TCI graduates to give courses within a university. I assume that the acceptance as an in-house offer of personnel development will be much higher – not only by recipients but also their superiors and the personnel development staff organising it. I also asked Ms. Liebens if she thinks that TCI is only useful in psychology or pedagogy, where it originates from. She answered by relating her own experiences and recent developments within the RCI association:

“I do think that TCI is fitting wherever groups are working together. I even taught the diagnosis-manual ICD-10 to students in a TCI manner, the content of which is known as quite ‘dry’. I benefit from TCI in team development processes I support as a counsellor. Accordingly, nowadays ‘economy’ is a larger section of the RCI association. To me, the issue is not about the content – the question is if the person leading a group can adapt to the method, or more precisely to its basic principles – the axioms! If someone does not at all agree to the humanistic viewpoint, then TCI will probably not fit. (…) The RCI association offers a certificate especially for leadership personnel. As far as I observe it, it is a growing section within its programme with practical aids for everyday work. Participants from different work areas attend these, often sponsored by their company.” Some further instructive examples and insights worth sharing come from Matthias Kroeger, Prof. emerit. after 35 years in academia, at last at the University of Hamburg (Germany). Kroeger is a Theologist, was a close friend to Ruth C. Cohn and one of the founding members of WILL (later renamed to RCI)14 Europe in

 In this book, several TCI graduates write in favour of TCI in academia: Reiser, Lotz, and Padberg (Germany), Scharer (Austria), and Cyriac (India). In RCI international, a hierarchy from participation paper, course certificate, etc. up to TCI graduate (authorised to teach TCI at RCIs) can be observed. Beside that, of course social psychologist and similar professions, counting the approach into their genuine field of study about groups and communication, teach basics of TCI in their seminars of higher education without special RCI training, theoretically or also with practice elements (cf. Meyerhuber (Germany), Pereira (Portugal)). 14  R. Cohn founded the first “Workshop Institute for Living Learning (WILL)” in New York, later a second in Switzerland. Later the name was changed into the Ruth Cohn Institute (RCI) for Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Therefore, both names (WIll/RCI) come up. 13

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August 1972 in Switzerland. He was also a founding member of the overall board organising TCI trainings. At the beginning of our talk, Kroeger makes clear: “TCI is meant as actual help in groups, never as pure method, such would not be practical in real-life situations; only in RCI training modules. In practise, as a lecturer I better ask myself based on TCI: –– How can I involve participants in talk about a subject? –– How can I strengthen the ‘I-component’ just a little bit? –– How can I encourage the ‘We’ in the next session of this group even so slightly? It is also not an issue to practise the ‘high art of formulating the Theme’ with reference to all six rules from TCI in this respect. More important is to have the background understanding and check back to it. Of foremost importance is to connect ‘Theme’ and participants (their interests, feelings, etc.) in order to make it engaging for the group. It can have an irritating effect to divert too much from the familiar setting of a lecture. I often found it enough to just give a bit of space for the chairperson-side during a lesson. I cannot point out enough that it is still somewhat ‘scientifically illicit’ to invite components outside of the textbook (including insights of listeners) into a lecture. I recommend heightening this level gradually and over time. In my experience, with a rising level of the ‘I’-component also rises the courage to say: ‘This I did not understand.’ I always considered this remark a very good sign indeed!”

Kroeger shares his experience; according to him TCI provides helpful background for working with groups of students, but should not be imposed on university lessons without considering the target group carefully. “Otherwise one might frighten them off”, he explains to me. His relativisation will be helpful for personnel departments considering the introduction of TCI to their academic staff: not everything offered by the approach is to be taken one by one into academic practise (as with all good things). It must be appropriated to the lecturer and to the students/ target group. Kroeger remembers, in part first-hand, how TCI understanding of groups has been developed  – over time through methodisation of collected experience with groups:

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“TCI is not an ivory-tower of theoretical ideas but result of lifelong careful observation and interpretation of successful and unsuccessful group situations. For example, when the association [WILL New York15] was founded, the chairperson-rule was not born yet. In the first workshop though Ruth Cohn is told to have intervened in a situation by saying: ‘Be simply chairperson for this idea, will you?’ and it went from there. So, while other approaches are theoretical, this is a practical approach, developed from actual needs, successes and short fallings found in group situations, and over a very long time. It is evolving still, and that is good.” I consider the fact that the approach arises from reality group situations a strong point in favour of TCI in higher education. It is a practice-proven and practical means. However, as mentioned before, its proper adjustment to a field or sub-culture must be reflected. I will come back to that point. According to Kroeger, until about the year 2000, participants of TCI trainings were offered 2 weeks of special courses with only peers from their own occupational field. These were to train practical issues and finer points of the transference of TCI into their actual jobs, with others from their occupational group as a sounding board. Kroeger strongly endorses this former setting:

“I am supporting the former ‘occupational specific profiles’ courses as part of RCI trainings. I am convinced that for teachers, social workers, clerics, people in profit-sectors or economy, and academics, the job-related application of TCI looks respectively different! Before 2000, in two whole weeks initiates worked intensiv and trained (trained, trained!!!) these finer points, the finesse and consequences of applying fittingly the learned TCI-­understanding in their occupational work. I consider it very important to translate lessons learned actively and specifically into technical knowledge, in methodical practise! Otherwise the gained TCI competence becomes too elusive, it fades over time. These courses were abolished though in the WILL initiative 2000,16 where bigger changes of the (continued)

 First founded as the ‘Workshop Institute of Living Learning’ Europe (WILL-Europe, since the first WILL was located in New  York, USA), it was in the year 2000 changed to ‘Ruth Cohn Institute’ (RCI). 16  The WILL initiative 2000 was an initiative to modernise the RCI association to a leaner and timelier whole. According to Kroeger’s explanation and regret, decisions were made by a conference of delegates coming from all RCI institutes. Not all of course were necessarily experts in every respect though, and the very concept of ‘occupational specific profile’ courses (original: Berufsgruppenspezifische Profile) for groups of the same professional field was abandoned. 15

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association were decided. I think this was not wise, since there is no longer a collegial setting of specific fields – this sub-cultural well-informed, precise circle for sound occupational transferability. It is idiotic to think a normal TCI method course could mitigate that; to my understanding and observation this is too superficial, not specific enough. We need to re-establish the pooling into specific professions!”

According to Kroeger’s extended experience, people benefit best from reflecting within their own occupational group about merits of TCI for their own practise. I can agree with his assessment from own counselling work in several occupational fields. For me, this is therefore a strong argument in favour of TCI training in a collegial group of academics. Only here can the learned be directly considered for the concrete situation in higher education, for its different settings, the culture of the specialist field and its target groups, etc. Experience shows that what in one area of a university is feasible might very well be out of the question just in the department next door, due to subject-related sub-cultures and styles of communication and interaction. A trainer offering TCI in academia must be aware of these contexts, their didactical particulars, etc. In the first place, TCI for higher education is needed in its methodological strongpoints (what is a next step to heighten participation about this theme), not first for personality development; that happens anyway if all goes well. Here Kroeger assumes a present hurdle:

“Nowadays in TCI, its attitude-aspect is empathised too much and the method-aspect too little. Of course, with her background as a Psychologist, Ruth Cohn supported foremost personal growth, but feelings are evasive, and needs nowadays so much different from the needs of the 1980s. Now, competence in the technical sense, as obviously offered by TCI, must be more nurtured and put into the foreground, since I do not see that this happens enough. It must be stressed that TCI offers to us lecturers in higher education actually a simple and practical compass for dealing with groups of students, always fitting, a great gift!”

In this, I can wholeheartedly agree from own experience. Additionally Kroeger investigates in our talk the attitudes and needs of the 1980s in comparison with today’s needs of people further and maps out the route to go:

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“Self-discovery, flower children, etc. were from another time. Today TCI is on a contrary path, the equality of I-We-It is no longer contemporary, its meaning has changed. ‘Who am I and what is biting me?’ is not as paramount as it was at the time. Instead people ask ‘Where am I wanted, and what do I have to do and to know to get there?’ At the time, there was a lack of subject matter, and today we lose touch with our emotions. Anyway, it is totally in the sense of TCI to re-adjust accordingly, since with TCI we always ask first: ‘Where do/es the person/s stand?’ I can adapt a subject matter to the people, but never the people to the subject! The human being, in the moment, always takes precedence. Therefore I say, TCI nowadays must be taught regarding its methodical and technical potentials, in light of occupational profiles and needs, then it will have a future and can stay effective!” Kroeger highlights that TCI can and must be adapted to contemporary needs which are, above all, methodically needs. Are not its merits as a method a soul reason for this book about TCI in didactics for higher education? The expert suspects that not all RCI-colleagues might be already on to this brave new world. Nevertheless the positive argument remains that one has a competitive advantage if they know how to deal with groups in constructive, beneficial, and effective ways. Someone must have noticed this, since RCI changed its TCI guiding principle in 2015 to “the art of leading”. And without doubt, according to all the contributions in this book, TCI-inspired group work offers a great way towards satisfying working relationships for all, participants and lecturers, leading engaged students to better results content-wise and in their personal growth – a win-win situation, so to say. Kroeger describes in our talk also an example of the ‘high times of TCI spirit’ in his own department at the University of Hamburg:

“Out of about 24 professors, 6 or 7 and as many assistants had a TCI-­ background. As faculty dean and director of one institute I offered a TCI based kind of leadership with good results for climate and cooperation. We also conceptualised the introductory phase of our study programme in Theology in the spirit of TCI, as a preparatory course. As an integral element of the study regulations we lost this later, though. Anyway, it was a wonderful phase; many years afterwards alumni talked highly about it. Colleagues taking over afterwards changed the attitude to their own style, and this quality was lost. Even in Theology and Psychology, there are colleagues who do not appreciate this clear orientation towards people.” In this example it becomes again evident that with concrete protagonists promoting the approach, the interactive quality rises or falls. It is not easy to maintain the spirit even after about 15 academics for many years acted consciously in their

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department in favour of humane standards in their cooperation (team meetings, lectures). In general, leadership has an imprinting influence on the social climate.17 Without an explicit attitude, social atmospheres change tangibly (cf. Schein 2010). These settings influenced not only department-internal dealings but also students. One of them is known to me as a dear colleague at the University of Bremen. She told me that she once – just once! – had the pleasure of attending a workshop given by Ruth C. Cohn, taking place in a class of Kroeger in Hamburg, since she studied theology and music. She told me: “I don’t remember all of it, but mostly I recall the atmosphere. I still remember what was important to me content-wise and for me personally. Since this single encounter, I make sure in all my classes, in all my work with musicians in theory and in practise, that I give a bit of space to my participants for free thought. I always fare well with this attitude, and I am still deeply grateful for this encounter decades ago.”

