Creative Self

Tamara Bibby is an independent researcher and writer, previously at University College London, Institute of Education, UK.

• 1. IntroductionPart I: Things that go right 2. The origins and meaning of wellness 3. Becoming a person: Winnicott’s developmental story4. Communication. Maybe. 5. Creativity and play: listening to oneself Part II: Things that go wrong 6. The roots of compliance and non-compliance: True and False Self Structures revisted7. All the good girls and boys: compliance and its vicissitudes 8. Defiance: insult or sign of hope? Part III: Working it through 9. Hate and being a good enough teacher10. Institutions: both mad and maddening

The Creative Self is a novel contribution to the contemporary field of psychoanalysis and education. With narrative flair, wit and a wonderfully engaging style for examining the promise and perils of the designs of the creative self, Tamara Bibby invites readers to take Winnicott to school. Imagine then, how our earliest emotional ties to the mother’s care have a second chance in pedagogical relationships. Bibby’s insightful analysis gives us the spirited thinking that, after all, with the provisions of pedagogy as creative relations, and with dedication to the ins and outs of well being, education, too, can become "good enough." Deborah Britzman, Distinguished Research Professor, York University Toronto, Canada.Bibby is a teacher and educationalist who comes as a breath of fresh air. In an environment where the politicisation and commodification of education threatens to undermine the core role of adults and institutions in providing the facilitating environment in which children can learn and mature, this is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book.Professor Adrian Sutton, Director, Squiggle Foundation http://squiggle-foundation.org/, Honorary Senior Teaching Fellow in Medical Education and Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK and Visiting Professor of Psychiatry, Gulu University, Uganda.