Learning Model Based on Early Psychological Development and the Constitutive Role of Relationship

A theoretical model of learning is proposed which is grounded in the constitutive role of interpersonal relationships, integrating contributions from early developmental psychology and relational philosophy. Using a Theoretical Educational Inquiry approach, the study critically examines dominant competency-based and cognitivist models, identifying their inability to account for learning as a deep personal transformation. Drawing on authors such as Stern, Trevarthen, Hobson, Winnicott, and Kohut, it presents empirical evidence that the self and cognitive-affective capacities emerge within primary relational bonds. However, interpersonal relationships are not the environment where development occurs, but the end towards which it is oriented: if the relational bond is the point of departure, the interpersonal encounter is the telos shaping the whole process. The child’s engagement with inner and outer worlds is driven by the search for such encounter, irreducible to mere relational pleasantness, although this may indicate its realization. Philosophical perspectives from Polo, Levinas, Buber, Whitehead, Spaemann, and Marcel support the understanding of learning as a relational event of co-constitution. Learning implies cycles of crisis and reintegration. This approach shifts the focus from skill acquisition as an end to using it as a means for fostering meaningful interpersonal relationships, thereby reorienting education towards a dignity-centered paradigm.