This little story tells of a deeply important group experience and its later transference into good academic practise. Academia personnel development/training ought to be made aware of TCI and its merits in lectures of higher education. Then, promoting academic colleagues to also achieve such positive impression on their students would be more likely. Following this anecdote, once again back to Kroeger and his insights. I ask him about his ideas: How could TCI be supported on a more strategically and structural level in higher education? “If promoters of TCI work in positions of strategic influence, then the approach can play a role within the organisation. But if sceptics and laypersons hold these positions, we have much less chances. An example from Bavaria [a German federal state]: Once the local RCI had a contract to train teachers-in-training for TCI in schools, but with a change of personnel within the ministry, the tone changed to ‘TCI has nothing to do with didactics in our schools’. The whole programme was cancelled. Therefore I agree with what H. Reiser said publicly once: ‘What Ruth Cohn said must be newly reconsidered and re-justified.’ We do not live by authorities but by new insights. Therefore we, as RCI, must steer our discussion and developments towards nowaday’s methodological needs, towards fresh ideas for the pedagogic field of academia, for practise and also on the theory level.”

 This is a well-known fact in Sociology and Psychology of work and organisation, e.g. cf. Neuberger 2002; cf. Doppler/Lauterburg 2001, cf. Meyerhuber 2014 (147–166), 2013 (157–184), 2012 (86–155), 2001 (36–115).

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Kroeger stresses that with changes of cooperation partners, the integration of TCI in pedagogic fields rises or falls. In some federal states18 of Germany, TCI graduates hold positions of some strategic influence into the academic institutes of their state, for example, in federal competence centres for didactics in higher education or similar, developing didactic guidelines or counselling representatives of institutions for higher education based on their TCI knowledge. Whether such potential ambassadors of TCI are aware of their chances to introduce the approach more prominently into a field – not only to single persons but likewise on a more strategic level – will depend probably on their role, person, style of action, and concrete partners within the situation. On the other hand, Kroeger points out that RCI associates need to open up to the didactical needs in academia, in order to support in appropriate ways the introduction of TCI into higher education of the present and the future.

3  O  utlook: TCI in Academic Personnel Development of the Future In this outlook, I would like to invite the reader to think further, to ask “what if” in some respects and based on what they have understood so far. The interested reader is invited to develop future thoughts and scenarios of their own. In Europe, a European Union programme named ‘Erasmus+’ supports personnel mobility for training purposes (cf. www.erasmus+.de). University staff members receive funding in support of their participation in a professional training in another European country. Above all, Erasmus + aims to support the further internationalisation of academic institutions (ibid.). Therefore, staff members of European universities, polytechnics, or colleges are encouraged to apply for funding for a learning experience at another European university or similar institution or for a longer visit in a company or organisation. I wonder though, if whether a RCI (Ruth Cohn Institute) could count as an organisation worth of attending for a time on such funding? Contemporarily, Erasmus+ funding is granted for four types of settings: a training programme, a so-called Erasmus Staff Week, Erasmus-related conferences, or workshops and language trainings. Can the attendance of TCI workshops at an RCI be considered as such a workshop or language training? In this context, ideas can be raised in favour of personnel development with TCI: Why not offer TCI training

 As a federal republic, Germany consists of 16 federal states and is the biggest country of the European Union by population. Education is, by German law and custom, responsibility of the federal states. Additionally, German universities are entitled to academic autonomy, a legal right of self-government and self-administration, realised by representatives democratically elected from the body of employees (professors, academic employees, other groups of personnel, and student body). In this framework, German universities develop their own strategic guidelines, but also the education authorities of their federal state negotiate with each university target agreements for a period of time in exchanges for resources, the “state funds”.

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S. Meyerhuber Thorough contact maintainance in favour of the target group

University personnel development department

RCI – training institutes for TCI

Promoting offer of TCI training modules to staff members

Receiving TCI training at RCI or by TCI graduates with focus on situations in academia

Academic lecturers and researchers wishing for a better understanding of group processes and group facilitation

Fig. 2  Active partners for supporting TCI in academia, scenario by the author

modules for academia to colleagues from different countries, at least in Europe funded as an Erasmus+ activity? What would it take to establish such a module specifically for lecturers from academia? Which kind of international awareness or networking favouring TCI would be necessary in order to organise such advanced training courses of group facilitation skills for scientists, at an institute like RCI or at a university supported by graduate TCI instructors or the next nearby RCI? I can think of three active partners in this respect (Fig. 2). Apart from organising such workshops, the university has to be able to create a setting focussed on the needs of its academic personnel. Therefore, the methodological and didactical particularities must be selected fittingly for the university lectures that the aspired participants of personnel development TCI-seminars have to deliver as part of their job. In Erasmus+, academic institutions can apply for mobility measures as single academic institutions or together with others as larger mobility consortia (ibid.). Cooperation between organisations and exchange of solidly proven practises – to which I would count TCI at any time19 – are supported and even empathised as key elements. Universities could collaborate by sending their personnel to such a TCI workshop abroad. The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst)  – German Academic Exchange Service  – supports Erasmus+ activities by counselling and other measures. In light of some contributions in this book, it became evident that TCI can support intercultural learning (cf. Kurteš20): In a globalising world, academic personnel are in dire need of appropriate support for their intercultural skills.

 A list of texts on Theme-Centered Interaction in higher education is offered at the end of this text (see Appendix). TCI-related research is discussed and a literature list offered by Reiser ‘About evidence’ in this book. 20  See text by Kurteš in this book. 19

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Intercultural learning in groups based on TCI is not only supportive for students but also for lecturers, affording opportunities for personal growth according to own strengths for the globalised academic world and its challenges. Bringing intercultural group members together in groups working in a TCI style supports chances for all participants to be integrated, heard, and appreciated. Something similar became evident for social and gender equality (cf. Cyriac & Lal21): A group led by TCI principles encourages its members despite different social backgrounds and roles to partake and to develop and express their growing self-­awareness. Chairpersonship can, as became apparent, be understood as a political statement since it encourages oppressed or submissive societal groups (e.g. minorities, women, etc.) to voice their opinion. Ulrich and Wenzel (2016), researchers at the centre for applied policy research in Munich (Germany), consequently present TCI as a pedagogical approach to democracy and tolerance learning for training of trainers on civic education and coexistence. A very interesting manual the authors present is the direct result of intercultural dialogue in over 15 countries in Egypt and beyond, a wonderful practise example (Ulrich and Wenzel 2016, 3). Based on own experiences in workshops with groups of Erasmus-exchange students from up to nine different countries and three continents, I am positive that a group steered by TCI principles supports different learning styles of participants to engage in a theme, to participate in tolerance and respect for one another, and to quickly develop understanding and comprehension for other group members, as well as the subject matter the group works on. I also think that by its decelerating effects (side effect of a ‘living learning’ group process), TCI gives participants the opportunity to decode a theme in more depth. Last but not least, entirely in line with PD, leading intercultural TCI groups is prone to train the trainer(s) in their intercultural leadership skills. Postmodern scientists feel greatly challenged to cope with the globalised world – their learning to appropriately deal with intercultural issues is crucial but often neglected. Conducting lectures and/or research in intercultural groups establishes the necessity of intercultural awareness, sensitivity, respect, and ambiguity tolerance into an academic’s foci and offers a welcome training ground (without even leaving the country). This is strategically important because an academic employee able to deal with language barriers and interculturality is professionally prone to gain better synergy effects, experience less frustration, and demonstrate higher productivity. A welcome piggyback effect is better health in intercultural situations: Instead of typical culture-shock effects (cf. Hofstede 1997), people are more stable in a ­sociocultural environment if they perceive it as understandable, sense-making, and manageable  – they develop a good feeling of coherence (cf. Antonowsky 1997), thereby strengthening their main resource for stress resistance and long-term health. In this sense it can accordingly be argued that TCI is an adequate contemporary way of dealing with these postmodern requirements and staying healthy – as the British say, you get three birds with one stone: group- and leadership-competences,

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 See contribution by Cyriac and Lal in this volume.

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intercultural competences, and in its wake higher personnel (i.e. personal) resilience – in one word, contentment. An academic institution normally does not receive boundless funding; efficiency is important. Therefore, it strategically makes sense to consider personnel development schemes for synergetic effects, from a strategically structural viewpoint. But this is often not the case, as Schmidt writes: “A programme for didactics in higher education can be found in some universities besides a project about quality in lectures and besides a project for the development of higher education, without any awareness that this might be seen as directionless, a waste of money, or a lack of coordination” (Schmidt 2007, 143). I think TCI can be understood as a key element for synergetic effects since it affects the social climate positively, adding to a satisfying work place. Universities and their like in most countries have a societal mandate to not merely universalise knowledge but also to educate young university graduates in ethical and critical thinking. Just in this sense, PD expert Becker writes: Personnel development has the task to develop the assets of the organisation, to introduce approved values, and to committing employees to value-based thinking and actions. (Becker 2007, 90)

In this respect (especially new), lecturers and researchers are best supported by PD to fulfil their task for society and young graduates with decent clarity. In my understanding, TCI offers the elegance of incorporating corresponding values in its axioms, postulates, and auxiliary rules tangibly while supporting leader and group to function beneficially and exploring and experiencing their actual meaning in that very process. Nowadays, PD at universities seems to be on its way to becoming established in many countries. This relatively new positioning indicates changing values in the higher education system. Not all members of the system already see the necessity clearly though, as Pellert states as a result of his research in Austrian higher education: Against this background some members of the university have certain issues to see themselves as ‘personnel of the university’ which should be ‘developed’. This picture is not in accordance with the self-image of most. (Pellert 2000, 12)

However, the self-image might be tough; it is important to realise that about 95% of all academic employees at a university, polytechnic, or college will never reach a professorship position (there are not enough open positions). Most of these scientific personnel will – sooner or later – go on into a position outside of academia, often assuming jobs with leadership responsibility, or in the public or academic administration.22 Therefore, university PD sees more and more an obligation to not  This might be differing due to country. In Germany, universities have at their disposal a certain, individually defined percentage of ‘academic employees’ not on professorship level, mostly working under supervision of one professor (5–30%). Professors change their position sometimes, while most academic employees are expected to go to different universities in promotion of a career. This is due to the fact that most of them do not hold a permanent position but only timelimited contracts. Present German law (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz) does not allow such employment at a university or similar for more than 12 years.

