Complex situations recalling the game of hide-andseek: pupils hiding mistakes and deplorable actions

Abstract

The article focuses on ways of dealing with complex educational issues recalling a kind of psychological game of hide-and-seek, characterised by the student’s scope of hiding the fact that they are responsible for certain mistakes or reprehensible actions, and the teacher’s intention of discovering the culprit. Starting from a case study of a pupil who tried to hide the damage they caused, the paper will examine what was done by the teacher to manage the situation. Considering that breakage can take place intentionally or accidentally, both the former and latter hypotheses will be explored, in order to assess options for intervention that are useful in both cases.