Work discussion in large groups: on modifying the teaching and learning method for universities of applied sciences in Austria

ABSTRACT This paper briefly addresses the situation regarding early years and other teacher-training in Austria in order to clarify what is possible when there are reduced financial resources to offer regular small work discussion groups. The paper goes on to sketch out the author’s attempts to give a group of 40 students the opportunity to learn from the experience of work discussion. The author uses extracts from case studies to show way in which students came to understand that unconscious meaning and connections could be made accessible to their conscious thinking in a complex way.