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only make good researchers out of these employees they hold (professors and other status groups) but also support their transition into the next successful phase of their professional path. During their stay at the university, many academic employees have teaching obligations; in fact most of the lectures in academia are held by academic employees (without full professorship status). Whatever these lecturers understood of leading and leading groups, they will pass on to their students. If incompetent, ignorant, or insecure in ‘living learning’ group facilitation, they will stick to a presentation script and avoid social interaction – teaching their students that an academic is strictly an expert on topics and not a socially responding partner to explore a theme of shared interest. If instead they grow personally as future leaders during their time in academia, they will pass on these competencies, as incorporated from a positive role model who facilitated their classes as socially competent and interested partners. Moreover, if their career continues outside of academia, they take with them well-trained leadership skills in support of socially sustainable, healthier workplaces (cf. Becke et al. 2013). The following illustrates this relation. Psychologist Oettinger concludes for modern work that “sincerely meant, tangible social backup is one of the most important protective factors against stress-induced illnesses” (Oetting 2008, 57). Renowned German health researchers Badura et al. (2011) clarify further: “In this context, superiors play a central role. They carry responsibility for their employees, not only with respect to their work performance but also for their health, since only healthy and motivated employees are also productive employees” (Badura et  al. 2011, V). And Klemens et al. (2004, 295f) leave no doubt: “A burdensome social climate and a lack of superior’s support heightens the risk of exhaustion depression and similar illness many times.” Thus, PD in TCI for leadership training of employees can support bringing about double effects in academia, for employees and students as leaders-to-be alike. I conclude that TCI as a professional group facilitation model and leadership concept: –– Conveys clear visions as to how professional group leadership can be conducted successfully in attitude and methodically, providing cornerstones for further professional and personal growth –– Offers in a complex and fast-paced world a holistic concept of analysis and action for and in processes in social groups –– Supports reflection and self-development instead of mere prescription formulas –– Is a metamodel allowing to be interconnected with concepts from other academic fields of expertise23 (if paradigmatically compatible) –– Is build on a humanistic and holistic foundation in ethic, theory, and empirically –– Supports socially sustainable and healthier workplaces –– Supports ethical and democratic values

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Contact acknowledgement humanism empathy appreciation

Integrated Leadership

Demarcation role clarity professional distance critic, confrontation, imposition of frustration

Process-conscious vibrant, innovative development, flexibility improvising, creative, with humor

Fig. 3  Four compass points for professionalism of leadership personnel by Pörksen and Schulz von Thun 2015, 66

Thus, TCI can be strategically understood more tangible as an integral concept of professionalising leadership in different respects. This conclusion is shared by organisation counsellor Pörksen and communication expert Schulz von Thun (2015) who discuss how TCI affects leadership attitude and skills in an integrated, senseoriented way with respect for cardinal points of professionalism (Fig. 3). Academia PD aims at professionalisation of its employees. With this text, I hope to have laid out good reasons to promote TCI in favour of PD target groups – academic personnel, administrative personnel, and personnel recruited from the student body (student assistants, student tutors). It is also meant to encourage RCI members to take on a more active role in promotion of the didactic merits of TCI in higher education, as suggesting some scenarios and ideas, offering collaborations with universities, etc. With these summarising thoughts for TCI as part of personnel development schemes in academia, I rest my case.

Appendix: Reference List on TCI in Higher Education As an appendix, further reading about TCI in higher education is supported by a list of available publications in this area, consisting of text from the last 50 years (1970–2017). Arndt, E. (2013). Wenn die Struktur das Thema erschlägt. Erfahrungen und Reflexionen zu einer Hochschultagung. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Begegnungen mit …, 27. Jg., 2/2013, 52–61.

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Bischoff, S. (2018). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik. Eine Antwort of Bologna. PhD paper University of Kiel, Germany. https://macau.uni-kiel.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dissertation_derivate_00006926/Themenzentrierte_Hochschuldidaktik.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2018. Freudenreich, D. (1997). Themenzentriertes Arbeiten in Arbeitskreisen mit Kolleginnen und Kollegen an der Hochschule. Ein Erfahrungsaustausch als ­Interwriting. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 11(1), 84–92. Jansen, G., Kamps, W. (2009). sinnvoll. durchschaubar. zu bewältigen. Das hochschuldidaktische Konzept der Themenzentrierten Interaktion (TZI). Eine Handlungsorientierung bei Umsetzung der Studienreform in der Perspektive des Bolognaprozesses an der Leuphana-Universität Lüneburg. Dokumentation eines Seminars. FENSTER. Zeitschrift für Zeichen und Wirkung. Schriftenreihe der Fachgruppe für Lehrende in Schule und Hochschule e.V., 1 (4). Kläy, A., Zimmermann, A.B., Schneider, F. (2015). Rethinking science for sustainable development: Reflexive interaction for a paradigm transformation, in: Futures 65, 72–85. https://www. journals.elsevier.com/futures. Accessed 24 May 2018. Klemmer, G. (2007). Themenzentrierte Interaktion als therapeutisch-pädagogisches und politisches Handeln in Schule und Hochschule. In R. C. Cohn, Ch. Terfurth (Eds.), Lebendiges Lehren und Lernen. TZI macht Schule. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 105–114. König, C. (1995). „Ach, ist das heute wieder interessant ... “ - oder eigene Lernprozesse verantwortlich mitgestalten. In G.  Portele, M.  Heger (Eds.), Hochschule und Lebendiges Lernen. Beispiele für Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Mit einem Vorwort von Ruth C. Cohn. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag, 39–52. Langen, C. (2015). Social Leadership  – Chef sein, aber anders. Ein Erfahrungsbericht aus der Lehre: TZI als Basis für ein Hochschulseminar zu zeitgemäßer Führung. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 29 (1), 37–47. Macha, H., Karczewski, M., Schröder, K. (1988). TZI als hochschuldidaktische Methode: Bericht über ein Experiment. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-­Centered Interaction, 2 (1), 38–45. Mann, R., Thomas, K. (1988). TZI an der Hochschule. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Themecentered Interaction, 2 (1), 46–52. Mathai, J.K. (2007). “A lot is taught, but little is learnt”. How can I enhance the learning process using TCI? In International Journal of Theme-­Centered Interaction, (2), 28–33. Meyer, U.B. (2011). Pisa-Kompetenzstufen, kompetenzorientierte Hochschullehre und TZI. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 25 (2), 51–64. Miller, T., Ostertag, M. (Ed.) (2017). Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existentiell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: De Gruyter. Moog, M. (2008). Philosophie lebendig lernen. Themenzentrierte Interaktion als pädagogisches Konzept für philosophische Hochschulseminare. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Themecentered Interaction, 22 (1), 56–65. Ostertag, M. (2017). Hochschulbildung mit Themenzentrierter Interaktion (TZI). In T.  Miller, M.  Ostertag (Eds.), Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existentiell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: De Gruyter, 134–144. Ostertag, M. (2017). Von Ruth Cohn und Paulo Freire lernen. Annäherungen an eine bildungstheoretisch fundierte Hochschuldidaktik. In T.  Miller, M.  Ostertag (Eds.), Hochschulbildung. Wiederaneignung eines existentiell bedeutsamen Begriffs. Oldenburg: De Gruyter, 123–133. Padberg, S. (2010) TZI ist Allgemeine Didaktik ... und mehr. In Themenband Themenzentrierte Interaktion: TZI in privaten Kontexten. Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 24 (2), 56–65. Padberg, S. (2007). Geographical Education For Sustainable Development By Living Learning With Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). In S.  Reinfried, Y.  Schleicher, A.  Rempfler (Eds.), Geographical Views on Education for Sustainable Development. Geographiedidaktische Forschung Band 42. Nürnberg: Selbstverlag Hochschulverband Geographie und Didaktik e. V. (HGD), 93–94.

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Portele, G., Heger, M. (Ed.) (1995). Hochschule und Lebendiges Lernen. Beispiele für Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Mit einem Vorwort von Ruth C.  Cohn. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag. Prior, H. (Ed.) (1970). Gruppendynamik in der Seminararbeit. Hamburg: Blickpunkt Hochschuldidaktik 11, 1–97. Reiser, H. (1987). 2. Vorlesungen  – Vom Vorlesen zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion in Grossgruppen am Beispiel eines Rollenspiels – oder: Der dreifache Spiegel. In U. Haeberlin, C. Amrei (Eds.), Forschung und Lehre für sonderpädagogische Praxis. Wie schlagen wir in der Ausbildung eine Brücke. Bern: Haupt, 96–102. Reiser, H. (1993). Die Themenzentrierte Interaktion als pädagogisches System. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 7 (2), 52–70. Reiser, H. (2006). Psychoanalytisch-systemische Pädagogik. Erziehung auf der Grundlage der themenzentrierten Interaktion. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Reiser, H. (2009). TZI als professionelles pädagogisches Konzept. In M. Schneider-­Landolf, J.  Spielmann, W. Zitterbarth (Eds.), Handbuch Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Rupprecht, 209–212. Reiser, H., Dlugosch, A. (2007). Themenzentrierte Interaktion in Bildung und Beratung – Fragen und Denkanstöße zur Thematik. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 21 (1), 7–17 Standhardt, R., Löhmer, C. (1995). Lebendiges Lernen in toten Räumen: Zur Verbesserung der Lehre an der Hochschule. Gießen: Focus-Verlag. Stollberg, D. (1982). Lernen, weil es Freude macht. Eine Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Munich: Kösel. Stollberg, D. (2012). Politische Implikationen der TZI. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Themecentered Interaction, 26 (1), 26–35. Thomas, K. (1995). Fast unmerklich. TZI in (soziologischen) Hochschulseminaren. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered Interaction, 9 (1), 127–132. vom Scheidt, J. (1991). In der Schreib-Werkstatt – eine Anwendung der TZI. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion. /Theme-Centered Interaction, 5 (1), 85–93. Wendt, P. (1988). Gruppenleiter werden: Formen und Wege pädagogischer Qualifizierung zum Gruppenleiter in einem hochschulischen Projekt. Frankfurt/Main, Wien; Lang.

