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The observation of children in a Nursery School setting is a necessary training activity of students at the Hampstead Clinic (it complements the observation of infants in the Well-Baby Clinic and in their home environment). It is of particular value in the early stages of students' psychoanalytic training since, through their observational experience in the Nursery School, they are brought into direct contact with children before undertaking clinical work. During this pre-clinical period, they are allowed time and opportunity to bring together, in their observations, earlier pre-training experiences and interests with the new theoretical learning upon which they are embarking.
The primary purpose of observation is to help the observer to get in touch with the experience of the under-fives and to gain some understanding of the various dimensions of child development. This aspect of training is aimed at helping students to understand their observations of child behaviour within the framework of psychoanalytic theoretical constructions. The value and excitement inherent in this activity lies in moving from seeing and facing what is actually going on in the Nursery School to a theoretical understanding of such observations.
Students observe in the Nursery School for an hour and a half each week and meet weekly in a seminar to share and discuss their observations. The method of observation is decidedly participant. No use is made of one-way mirrors. Observers mingle with the children in the Nursery School, adopting a particular role which ultimately reflects his or her personal style, but which is designed to set the balance somewhere between sheer neutrality and active teaching.
No pretence is made to achieve a model of objective observation. Observers increasingly find themselves becoming part of the children's weekly life and come to experience a range of feelings and reactions in response to individual children. I believe that these subjective feelings pr