Becoming an Expert in Not Knowing

This article begins with a story which alerts us to the terrible anxiety experienced by both clients and consultant (students and lecturer) when forced to stay in the present and face their own unknowingness. Traditional models of teaching operate without acknowledging the extent of this anxiety and offer little insight into the ways in which teachers unconsciously collude with their students in their attempt to escape from it. Reframing the teacher role as consultant is one way of confronting and working with that anxiety productively and differently. It means developing a different type of expertise, an expertise in not knowing and helping the student to stay with it. Taking on the consultant role in this way, rather than conforming to the expectations of the system which craves consultant or teacher as `expert', is one way of not taking part in this collusion against learning. Mobilizing the consultant role enables one to see and stay in contact with the reality of the work that must be done. This article presents strategies for harnessing anxiety productively such that it can be contained and a space made for real learning.