References Arndt, E. (2013). Wenn die Struktur das Thema erschlägt. Erfahrungen und Reflexionen zu einer Hochschultagung. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Begegnungen mit …, 27. Jg., 2/2013, 52–61. Bischoff, S. (2018). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik. Eine Antwort of Bologna. PhD paper University of Kiel, Germany. https://macau.uni-kiel.de/servlets/MCRFileNodeServlet/dissertation_derivate_00006926/Themenzentrierte_Hochschuldidaktik.pdf. Accessed 24 May 2018. Antonowsky, A. (1997). Salutogenese. Zur Entmystifizierung der Gesundheit. Tübingen: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Verhaltenstherapie. Badura, B., Ducki, A., Schröder, H., Klose, J., Macco, K. (Eds.) (2011). Fehlzeiten-Report 2011: Führung und Gesundheit. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, IV-V. Beck, U. (1986). Risikogesellschaft. Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp. Beck, U., Beck-Gernsheim, E. (Eds.) (1994). Riskante Freiheiten. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp. Becke, G. (Ed.) (2014). Mindful change in times of permanent reorganisation. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.

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Becke, G., Behrens, M., Bleses, P., Meyerhuber, S.  Schmidt, S. (2013). Organisationale Achtsamkeit. Veränderungen nachhaltig gestalten. Stuttgart: Schäfer-Poeschel. Becker, M. (2007). Die neue Rolle der Personalentwicklung: Empirische Befunde und Entwicklungstendenzen. In N. Thom, R. Zaugg (Eds.), Moderne Personalentwicklung: Mitarbeiterpotenziale erkennen, entwickeln und fördern (2nd edition). Wiebaden: Gabler, 43–59. Doppler, K, Lauterburg, Ch. (2001). Managing corporate change. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer. Engel, G., Zitterbarth, W. (2015). Wie entstand die Leitidee des RCI „The art of leading?“ In Themenzentrierte Interaktion, Fachzeitschrift des Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international, Schwerpunkt TZI in Führung. 29. Jg., Heft 1, 59–64. Erasmus+ EU-Programm für allgemeine und berufliche Bildung Jugend, und Sport. http://www. erasmusplus.de/ Accessed 9 Nov 2017. Habermas, J.  (1981). Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns, vol. 1: Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp. Hofstede, G. (1997). Lokales Denken  – Globales Handeln. Kulturen, Zusammenarbeit und Management. (Kap. 9 Interkulturelle Begegnungen, Kulturschock und kulturelle Anpassung. Munich: C. H. Beck, 286–297. Keupp, H., Ahbe, T., Gmür, W., Höfer, R., Mitzscherlich, B., Kraus, W., Straus, F. (1999). Identitätskonstruktionen. Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. Klemens, S., Wieland, R., Krajewski, J. (2004). Fähigkeits- und führungsbezogene Risikofaktoren in der IT-Branche. In: Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft (Eds.), Dokumentation des 50. Arbeitswissenschaftlichen Kongresses im März 2004  in Zürich (S. 295–300). Dortmund: GfA-Press. Löhmer, C., Standhardt, R. (2015). TZI Die Kunst, sich selbst und eine Gruppe zu leiten. Einführung in die Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Meyerhuber, S. (2001). Transparenz in Arbeitsorganisationen. Wiesbaden, Westdeutscher Verlag, 36–115. Meyerhuber, S. (2012). Soziale Nachhaltigkeit im Spannungsfeld postmoderner Arbeit. In H. Molter, R. Schindler, A. von Schlippe (Eds.), Vom Gegenwind zum Aufwind. Der Aufbruch des systemischen Gedanken. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht, 86–155. Meyerhuber, S. (2013). Mittlere Führungskräfte stärken. In G. Becke, M. Behrens, P. Bleses, S. Meyerhuber, S. Schmidt, Organisationale Achtsamkeit. Veränderungen nachhaltig gestalten. Stuttgart: Schäfer-Poeschel, 157–184. Meyerhuber, S. (2014). Trust and time in reorganisations and the role of middle managers. Considerations for perpetual organisational change from a psychological and socially sustainably perspective. In G. Becke (Ed.), Mindful change in times of permanent reorganisation. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer, 147–166. Molter, H., Schindler, R., Schlippe, A. von (Eds.) (2012). Vom Gegenwind zum Aufwind. Der Aufbruch des systemischen Gedanken. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht. Neuberger, O. (1991). Personalentwicklung. Stuttgart: Enke. Neuberger, O. (2002). Führen und führen lassen. Stuttgart: Lucius & Lucius. Oetting, M. (2008). Stress und Stressbewältigung am Arbeitsplatz. In Berufsverband Deutscher Psychologinnen und Psychologen e. V. (Hrsg.), Psychische Gesundheit am Arbeitsplatz in Deutschland. Reihe Psychologie Gesellschaft Politik. Berlin: BDP, 55–71. Pellert, A. (2000). Qualität der Lehre und Personalentwicklung an österreichischen Universitäten – Gegenwärtiger Stand und Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten. Zeitschrift für Hochschuldidaktik, 24 (2–3), 10–16. Pongratz, H.J., Voss, G.G. (2001). From employee to ‚entreployee’ – towars a ‚self-­entrapreneurial’ work force? Translated and revised edition of „Erwerbstätige als Arbeitskraftunternehmer“ im SOWI Sozialwissenschaftliche Informationen 2001: 42-–52. http://www.arbeitenundleben.de/ downloads/Entreployee1.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb 2018.

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Pörksen, B., Schulz von Thun, F. (2015). Das Kunststück guter Führung. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion, Fachzeitschrift des Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international, Schwerpunkt TZI in Führung. 29. Jg., 1/2015, 65–70. Pühl, H. (1994). Handbuch der Supervision 2. Berlin: Edition Marhold im Wissenschaftsverlag Spieß. Schein, E. (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Schlee, J. (2012). Kollegiale Beratung und Supervision für pädagogische Berufe. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. Schmidt, B. (2007). Personalentwicklung an der Hochschule. Zehn Wege in ein unentdecktes Land. Die Hochschule 2/2007, 125–153. http://www.hof.uni-halle.de/journal/texte/07_2/ Schmidt_Personalentwicklung.pdf. Accessed 9 Nov 2017. Schneider-Landolf, M., Spielmann, J., Zitterbarth, W. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Tietze, K.-O. (2008). Kollegiale Beratung. Reinbeck b. Hamburg: Rowohlt. Ulrich, S., Wenzel, F. (2016). Training Manual Civic Education and Coexistence. Goethe-Institute Cairo. Academy Leadership & Competence. Munich: Centre for Applied Political Research. UniNetzPE Netzwerk für Personalentwicklung an Universitäten. http://uninetzpe.de/ Accessed 9 Nov 2017. Webler, W.-D. (2003). Zur Förderung des wissenschaftlichen Nachwuchses. Das Beispiel der Universität Bielefeld. Das Hochschulwesen, 51 (6), 243–251.

About Evidence: A Commentary on Theme-Centered Interaction-Related Research from a Pedagogic Perspective Helmut Reiser

In our ‘evidence-based time’ (cf. Bellmann and Müller 2011, pp. 9–31), it seems wise to offer some final thoughts about the term ‘evidence’ with respect to Theme-­ Centered Interaction (TCI) and its effects on the social climate in a group, sustainable learning results, personal growth, and overall ‘living learning’, to name a few examples. As an interested reader can imagine, based on the many cases described in this book, TCI leads to profoundly positive effects for students, lecturers, and their interaction in a higher educational setting. Still, the question remains: is there even more ‘scientific’ proof? Whereas in philosophy ‘evidence’ describes the immediate insightfulness of sentences which cannot be proved, positivistic psychology uses the term ‘evidence’ in the opposite sense – for statements which can be proved by objective methods and procedures. In the first sense, ‘evidence’ designates the same kind of facts which Ruth C.  Cohn addresses with her term ‘axiom’ in the Theme-Centered Interaction approach. Axioms are neither provable nor refutable; they describe fundamental truths or more specifically undeniable truths of what the human being is and how it finds itself related to others and the universe. Ruth C. Cohn (1975) points out herself that TCI is neither a ‘system of rules’ nor a ‘group without leadership’. TCI does offer guidelines and a framework of attitudes though, leading to situational and individually coined work with groups that are freely customisable but not arbitrary (cf. Scharer and Kraml 2003). Furthermore, a staggering amount of experience reports (cf. RCI-international bibliography  20181) give testimony to convincing results with TCI. Nevertheless, in our world of science, the rule remains that ‘what can be measured should be measured’, at least in order to align one’s own judgement formation with the ‘globe’ of others. Without such a validation, we would possibly become slaves

 www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/erweiterte-bibliographie.html

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to a solipsistic world view, while our chances of gaining shared judgments and decisions would be rapidly diminished. By design, TCI is constantly an object of reflection, with respect to its practitioner’s practices, underlying theory and their development, further elaborations of methodology, and interest in its overall effectiveness. This book that our interested readers hold in their hands reflects on this. In recent years though, researchers in the field of Theme-Centered Interaction have used different methods in order to explore the effects of modern TCI trainings and practices in more detail and with different methods. I would like to point out some of the more prominent studies with respect to TCI ‘evidence’. An early study in pursuit of the ‘measurement of TCI’ effects that stands out is the meticulous work of Albrecht Mahr (1979). His respectable rating attempts of dynamic effects and his embedding of broad methodological reflections make this early work with quantitative and qualitative partitions such a gem. Ewert (2008) evaluates the effects of TCI orientations on self-perception, self-­ awareness, and the professionalism of school teachers with qualitative methods, offering convincing results. Bischoff (2018) examines in detail professional convictions and methods used by lecturers at universities in her recent interview-based study on Theme-Centered Interaction in higher education. The author argues in favour of an ‘informed balance’ based on the person of the teacher as well as context. She introduces the concept of ‘deliberation’ (lived practice of chairpersonship) as essential for the personal growth of students within academic settings. In particular, interview methods from the context of ‘Grounded Theory’ (Glaser and Strauss 1967, 1979) seem suitable as a qualitative research method on TCI effects, be it in individual interviews or in group discussions (as shown recently, cf. Kraml 20182). A methodological extension is offered by the Theme-Centered Team Discussion, as introduced before in this book by Loeken (2000). By using this method, which is based on TCI principles and is further developed in support of team cooperation, teams are enabled by leadership feedback to pilot their collaboration and simultaneously take note of their decision-making process. Reiser (2013) systematically explores the development of the professional theoretical background of TCI candidates arising from their TCI trainings at Ruth Cohn Institutes (RCI). This is done by means of a computer-aided content analysis of the final TCI-graduation papers over a long period of time. Thereby, in this area of TCI education research, unusual, quantitative methods of evaluation are applied, revealing, for example, interesting shifts of topics over time. The theory-related analysis of interviews forms the foundation of an important essay provided by Papke (2016). The author presents in detail the contribution of

2  Martina Kraml (2018) researches in her recently introduced book the contingency in research processes of PhD projects. Her reasoning is firmly rooted in Grounded Theory and ThemeCentered Interaction as reference points of her insightful analysis of the research processes of young academics.

