The (co)creation of Shared Meaning: An Interdisciplinary Discussion “Between” Dialogic Learning and the Analytic Third*

The theories of Alexander (2008) and Mercer (2019) are used to inform discussion of dialogic learning along with Ogden (2004) and Benjamin (2004) on intersubjectivity and the analytic third. The authors suggest that the use of specific types of talk in dialogic learning mirrors (to a significant extent) the dynamics that occur in psychoanalytic situations facilitating the analytic third. Similarities (and differences) are drawn between these practices from an interdisciplinary perspective and specific reference is made to the “hard to reach” learner in the context of higher education. F. Bion's and W. R. Bion's ideas on the individual, speech and silence are used to inform the discussion of presence and absence in educational and psychoanalytic environments.