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This paper reports an action-research project the object of which was to answer a request for mediation between parents and teachers having difficulties relating to each another : both parents and teachers in fact blamed the other party other for failing to live up to their responsibility in teaching and educating the children. The parents and the teachers, helped by research practitioners, met together on a regular basis over two years in a group setting, starting a dynamic participative process. The joint work was directed towards an issue shared by various educators today : the difficulties that adults encounter in bringing up children and the shortfall between the goals and strategies of families and educational institutions. An apparent detour into etymology is used to clarify agreement and misunderstandings and notions about educational contexts. This leads into questions analyses posed by operating as a learning-group of learners, as it seeks meanings, works out a methodology for expressing ideas, solves problems. These are achieved by both distancing from one’s immediate interests and affirming a shared ethic.