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TCI in the field of education theory in comparison with other educational theory approaches. Lotz (2012; Behnisch et al. 2013) builds his evaluation of TCI effects on direct observations and their precise categorizing and evaluation. In many respects this offers a fresh angle on social group work, its historical meaning, and recent ­discourses, as well as the introduction of Theme-Centered Process Analysis (see earlier chapters in this book) and related case studies. All these examples (as well as others in the reference list) vividly illustrate that in research about and with TCI, diverse qualitative and quantitative methods can be used. This is not at all in contradiction to the TCI prerogatives of empathy and participation. In fact, it becomes clear that by employing the TCI approach, the task of research improves if autonomy and interdependency, as well as nearness and distance to the object of research, are in a good balance. Regarding the implicit connection of inclusive pedagogy and Theme-Centered Interaction that appears here, a historical explanation might be useful: in my scientific working groups, first at the University of Frankfurt/Main and later on at the University Hanover, I followed an approach of congruency between Inclusion Pedagogy and Theme-Centered Interaction  (Müller 2018). Accordingly, research and many publications were the result; their authors (e.g. Reiser and Loeken 1995; Lotz 2012; Kreie 1985; Herz 2017a, b; Dlugosch 2003; Kron 1988; Prengel 1993; Urban  2009; Willmann  1993, 2012) became well-respected contributors in this field. I find it particularly interesting for the emergence and training of future university teachers that these activities of TCI-related research and university lectures with TCI led to further occupational trainings for many of these academic employees, as in TCI, Gestalt Therapy, Dance Therapy, or Systemic Counselling. Most of them are now renowned for their own scientific contributions, and eventually seven out of ten were offered full professorships at a university or polytechnic. My main area of work shifted over a time period of 40 years from educational didactics by means of TCI (cf. Reiser and Lotz 1995) to supervision3 and the support of school development. In this respect, I am very glad about the following book by Jürgen Teschke (2013): it is with great care that Teschke takes minutes, analyses and comments on the proceedings in a class of pupils with special needs. The author puts TCI to the test in this setting, and TCI passes with distinction. On the level of research methodology, it becomes apparent in this example what a controlled single-­ case study can achieve if it is extensive and elaborately crafted. Indeed, ‘evidence’ could advance to being a key word within the changing trends of education. I vouch for that, but not in a trite understanding of ‘evidence-based’ as ‘a truth to be measured’ (in this respect also cf. Liessmann 2006, pp. 74). Rather it is only the intense occupation with the fundamental contradictions of learning and educational processes (cf. Ilien 2009), as laid out in the Theme-Centered Interaction approach, that lead to inevitable evidence.

3  The term ‘Supervision’ in German refers to a specific setting of group counselling with an external adviser for the process (not meant is hereby control by a superior).

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References Behnisch, M., Lotz, W; Maierhof, G. (2013). Soziale Gruppenarbeit mit Kindern und Jugendlichen. Weinheim: Beltz-Juventa. Bellmann, J.; Müller, T. (Eds.) (2011). Wissen was wirkt: Kritik evidenzbasierter Pädagogik. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Bischoff, S. (2018). Themenzentrierte Hochschuldidaktik – eine Antwort auf Bologna. In Journal für Themenzentrierte Interaktion 1/2018. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 7–18. Dlugosch, A. (2003). Professionelle Entwicklung und Biografie. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Ewert, F. (2008). Themenzentrierte Interaktion und Professionalität von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern. Erfahrungen und Reflexionen, Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Cohn, R.C. (1975). Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Kein “Regelsystem”; keine “Leitlose Gruppe”. Eine passionierte Richtigstellung. In R.C. Cohn, Wege zum Menschen, 27 (11/12). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Rupprecht, 486–489. Ewert, F. (2008). Themenzentrierte Interaktion und Professionalität von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern. Erfahrungen und Reflexionen, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Glaser, B.G.; Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for Qualitative Research. Chicago IL: Aldine. Glaser, B.G.; Strauss, A.L. (1979). Die Entdeckung gegenstandsbezogener Theorie: Eine Grundstrategie qualitativer Sozialforschung. In: C.  Hopf, E.  Weingarten (Eds.), Qualitative Sozialforschung. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. Herz, B. (2017a). Gruppen leiten. Eine Einführung für pädagogische Praxisfelder. Wiesbaden: Budrich. Herz, B. (2017b). Zur historischen Proximetrie einer Wissenschaftsdisziplin. Sonderpädagogik und die Dialektik von Inklusion und Exklusion. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Ilien, A. (2009). VS Grundwissen Lehrerberuf. Eine kulturhistorische Einführung. Wiesbaden VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Kraml, M. (2018). Anderes ist möglich. Eine theologiedidaktische Studie zu Kontingenz in Forschungsprozessen. Reihe: Kommunikative Theologie, Band 19, Ostfildern: Matthias Grünewald Verlag im Schwabenverlag. Kreie, G. (1985). Integrative Kooperation. Weinheim: Beltz. Kron, M. (1988). Kindliche Entwicklung und die Erfahrung von Behinderung. Gießen: AFRA. Liessmann, K.P. (2006). Theorie der Unbildung. Wien: Zsolnay. Loeken, H. (2000). Erziehungshilfe in Kooperation  – Professionelle und organisatorische Entwicklungen in einer kooperativen Einrichtung von Schule und Jugendhilfe. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag. Lotz, W. (2012). Beredtes Schweigen. Themenzentrierte Prozessanalyse als Reflexionsinstrument professioneller Praxis. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion/Theme-Centered interaction, 26 (2), 46–55. Mahr, A. (1979). Die Störungsprioritätsregel in TZI-Gruppen. Psychoanalytische und empirische Studien. Göttingen. Vanderhoeck & Ruprecht. Müller, F. (2018). Interview mit Helmut Reiser, In F. J. Müller (Ed.), Blick zurück nach Vorn – WegbereiterInnen der Inklusion. Gießen: Psychosozial Verlag. Papke, B. (2016). Das bildungstheoretische Potenzial inklusiver Pädagogik. About TCI see chapter 9 pages 135ff: Meilensteine der Konstruktion von Bildung und Behinderung. Bad Heilbrunn: Verlag Julius Klinkhardt. Prengel, M. (1993). Pädagogik der Vielfalt. Opladen: Leske und Budrich. Reiser, H. (2013). Was wächst verändert sich. Orientierungen in der Lehre der TZI 1984– 2010. In Themenzentrierte Interaktion 27 (2). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 77–85. The whole report with methods and statistic is available on the website of the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international. https://www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/artikelsuche. html?do=pdfsearch&REQUEST_TOKEN=51a7dc1a9a80af6509998ec23e759295&keyword =Forschung&submit=Suchen. Accessed 24 Mai 2018.

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Reiser, H., Loeken, H. (1995). Die Themenzentrierte Interaktion in der Begleitforschung. In G. Portele, M. Heger (Eds.), Hochschule und lebendiges Lernen. Beispiele für Themenzentrierte Interaktion. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag, 101–116. Reiser, H., Lotz, W. (1995). TZI als Pädagogik. Wiesbaden: Grünewald. Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI-international) Bibliography (about 1800 titles and growing). https://www.ruth-cohn-institute.org/erweiterte-bibliographie.html. Accessed 24 Mai 2018. Scharer, M., Kraml, M. (Hg.) (2003). Vom Leben herausgefordert. Praktisch-theologisches Forschen als kommunikativer Prozess. Mainz: Grünewald. Teschke, J.  (2013). “Bis dann meine Helden!” Unterricht mit Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Beeinträchtigungen der körperlichen und motorischen Entwicklung. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt. Urban, M. (2009). Form, System und Psyche. Zur Funktion von psychischem System und struktureller Kopplung in der Systemtheorie- Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Willmann, M. (2008). Sonderpädagogische Beratung und Kooperation als Konsultation. Hamburg: Kovac. Willmann, M. (2012). De-Psychologisierung und Professionalisierung der Sonderpädagogik. München: Reinhard.

