The working alliance has proven to be a valuable concept in psychotherapy research, but its utility in understanding change processes in teaching and learning has yet to be realized. Despite previous applications of the concept to educational contexts, empirical research on the working alliance in student-teacher collaborations is lacking. To address this disconnect and encourage research, I present an overview of working alliance theory, clarify the application of the concept to educational contexts, and explore its relationship to the scholarship of teaching and learning. Potential applications of working alliance theory to teaching and learning research are considered as informed by developments within psychotherapy research.
The teaching and learning process is a collaborative endeavor. Students enroll in courses based on some need − ideally a quest for new knowledge and skills. Teachers assume responsibility for courses based on some ability − ideally a capacity to meet student learning needs. Each student and teacher then negotiate to vary degrees a defined purpose for their collaboration. Once they begin the course, they each engage in behaviors designed to help the student progress towards these goals. Purposeful work forms the core of this interaction. In turn, this work gives rise to a working alliance between student and teacher. The working alliance concept has a rich tradition in psychotherapy literature. Several factors have contributed to it becoming one of the most popular topics of investigation in the last 20 years. First, the concept has proven to be a remarkably useful way of organizing information about change processes occurring in psychotherapy (Castonguay, Constantino, & Holtforth, 2006). Second, practitioners and researchers possess an inherent and growing sensitivity to the interpersonal and relational components of psychotherapy (Safran & Muran, 2006). Third, research has consistently shown the working alliance to be among the most robust predictors of psychotherapy outcome (Horvath & Symonds, 1991; Martin, Garske, & Davis, 2000). In recent years, several authors have taken interest in potential applications of the working alliance concept to educational contexts (e.g., Koch, 2004; Meyers, 2008; Robertson, 1996). But empirical research on the working alliance in teaching and learning processes is lacking. Multiple factors may be contributing to this disconnect. Some scholars of teaching and learning may be unfamiliar with the working alliance concept. Others may be unclear if or how the concept applies to the aspects of teaching and learning they investigate. Still 1 IJ-SoTL, Vol. 3 [2009], No. 2, Art. 28 https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2009.030228 others may perceive aspects of working alliance theory to be at odds with core assumptions and values commonly held in educational contexts. However, there is substantial congruence between working alliance theory and the aims of teaching and research. The shared emphasis on the process of change, in this case on student learning, demands additional consideration of what the working alliance concept offers.
Working Alliance Theory
Bordin stated that a working alliance occurs anytime an individual seeks change and another individual serves as the agent of that change. It is both a byproduct of collaborative, purposive work and an indicator of its occurrence. Bordin suggested that collaborative work involves three essential components: goal agreement, task agreement, and bond. Goal agreement involves the parties having a shared understanding of the goals for change. Task agreement entails them having a shared understanding of and confidence in the activities that will accomplish these goals. Bond consists of an emotional attachment between the parties that arises through their work together. Bordin (1980, 1994) later explained that strains in the alliance would likely occur when patients in psychotherapy were given therapeutic tasks that activated the problematic behaviors that had brought them to treatment. He argued that these moments posed challenges for agreement on tasks and goals as well as the quality of the bond. Preserving the working alliance requires working to repair these inevitable strains.
The Working Alliance in Educational Contexts
Bordin’s model not only rises above theoretical and technical divisions within the psychotherapy literature but also extends well beyond treatment contexts. The working alliance concept can be applied to any change process that involves interaction and collaboration, including those within educational contexts. Bordin (1979) himself argued that the interactions between students and teachers seemed poised to benefit from applying a concept that “can be defined and elaborated in terms which make it universally applicable, and can be shown to be valuable for integrating knowledge − particularly for pointing to new research directions” (p. 252). The appeal of examining the working alliance is not solely based on the fact that a collaborative interaction occurs between a student and teacher. The congruence between working alliance theory and the scholarship of teaching and learning, presents an opportunity for the two areas to inform each other and thereby extend the reaches of their independent contributions. This point has not entirely gone unheeded. Several scholars of teaching and learning processes have sought to bring the explanatory potential of the working alliance concept to bear on their work.
Research Applications
The integration of working alliance research and the scholarship of teaching and learning is a logical union. The approaches share an emphasis on change processes, particularly on gathering empirical evidence of the outcome of interventions. While the alliance literature has focused on treatment outcomes of improved functioning, its findings could be easily translated to the teaching and learning literature’s focus on the outcome of student learning. The approaches also overlap in emphasizing the components that facilitate and support change in their respective contexts. In fact, the scholarship of teaching and learning already includes scientific inquiries into components related to the working alliance. For example, researchers have long been interested in the goals that emerge between teachers and students, or course learning objectives and outcomes. Tasks components of the learning process have perhaps received the most attention in the literature as established and new pedagogical techniques are evaluated and tested. As a result, the working alliance concept seems to hold strong potential for organizing complex information about the change processes in teaching and learning.
Comments
Post a Comment