J O U R N A L O F

FAMILY THERAPY
Journal of Family Therapy (2010) 32: 334337
doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6427.2010.00509.x

From feedback to reflexivity: inspirations by a

polyphonic dialogue methodology in trainees
evaluation

Eleftheria Tselioua

This article discusses a method of using elements of Jaakko Seikkulas

polyphonic dialogue approach in the context of trainee evaluation at a
four-year course in systemic family therapy. The method attempts to shift
the emphasis from feedback and monologue to reflexivity, dialogue and
polyphony, thus aiming at promoting reflexive, dialogic and collaborative
practices in training.

Keywords: systemic family therapy training; trainees evaluation; polyphonic

dialogue methodology; reflexivity; collaborative training practices.

Context and setting

This article is the outcome of the intersection between my evolution as
a supervisor and course leader of a four-year training course in
systemic family therapy, at the Institute of Systemic Thinking and
Psychotherapy, Thessaloniki, Greece1 and the development of a
significant interest in applying the methodology of reflecting teams
and polyphonic dialogue, across a variety of contexts, from academic
teaching (Tseliou, 2007), to research (Tseliou, 2009) and training. It
presents a particular application related to trainees evaluation
(twelve-member group) at the end of the second year of training.

Rationale
At the end of the first year the trainees had participated in a feedback
process regarding their course over the year, based, in principle, on
a
Psychologist-Family Therapist and Assistant Professor, University of Thessaly, Greece.
Address for correspondence: 7 Rodou Street, 55 133 Thessaloniki, Greece. E-mail:
tseliou@uth.gr.
1
I would like to acknowledge both the trainees and my colleagues in particular Georgios
Psaropoulos - for providing the context in which the following ideas flourished.

r 2010 The Author. Journal compilation r 2010 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
 Polyphonic dialogue in trainees evaluation 335
short individual sessions with each one of them and partly on a
short process where we had asked them to reflect on each others
development.
My preference for an overall epistemology of dialogism and
reflexivity (see also Neden and Burnham, 2007) made me start
questioning what I perceived as a monologic process, with a cryptic
quality, entailing a commitment to a first order epistemology: some-
how our voice had to be the final one, non-transparent to the rest of
the group, as if we are responsible for detecting the deficits in the
trainees course and then intervene to correct them by means of
providing the appropriate feedback. In my search for a process
which could both attend to our responsibility to communicate our
expertise and knowledge and at the same time enhance collabora-
tion, transparency, multiplicity of voices and thus reflexivity, I turned
once again to the innovative variations of the reflecting team approach
introduced by a polyphonic dialogic approach to language, in Jaako
Seikkulas work (e.g. Seikkula and Trimble, 2005).

Method
Background
Prior to the final, four-hour meeting, all four principal trainers-
supervisors exchanged views based on our continuous exchange of
observations on the trainees development throughout the year by
posing ourselves with the question: Which are their resources and
which are the parts that need further development in their process
towards becoming therapists?

First part. During the meeting both we and the trainees were present.
Following an initial explanation of the format of the meeting we
invited the trainees to form pairs: by allowing fifteen minutes each we
posed them with the following isomorphic to ours - task:
Reflect back on your course throughout the year and do the same for
your partner. Focus on the following: which are your resources and
which are the parts that need further development in relation to the
process of becoming a therapist? Print your thoughts on a piece of paper
by words or drawings.

Second part. We would then start with a pair and first ask one member
to share their reflections about the other with the rest of us. In case

r 2010 The Author. Journal compilation r 2010 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
336 Eleftheria Tseliou
they had used a drawing we would ask them to translate their
drawings into words. We would then ask if any of the rest of the
trainees would like to share any reflections they had about the trainee
who was spoken about. The trainee was then invited to share their
own reflections regarding themselves. Finally, we would also share
our own reflections: my voice would speak up for the voices we had
exchanged during our prior meeting. Following that, the rest of the
trainers were free to share any newly constructed reflections should
they wish to do so. We would then proceed with the other member of
the pair and move on until each trainee had alternated between the
positions of both the speaker and the listener and as many voices as
possible were heard. Overall we would try to respect silences and
utterances. The process lasted for between ten and fifteen minutes for
each trainee, amounting to two- to two-and-a-half hours in total.

Final part. Following a short ten-minute break, we used the last thirty
to forty-five minutes to allow space for reflection on the whole process
as well as for trainees to express ideas or proposals for the following
years organization. We also briefly expressed our thinking. This
functioned as a ritual, a rite of passage from the concluding year to
the new one.

Evaluation impact
The use of elements of a polyphonic dialogue methodology towards
more collaborative practices in relation to the hurdles of trainees
evaluation seemed to be a way forward. Interestingly enough, the
trainees voices echoed our voices before we even uttered our
reflections. On the one level, the whole process seemed to enhance
trainees reflexivity; on another, it seemed to build up a joint,
collaborative atmosphere, where instead of the trainees being talked
about in a context of trainers monologues, we were jointly exchan-
ging voices in a polyphonic meeting in language.
On the other hand, we still chose a secretive process: we discussed
the trainees before entering into a dialogue with them. In that sense,
the proposed method cannot claim that it fully addresses the issue of
how to practise transparency and collaboration given the structurally
diverse positions from which we/they speak or we/they are spoken.
Neither does it satisfactorily address the totality of issues related to
trainees evaluation in systemic training courses. Most importantly, its
utility presupposes an overall epistemology of a dialogic way of

r 2010 The Author. Journal compilation r 2010 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.
 Polyphonic dialogue in trainees evaluation 337
relating within polyphonic processes, which should inform all aspects
of a courses organization and implementation, of which it should be
viewed as an intrinsic component.
Nevertheless, it may hopefully add to an ongoing dialogue of how
to devise collaborative and co-evolutionary processes in relation to
trainees evaluation.

References
Neden, J. and Burnham, J. (2007) Using relational reflexivity as a resource in
teaching family therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 29: 359363.
Seikkula, J. and Trimble, D. (2005) Healing elements of therapeutic conversation:
dialogue as an embodiment of love. Family Process, 44: 461475.
Tseliou, E. (2007) Polyphonic dialogue as a means for teaching systemic and
social-constructionist ideas. Journal of Family Therapy, 29: 330333.
Tseliou, E. (2009) Training in the Open Dialogue Approach as a methodology of
transformation in mental health institutions: the case of Volos Mental Health
Center in Greece. Metalogos, 16: 7893.

r 2010 The Author. Journal compilation r 2010 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice.
Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street,
Malden, MA 02148, USA.