Glossary: Terminology of Theme-Centered Interaction and Humanistic Psychology

In this glossary the reader finds some of the terminology and concepts referred to in the context of Theme-Centered Interaction in alphabetical order. In the approach, these terms refer to each other and form an overall logical and manageable system. Therefore it is not without doubt that I separate what is an overall concept in these keywords, at that abbreviated. Nevertheless, the not TCI-trained reader might find it quite helpful to spontaneously look up what might be in a single contribution of the book not explained but just referred to. Attitude TCI is based on a humanistic viewpoint of man. Consequently, the TCI attitude is pillared in the interest in others, substantiated by acceptance for and curiosity of differences of others, by the belief in personal growth of all human beings. A positive and acknowledging attitude leads, so the conviction, to well-being and learning. Attitude, method and theory are not separable. The (⇨) axioms reveal important aspects of the TCI attitude. Autonomy (⇨ first axiom) TCI understands autonomy as a wish of human beings as factual, as well as their need for interdependency (its counterpart). Both are seen as natural parts of human existence. Auxiliary Rules In the TCI approach, so-called auxiliary rules assist a group (⇨ group-related terms) and its leader (⇨ leadership) in navigating their communication into productive waters. One cannot see them without the underlying (⇨) axioms and (⇨) postulates of TCI, though auxiliary rules support them by giving advice for specific communicative situations, therefore shedding more light on the ‘how’. As Ruth C.  Cohn empathises, these rules are not meant as laws but as aid, they should not strangle a group process, and therefore can be broken if necessary. As guidelines, they are to

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be specified and adapted to a given situation, field and tasks. Here the auxiliary rules Cohn introduces in her book 1975 (today there is no fixed number): 1. Make I-statements instead talking of ‘one’ or ‘all’ (Cohn 1975, 124). This refers to being careful with generalisations; they exclude other viewpoints and tend to end discussion. It also includes awareness of one’s body signals, besides cognitive responses. 2. If you ask a question explain why and what it means to you (ibid.). The rule aims to involve the ‘Globe’ of a question, its background. The question is understood by all, inviting participants to follow the train of thought, instead of promoting an interviewing setting of question and answer. 3. Be selectively authentic in what you share (ibid. 125). Referring directly to the chairperson-postulate, reminding participants to take responsibility by balancing out their inner and outer truth in the light of the group process in what they express. 4. Speak of your personal reactions while restraining from interpretation of others (ibid. 125f). Stating personal reactions instead of judging others is also well-­ known in communication theory: I-information gives others space to harbour other views, while you-information nurture defensive reactions in others. 5. Restrain from generalisations (ibid. 126). Generalisations are similar to the first rule; they deny other standpoints claiming overall truth and tend to disrupt or close a process. 6. If you say something about another group member, you should explain what this means to you (ibid.). If one talks about – not to – another member of the group, this will raise defences in the target person as well as in potential protectors. If this kind of talk is deemed necessary, it must be explained. An organised feedback can be such an explanation. 7. Side talks take precedence (ibid.). Often side talks carry important information about the ongoing group process. The art of including them can be very productive. This rule refers directly to the (⇨) disturbance postulate. 8. One at a time please, and converse to regulate this (ibid. 127). Also, many thoughts in different directions might be understood as a disturbance and must be resolved. Taking shared responsibility of how to deal with it offers enormous learning effects for all sides. 9. Meta-rule: The rules can be broken if a situation demands it (ibid.). Cohn did not meant the rules as laws or shackles. They are guidelines only, not meant to strangle the process. Axioms Three TCI axioms describe fundamental values, rooted in (⇨) humanistic psychology, as basis for ones’ attitude and methods used in groups, as well as the theory supporting both. Cohn (1975, 120) designates three axioms as leading ideas in her approach, by most authors addressed as follows: 1. The anthropological axiom: Human beings are psychobiological units and part of the universe. Therefore, they are autonomous as well as interdependent (ibid.).

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2. The ethical axiom: Reference is due to everything living and to its growth. Respect for growth leads to assessing decisions; the humane is valued, the inhumane is threatening such values (ibid.). 3. The pragmatic-political axiom: Free will occurs within conditional  – internal and outer – boundaries. Expansion of such boundaries is possible (growth) as well as respected (ibid.). These three axioms are considered to describe basic truths of human life. They are flanked for their transition into actual interaction practice by two (⇨) postulates and further (⇨) auxiliary rules. Chairpersonship (⇨ postulates) “Be your own chairperson” (TCI postulate number one) is a demanding call. Not to do what I ought to do, not to produce socially acceptable but personally true behaviour or contributions is not what most people learn. Therefore, real chairpersonship can be challenging, frightening, deliberating. Feeling accepted while speaking ‘one’s mind’ instead of acting out ‘expectations’ can be a very powerful and healing experience. It needs time – sometimes a lifetime – and a supportive social context to develop the art of chairpersonship. In light of (⇨) humanistic psychology and of TCI, it is a challenging and inspiring goal for personal growth and authentic social interaction. Countertransference (⇨ transference) Countertransference is the redirection of or the entanglement with the group leader’s emotions towards his group members (in the first place described in the psychological approach of (⇨) Psychoanalysis as developed by S.  Freud for a psychotherapist’s impulses towards a client). Feelings a group leader (⇨ Leadership) has about their group provide vital insights in the (⇨) group process. Taking such impulses seriously, process analysis can take place. But such feelings also speak of the group leader’s own impulses – by knowing oneself well enough to distinguish these two sources, a group leader will be able to not just somewhat react but first understand – dividing personal aspects from aspects of diagnostic value. Reactions of countertransference can be a vital aspect of understanding ongoing (⇨) transference within a group or from single group members. Culture in a TCI Group If a TCI group is well formed, a supportive and trusting culture develops fast. Such a culture not only supports a very autonomous group who takes action in order to prepare the room, to help if something is amiss and to be willing to stay longer if the situation calls for it. Positively engaged, participants act as responsible agents of their own learning process and as members of a group important to them. In such a culture, also a crisis can be mastered and learned from. Dead Learning ‘Dead learning’ describes the opposite of (⇨) ‘living learning’ in the writings of Ruth C. Cohn. She characterises ‘dead learning’ as a detachment or a separation of living and learning. She deems such a separation as unnatural, unnecessary and calls it “a nasty cultural habit” (Cohn 1989, 13). Learning organised in a way that only

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the teacher speaks, that one is not allowed to share thoughts with others, which supports more competition than cooperation, TCI understands as harmful, alienating and damaging the values of life (ibid). Disturbances (⇨ postulates) In TCI, disturbances (TCI postulate two) in the group context are understood as externally or internally perceived deviations from the group process that might occur. They can refer to manifest or latent aspects – stale air, the need for a break, strong emotional involvements or irritations – you name it. Emotional disturbances or passionate involvement expresses something that is part of the reality going on in the group. At least the TCI group (⇨) leader recognises consciously such realities of human life, deciding if and how they might be manifestly addressed, or latently included, or just registered in a given situation. In TCI, disturbances in a group are understood as vital opportunities, expressing aspects of life, indicating resonance to something true and vivid. Making their meaning accessible in and for the group can lead to a deeper understanding and to (⇨) personal growth in the here and now. This has to be differentiated though from personality conflicts of individuals within the group (TCI work group does not offer therapy). Dynamic Balance A basic assumption in TCI is the idea of balancing equally the (⇨) four factors in a group situation: the need of attention for the individual(s), the interaction between group members, the subject matter and the context(s) not in a rigid but fluent way. Equilibrium leads, according to TCI theory, to a group that experiences (⇨) living learning. The balance must be dynamic, though, organically empathising one factor or the next as the process demands it. Empathy Empathy, the ability to feel with others and therefore the ability of gaining insight in another’s perspective and emotional state, is paramount in humane interaction. Nowadays a person’s recognition of (⇨) transference and (⇨) countertransference is known to correspond via mirror neurons as an automatic somatic empathy for others. Specifically trained persons show heightened levels of body-centred countertransference, an expression of being sensitised in empathy. Empathy is not only a vital humane virtue but also a vital aspect of good group (⇨) leadership and interaction. Feedback Social psychologist Kurt Lewin was the first group researcher who described feedback as an important method in groups with a focus on (⇨) group dynamic. The term feedback means one or more persons of a group tell another or more persons in the group how they experience and understand these counterparts’ actions. Guidance how this is done in a constructive and honest way is provided by TCI, for example based on the three axioms and in the ideas of (⇨) chairpersonship, (⇨) selective authenticity and (⇨) auxiliary rules.

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Four Factors of TCI Four factors build the methodical fundament of TCI group work: the ‘I’, the individual (who is self-aware as well as aware of the group, the subject matter and Globe aspects); the ‘We’, emphasising the relations within the group (arising from shared attention to a subject matter and from interaction of individuals); the ‘It’, a (⇨) theme, topic, task or subject matter (which becomes interesting by its relevance for individuals and the group as a whole); and the ‘Globe’ concerning aspects related to the environment (its relevance to what happens within the group and how is what happens in the group relevant to aspects outside of it). In a work group setting, the four factors are to be held in a (⇨) dynamic balance fitting to the ongoing process of the group in order to work on an overall theme, since group research shows that if all factors get space/attention, these groups become the most satisfying, vivid and productive. Group Culture One aim of TCI is establishing a group culture. The culture offers (⇨) structure and shared values, thereby preventing or containing crisis within the group in promotion of shared goals and the process. Group Dynamics Group dynamics describe aspects of groups and their processes. It is the study and analysis of group processes. Social Psychologist K. Lewin first established in the USA after his emigration the field of group dynamics as a research issue in its own right. The author was adamant that social conflicts, (⇨) leadership and hierarchy must be resolved based on scientific understanding. Lewin’s action research builds on participation; his leadership research shows how inactive autocratically led groups become. Many insights from Social Psychology and Sociology in group dynamics are available today. TCI is an approach of understanding of and dealing with group dynamics in a constructive way. Group Process Besides content, the group process itself is a well of learning. Actions, thoughts and emotions of participants are a vivid part of any group process. Reflecting such otherwise latent influencing aspects can beneficially add to the learning process of group members – personally and socially as well as content-wise. (⇨) Process analysis at appropriate stages supports the ability of participants to reflect social situations on a metalevel, to execute changes of perspective and to gain a deeper understanding of their own part in a given group. Gaining an understanding of how to act in group processes and how they can be structured and steered in appropriate and beneficial ways are vital learning goals. Humanistic Psychology/Humanism Humanistic psychology is rooted in the belief that each human being has an inherent drive for self-actualisation and the wish of realising their potentials and talents. It has been understood as a ‘third power’ besides (⇨) psychoanalysis and behaviourism in the USA from the 1960s on. The approach has a holistic view on the ‘existence of man’, taking seriously all impulses a person harbours. The humanistic

