Before and beyond psychoanalysis: Anna Freud as educator

Anna Freud is known as the co-founder of child psychoanalysis and the heir of the psychoanalytic movement after her father’s death in 1939. Her life has been captured in numerous biographies and her seminal work in psychoanalysis has been extensively reported. However, Anna Freud was first and foremost an educator before she became a child analyst. Her work as a teacher and her contributions to education are much less known. This article discusses Anna Freud’s experiences in early childhood education, elementary education, and teacher education, paying particular attention to her contributions in each of these three disciplines.