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approach is interested in how these can be positively and consciously integrated into the personality. Therefore an important humanistic leading question is: “How must work be shaped so that human beings can develop and unfold their potential to the optimum?” TCI is based on this humanistic view and shapes its workshops for groups accordingly. Interdependency TCI understands interdependence of human beings as factual, as well as their wish for (⇨) autonomy (its counterpart). Both thrives are accepted as natural parts of the human existence. Interdependence acknowledges the dependency, connectedness and need for each other as fundamental as social beings (⇨ first axiom). Interventions Especially the (⇨) leader of a group is prone to intervene in the group process but in the TCI logic with care for the group process (⇨). First the (⇨) dynamic balance between the (⇨) four factors is observed and the focus of the group carefully shifted if need be. The fitting formulation of a (⇨) theme, the creation of really relevant, live-near topics and tasks with their power of engaging participants can be understood as an intervention also. Furthermore, by verbal or non-verbal expressions, a group leader encourages participants to explore some aspects further, or to reflect what happens, or to strengthen their (⇨) chairpersonship. In a TCI group, the leader will be careful not to be too much directive (gradually different according to setting and participants). Leadership, participative TCI is nowadays understood as a concept of the “art for leading” oneself and others in a work group. In the spirit of TCI, a leader of a group is part of the group with further roles, especially as “guardian of the method” (Cohn 1989, 29). As a ‘model participant’, the leader shows by example how the rules are filled with life. Also, the (⇨) dynamic balance is observed by the participating group leader and, if necessary, shifted to another factor, thusly balancing out individual- and group-related needs, acting as expert or facilitator of the (⇨) theme or introducing attention to environmental aspects in a dynamic fashion. Leadership is conducted through theme and (⇨) structures, in a participative form and in favour of a dynamic balance of the four factors in conscious rapport with and analysis of the needs of a given (⇨) group process. As much as the (⇨) chairpersonship of participants rises, the group takes over more and more responsibility, according to its growing capacity of leading itself. Living Learning TCI in class aims for ‘living learning’ – enabling a group to experience lively, honest, real encounter with a topic or task, other group members and oneself (opposite ⇨ dead learning). The term expresses the here-and-now goal of TCI that the individual has a learning experience worthwhile, positive and enriching, in support of personal growth as well as grasp of knowledge. This is achieved by a strengthening of both (⇨) autonomy (‘I’) and (⇨) interdependence (‘We’) in a group situation, working on a subject matter (‘It’) in an engaging and interesting way, overall in a

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way that awareness of own impulses, thoughts and feelings as well as that of others is raised and selectively expressed (⇨ chairperson-postulate, ⇨ selective authenticity, ⇨ four factors). Method It is strongly disputed if TCI can be seen as a mere method, since it is a value-orientated, humanistic (⇨) attitude from which than result certain methodological and didactical consequences in the planning and the facilitation of teaching-learning processes in pursuit of (⇨) living learning. Personal Growth In TCI, a strong root of the approach lies in (⇨) humanistic psychology. Personal growth or personality development as a holistic and meaningful part of (⇨) living learning, of learning in groups and at a (⇨) theme, is considered very important. This is one reason why in TCI the simultaneity of ‘attitude’ and ‘method’ is often emphasised (TCI is never method only). With a positive view of man, a belief that human beings have a natural wish to develop their potential, and a deep respect of the individual in its uniqueness, groups organised in TCI style give space for individuality and self-effectively while offering rewarding experiences with others and the theme of interest (⇨ Axioms, ⇨ Postulates). Postulates The postulates strengthen the reference to the individual, the reality, the truth of perception and conscious decision-making. From the three (⇨) axioms, two further postulates are derived: 1. Be your own chairperson. The awareness of oneself and others, of inner and outer realities, of thoughts and feelings, impulses and associations is supported by this postulate. These are part of the human reality and the social situation, expressing something true and real, and ought to be therefore taken seriously. The acknowledgement of such realities leads a person to conscious decisionmaking of how to act or react, of what to say (⇨ chairperson; ⇨ selective authenticity). 2. Disturbances and strong involvements take precedence. (⇨) Disturbances can be related to outer or inner realities: if too much noise makes concentration difficult, this is an outer reality. The need of a break is an inner reality, but might also be related to a session going on too long. Both examples might also refer to the needs of other group members beside the person who mentions it. Inner realities can, for example, refer to something that has been said before: a thought that captures the attention but leads in an entirely different direction than the ongoing work process. Or something hurtful has been said, distracting from the ongoing process by stirring anger and frustration. Such emotions hinder from participating further. Others might feel similar. In order to continue really together, it is best to express the issue and resolve it, reintegrating all members into a shared process again. If not addressed properly, growth is hindered; the situation may turn into a farce.

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Process Analysis Phases and situations of a work group are to be reflected and understood, called process analysis. The (⇨) group leader is prone to constantly analyse the ongoing process, in order to plan next steps from these insights. Besides, often some or all group members are involved in process analysis. That can be in each session as an ongoing process (rounds – e.g. at the beginning, in the middle as a situative snapshot and at the end as a closing flashlight). Thus, a process analysis often includes observations and descriptions of moments of the process or the overall, for example, in a (⇨) feedback, but also an overall evaluation is part of process analysis. Additionally this aspect is important while planning an upcoming session, as lecturer or with a team of students, when not only presentation of contents is considered but also where the group stands and which current needs should be addressed or given space during the next session. Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis, developed first by the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud from the 1890s on, is a theory and methodology for studying the unconsciousness of the human mind, foremost aiming to a treatment of mental health disorders, but also useful as an approach to research and in other settings. About 35 different schools of psychoanalysis are nowadays known, with many famous contributors to the approach. Psychoanalysis states that individual development roots in experiences from early childhood on, that behaviour and cognition are in large parts determined by irrational thrives from the unconsciousness, and that by an elicit set of defence mechanisms the human psyche balances out conflicts between demands from reality and inner instances. One main tool in psychoanalysis is the recognition of (⇨) transference and a projection of early conflicts or feelings towards the therapist (or in TCI, the group leader). Furthermore, impulses of (⇨) countertransference as reaction of the therapist/group leader to a given transference are useful in order to gain a deeper understanding of the unconsciously staged issue (⇨ process analysis). RCI: Ruth Cohn Institutes RCI member associations and RCI-international are the TCI organisations. They organise most of the training and spread knowledge about TCI.  First founded 1966 in the USA and 1972 in Europe under the name WILL – Workshop Institute for Living Learning  – about 1986 all WILL organisations were united as WILL International. India joined in 2000. The name was later changed into Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI-international): http://www.ruth-cohn-institute. org/start.html Ruth C. Cohn Psychoanalyst and pedagogue R. C(harlotte) Cohn is the founder, inventor, discoverer of Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) and its principles. She was honoured with numerous awards like the Grand Cross of Merit for her works in the field of psychology and pedagogy by the President of Germany, Richard von Weizsäcker, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Hamburg (Germany) and Bern (Switzerland). For more about the life and work of Ruth C. Cohn, see foremost in the chapter by Matthias Scharer in this book.

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Resistance, psychological Psychologically, resistance is foremost understood as something unconscious, not an open rebellion of sorts. It is a form of defence against anxiety. The term resistance originates from the discoveries of Sigmund Freud, father of (⇨) psychoanalysis. The concept helps to understand that unconsciously some aspects of a situation are hidden, for example, as a barrier to the understanding of a situation. Bringing unconscious contents into consciousness is often accompanied by a reaction of psychological resistance, generally because anxiety is raised. Over time, experiences that nothing bad happens allow for a more relaxed attitude towards such (potentially threatening) contents. In group situations, resistance can be accompanied by other formations of protection of the psyche, for example, rationalisation, sublimation, shifts, criticism, silence, aggression, distraction, etc. Realising that resistance is a form of unconscious protection, a group leader can set examples for a positive integration of otherwise rejected parts of the group’s consciousness and thereby help to overcome them constructively. Thusly understood, resistance is an offer of contact, and positively integrated, personal growth can be supported. Selective Authenticity Being selectively authentic is part of conducting (⇨) chairpersonship in TCI manner: one is aware of inner and outer realities but also takes on responsibility for (e.g. group) effects an action or reaction might have. Therefore, the moment one says something, the way in which one does it and the actual content one might share (not all that is true and that I am aware of is helpful or important to convey) are consciously mitigated. Does what I want to say will support the group? Is the moment fitting? According to TCI, the things said should be honest – authentic – but also selective, not just blurred out without any consideration of consequences. This also can be a good exercise in diplomacy, in social tact and timing (⇨ leadership). Structure – Process – Trust vs. Chaos – Stagnation – Mistrust The structure of a TCI workshop is to be well considered: What is the time frame? Is the room big enough for a plenary round in a circle of chairs and as well offers space to work separately in small groups? Do participants have all information? Are they orientated? Are the steps for an upcoming session well considered, allowing for enough time for individual and group-related appropriation of issues? TCI suggests that structure supports the process and thereby development of trust. In this light, structure is not meant to strike dead a (⇨) theme but in support of the theme, its topics and accompanying tasks. Lack of structure – chaos or laissez faire style – often leads a group process over time to stagnation and distrust. Theme – Subject Matter/Topic – Task: Differentiations of the It The ‘It’ is what brings and holds a group together, the relationship or relatedness to a certain cause and involvement with it, by oneself and with others. The terms ‘theme, topic or subject matter and task’ are carefully differentiated in today’s TCI, roughly: the ‘theme’ is understood as the overall concern, the reason or cause of the group and therefore the focus of attention, and has often a relation to ‘the Globe’. It is mostly explicitly formulated, by the group leader or by the group (according to context and setting). A topic or subject matter is a concrete content within this

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theme, perhaps one day’s main issue in order to explore an aspect of the overall theme. Such a topic should be chosen carefully in order to be genuinely theme-­ relevant. In this capacity, it indicates the ‘It’ to be balanced with ‘I’ and ‘We’ needs during a concrete group session, and perhaps thereby relations to ‘Globe’ factors become more clear. A task can come up in the process of working on a theme and its topics. Here the aspect of doing something ‘It’-related as ‘I’ or ‘We’ becomes most evident. Overall, the formulation of themes should be as specific, involving, comprehensible and relevant to the group members as possible (a vital ⇨ leadership task). Transference (⇨ countertransference) Transference occurs while unconsciously one person (or a group) redirects feelings or wishes from one person to another. This phenomenon was first discovered in psychoanalysis (⇨), described there mostly as impulses from the person’s past (primary experiences, often related to the parents). For example, transference of feelings related in the first place to parent figures in the past of group members is redirected towards a group (⇨) leader. That can include, e.g. love, rage, dependency, parentification. If a group leader takes up on the dynamic without realising the transference, the process can get stuck in an unproductive cycle. The chance though is to feel the inappropriateness as leader (I am not meant) and to react to it differently than the expectations. Understanding the transference is crucial in order to entangle it. Then its productive worth unfolds, since resolve by exploration and correction based on acknowledgement of the reality in the TCI situation helps the group or involved individuals to develop their (⇨) chairpersonship (⇨ countertransference). Triangle in a Sphere Symbol The TCI ‘brand/logo’ of a triangle in a sphere represents the (⇨) ‘four factors’ in (⇨) dynamic balance. The four factors are interconnected and understood as equally important in a group process. While R. C. Cohn first described the interconnectedness of the four factors as a tetrahedron or ‘pyramid’, later she found this form of presentation more practical. Workshop The workshop setting of a TCI group stems from the (⇨) dynamic balance of the (⇨) four factors in the framework of (⇨) axioms, (⇨) postulates and (⇨) auxiliary rules: the outcome is an interactive process of (⇨) living learning, a workshop instead of a lecture. Contents, chances for individual reflection and interaction with others in small groups and the plenary are interwoven, forming a vivid atmosphere and offering chances of expressing oneself, learning from each other (different thoughts, a variety of experiences), experiencing competence by mastering tasks related to the subject matter and thereby gaining a broader understanding of aspects of the (⇨) theme. This overall theme is engaging the session organised in a reliable structure while not too tightly knit for spontaneous needs within the group process and the willingness of the leader to adjust the setting according to the process and its goals.

Contributors

Sandra Bischoff, Dr. Phil., holds a diploma in Pedagogy. She is engaged as a coach and supervisor in the civil service and works as an instructor for coaching and supervision in trainings of the association Supervision and TCI e. V., and she is an instructor for TCI at RCI-international. Her pedagogic experience includes working as a teacher at a vocational education college and also as a lecturer in the department of education at the Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel (Germany). Joby Cyriac, Dr. (Kerala, India), is presently an Assistant Professor of English at the Marian College Kuttikanam, part of the Mahatma Gandhi University Kottayam. He is a graduated facilitator in Theme-Centered Interaction by RCI-international, Berlin (Germany). He also is a researcher in English Language Teaching (ELT). Mary E. Hess is a Professor of Educational Leadership at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. During the year 2016–2017 she held the Patrick and Barbara Keenan Visiting Chair in Religious Education at the University of St. Michael’s College, in the University of Toronto, Canada. As an educator straddling the fields of media studies and religious studies, Hess has focused her research on exploring ways in which participatory strategies for knowing and learning are constructed and contested amidst digital cultures. She is particularly interested in dialogic forms of organisational development. Christoph Huber, academic employee at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (Germany), Research Institute for Pedagogy in Schools, is active as a scientist in pedagogy, as pedagogue, and works with TCI and Transaction Analysis. As supervisor DGTA, counsellor and coach, he is engaged in a variety of companies. Graduated in TCI, he is a trainer at RCI-international. He also is Director of the Tübingen Academy for education and training (TAFF). Matthias Kroeger, Prof. Emeriti, University of Hamburg (Germany) at the Department of Protestant Theology, is an expert on the history of church and theology. He is an earlier TCI graduate of the Institute for Living Learning (WILL) New York. Kroeger was a close friend to R. C. Cohn, a founding member of WILL © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 S. Meyerhuber et al. (eds.), Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI) in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01048-5

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(the later RCI) Europe and founding member of the overall board organising TCI trainings. He is a member and teacher of RCI Schleswig-Holstein (Germany). Beside his work as pastor, marriage guidance counsellor and TCI educator in higher education and RCI, he developed the approach of Theme-Centered Pastoral Care for for spiritual welfare. Svetlana Kurteš, PhD, is a UK-based scholar with an extensive international experience in the area of Linguistic and Intercultural Education, spanning well over two decades. She has held academic positions at a number of universities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The focus of her research interests clusters around ­interdisciplinary approaches to communication, culture and society and issues ­surrounding their pedagogical applications. Since 2010, she has been the Vice President of the European Network for Intercultural Education Activities (ENIEDA), having coordinated a significant number of its activities. She regularly presents and publishes internationally. Christudas Amala Lal, PhD (Kerala, India), presently is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Kerala. He is also an alumnus of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) of the US Department of State. His research is focussed on English Language Teaching (ELT), Cultural Studies and European Literature. Giesela Liebens, Diploma Psychology and a practitioner of clinical therapy, is a graduated TCI lecturer. She is a member and chairperson at the RCI Niedersachsen e.V. (Germany). She gives, for example, lectures at RCI-international and for the tutorial training of students at the University of Hanover, besides counselling activities in different organisations. Hiltrud Loeken, Prof. Dr. Phil. Pedagogic Sciences and Social Pedagogy, is trained in ‘Gestalt’ Pedagogy and ‘Gestalt’ Counselling. Since 2008, she holds a professorship for Social Work at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences (Evangelische Hochschule) Freiburg. Her foci are on academic teaching, especially the science and practice of social work, handicap and social work, and inclusive education. Walter Lotz, Prof. Dr. Phil. Emeriti for education and psychoanalysis at the University of Applied Sciences Frankfurt/M (Germany) from 1981 to 2012. He focused his research on the capacity to act in educational situations and centred his lectures in the connection of education and psychoanalysis. As a TCI diploma holder and instructor, he specialised in teaching how to work within groups, for example, in this book reflecting experiences gained in different settings of social work. Birgit Menzel is a publisher, teacher, consultant, teacher’s educator and school developer. She is responsible for the qualification and further education of teacher educators in their second phase within the ‘Hessische Lehrkräfteakademie’ (Hessian Academy of Teachers, Germany). Being a graduated TCI consultant, she trains teacher educators and teachers to lecture and reflect on their lessons with the TCI

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background. Furthermore she educates teachers to plan and review their lessons in a more active and educational way. Sylke Meyerhuber, Dr. Phil. Psychology, systemic therapy and counselling training, holds a permanent position as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Bremen (Germany), artec Research Centre for Sustainability Studies. As expert in applied Social Psychology and Organisational Psychology, she focusses her research on socially sustainable leadership in organisations and mindful change in times of permanent reorganisation. Honoured by her university with the Berninghausen Prize for Outstanding Teaching in 2010, she lectures in German and English, based on TCI principles since 1996. Stefan Padberg, Dr. Phil., Institute for Geography and General Science, University of Wuppertal (Germany), is a graduate in Theme-Centered Interaction; his main passion and competence are to facilitate and foster living learning processes in teacher education, dealing with issues around sustainable development, social justice and our transition to a de-growth society. As a geographer, he is particularly interested in Spain and the alpine region. Dora Pereira, Dr. Phil., is a guest teacher at the Psychology Department of the University of Madeira (Portugal). There she develops a research programme about parenting and child protection. She is a trained psychologist, family mediator and family therapist. Holding a PhD in Clinical Psychology, Pereira was trained in family psychology and family intervention at the University of Coimbra, Portugal (2014). She worked as a psychologist in child protection (Évora, 1998–2015), with children and their families in residential care, and in community intervention. Helmut Reiser (*1942) Prof. Dr. Emeriti of Pedagogy for Behaviour Disorders from the University of Hanover (Germany), is a renowned expert of didactics and pedagogy, a TCI graduate and a licensed TCI lecturer. He held contact with Ruth C. Cohn since 1983. Additionally he partook in the innovation of the TCI training first in WILL and then in RCI-international. He is a supervisor DGfS, group-psychoanalytical supervisor, organisational counsellor and a teaching supervisor; in addition he received training in systemic counselling. Besides his manifold other works, he wrote 40 TCI articles and 2 books on TCI: Reiser & Lotz 1995, TZI als Pädagogik, Mainz, and Reiser 2006, Psychoanalytisch-systemische Pädagogik  – Erziehung auf der Grundlage der Themenzentrierten Interaktion, Stuttgart. Matthias Scharer, Prof. Dr., was a full Professor at the Faculty of Theology/Practical Theology Department at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). He retired in 2014, yet continuously publishing and teaching. He is founder of the international research programme “Communicative Theology” together with B.  J. Hilerath (Tübingen, Germany) and B. Hinze (New York, USA). Since 2005, the programme has focused on an interreligious education. Out of Europe he has conducted research in Latin America (Ecuador, Peru. Bolivia, Brazil), India, Africa and the USA: Scharer is a certificated trainer at the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCI-international (RCI-international) and works mainly in cross-cultural and trans-religious contexts.

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Contributors

Andrea Schmid, Dipl. Soz. Päd., lives in Friedberg/Bayern (Germany) and is an accredited trainer and graduate teacher of the Ruth Cohn Institute for TCIinternational (RCI-international). As a member and President of the international board of RCI, she is working as coach and consultant in pedagogical and psychosocial fields. As DGSV supervisor, rich experiences also lay in leadership, team training, organisational development and communication. Additionally she takes on teaching assignments in different colleges. Friedemann Schulz von Thun, Professor Dr. Dr. h. c., held the professorship for Pedagogic Psychology at the University of Hamburg (Germany) from 1975 to 2009. His special expertise is in the field of Communication Psychology. He got to know TCI and Ruth C. Cohn in 1977 during a workshop, attended from then on many further TCI courses and was co-initiator of acknowledging Ruth C. Cohn with an honourable doctor degree from the University of Hamburg in 1979. Professor Schulz von Thun is particularly known for his book series Miteinander reden 1–3 (series Talking To Each Other 1–3), in which he, for example, elaborates his ­“communication square” model and introduces the model of the “inner team” in its value for communication processes. After his retirement in 2009, he founded and until today leads the Schulz von Thun Institute in Hamburg. In 2012 he was awarded by the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) with an honourable doctor degree. Roswitha Stratmann, Diploma Psychology, is trained in Psychological Psychotherapy, Systemic Counselling and Therapy (ISS), Gestalt-Therapy (IGW), Non-Directive Therapy (GwG) and Communication Psychology (Schulz von Thun). She works as freelance communication trainer and coach in the sectors economy and non-profit. She works as a trainer in diverse occupational training series for counsellors and is a member of the network “Arbeitskreis Kommunikation und Klärungshilfen” (work group on communication and aid for clarification) since 1991. Annelies van der Horst studied health sciences and law at Maastricht University and is a strategy consultant in healthcare and non-profit organisations. She took the master course Generative Leadership in TCI 2007, holds a certificate in TCI since 2016 and started her advanced TCI training in 2017. For her PhD degree, she is engaged since 2016 with the Graduate School University of Humanistic Studies of Utrecht, e.g. concerned TCI-relevant MOOC development.