Importance of group learning

Learning Outcomes:

• Apply domains of learning in a participatory learning approach.
• Identify the participants, form the learning group and determine the role of the participants.
• Recognize the stages of group development.
• Distinguish between the role of the teacher and the facilitator.

Domains of learning

People approach knowledge with an orientation towards technical control, towards mutual understanding in the conduct of life, and towards emancipation from apparently 'natural constraints'. Habermas presents three cognitive interests that are common to all people and that underlie their interest in learning: the technical, the practical and the emancipatory (Table 1.1 and 1.2). These three cognitive interests grow out of three distinct areas of human social existence: work, interaction with others, and power. As cognitive interests, they govern people's interest in acquiring knowledge and are therefore the foundation of human conduct. The following sections outline the characteristics of the learning domains associated with each cognitive interest.

Source: Habermas, 1971

Source: Habermas, 1971

Four stages of group development

When several people come together to work on a single initiative or project, they are not necessarily a productive team. Before a group of people can function together, they must pass through a four stages of group development (Tuckman, 1965):

1. Forming

• Group is not yet a group, but a set of individuals
• Individuals want to establish personal identity within the group and make an impression
• Participation is limited as individuals get familiar with the setting, the trainer and each other
• Individuals begin to focus on task at hand and discuss its purpose
• The group is essentially evolving ground rules on which future decisions and actions will be based

2. Storming

• Characterized by intra-group conflict and lack of unity
• This stage commonly begins on the 2-3 day of a training programme
• Preliminary ground rules on purpose, leadership and behavior are damaged
• Individuals can become hostile towards each other, and express their individuality by pursuing or revealing personal agendas
• Friction increases, rules are broken, arguments can happen
• But, if successfully handled, this stage leads to new and more realistic setting of objectives, procedures and norms

3. Norming

• Characterized by overcoming tensions and by developing group cohesion in which norms and practices are established
• Group members accept the group and each other’s behavior peculiar to an individual
• Group allegiance develops and group strives to maintain it
• Development of group spirit, harmony become important

4. Performing

• Characterized by full maturity and maximum productivity
• Can only be reached by successfully completing previous three stages
• Members take on roles to fulfil the group activities since they have now learnt to relate to one another
• Roles become flexible and functional
• Group energy channeled into identified tasks
• New insights and solutions begin to emerge

Group composition

When a group works together, it can achieve a common goal and purpose. To do this, it needs to have members with the right range of skills and knowledge. Small groups may be less effective because of the limited collective range of skills and knowledge. However, if the group is too large, the more active members can have a strong influence on the group (Table 1.3). For optimal productivity and cooperation, a group of 5-7 team members is usually best.

Table 1.3 Group size - productivity and cooperation

Identification of the participants

The following points should be taken into account for the identification and selection of participating farmers:

• Compiling a list of potential local farmers according to the intended activity of the project
• Informing local farmers about the purpose of the project in a joint meeting or through individual presentations
• Identify participants and form a learning group, identify around 30-40 farmers who share a common concern and interest in the topic. Selecting a larger number of farmers at the beginning helps, as the group is likely to shrink after the first few meetings.
• Selecting established groups such as self-help groups, youth groups and/or women's groups.
• It is recommended that the participant is the decision-maker on the farm.
• Should attend most or all sessions and be willing to participate in the group and share ideas and knowledge with other farmers.

The facilitator’s familiarity with the history of the community, its cultural practices, gender relations, and potential areas of conflict are important elements in the selection process. Groups may consist of same-gender or mixed gender depending on the culture and topic.

Selection criteria of participants in Farmer Field Schools

Participants shall be:

• Active and practicing farmer.
• Willingness to participate (volunteer).
• Ready to work in a group.
• Socially acceptable.
• Must have good relationship with others.
• Willing to learn for their own development.
• Farmers must have a common interest.
• Must come from same locality (area).
• Willing to follow the norms set by the group.
• Must be willing to share experiences.

‘Team Role’ of the participants

The term 'Team Role' refers to one of nine clusters of behavioral attributes, identified by Dr Meredith Belbin's research at Henley, as being effective in order to facilitate team progress.

Tree communication-oriented roles:

1. Resource Investigator: Uses their inquisitive nature to find ideas to bring back to the team. They are outgoing and enthusiastic. Explores opportunities and develops contacts. Allowable weaknesses are that they might be over-optimistic and can lose interest once the initial enthusiasm has passed. Don't be surprised to find that they might forget to follow up on a lead.
2. Team Worker: Helps the team to gel, using their versatility to identify the work required and complete it on behalf of the team. They are co-operative, perceptive and diplomatic. Listens and averts friction. They can be indecisive in crunch situations and tend to avoid confrontation. They might be hesitant to make unpopular decisions.
3. Coordinator: Needed to focus on the team's objectives, draw out team members and delegate work appropriately. They are mature, confident and identify talent. Clarify goals. They can be seen as manipulative and might offload their own share of the work. They might over-delegate, leaving themselves little work to do.

Tree knowledge-oriented roles:

1. Plant: Tends to be highly creative and good at solving problems in unconventional ways. They are creative, imaginative, free-thinking, generate ideas and solve difficult problems. They might ignore incidentals and may be too preoccupied to communicate effectively. They could be absent-minded or forgetful.
2. Monitor Evaluator: Provides a logical eye, making impartial judgements where required and weighs up the team's options in a dispassionate way. They are sober, strategic and discerning. Sees all options and judges accurately. They are sometimes lacking the drive and ability to inspire others and can be overly critical. They could be slow to come to decisions..
3. Specialist: Brings in-depth knowledge of a key area to the team. They are single-minded, self-starting and dedicated. They provide specialist knowledge and skills. They tend to contribute on a narrow front and can dwell on the technicalities. They overload you with information.

Tree action-oriented roles:

1. Shaper: Provides the necessary drive to ensure that the team keeps moving and does not lose focus or momentum. They are challenging, dynamic, thrive on pressure. Has the drive and courage to overcome obstacles. They can be prone to provocation and may sometimes offend people's feelings. They could risk becoming aggressive and bad humored in their attempts to get things done.
2. Implementer: Needed to plan a workable strategy and carry it out as efficiently as possible. They are practical, reliable and efficient. Turns ideas into actions and organizes work that needs to be done. They can be a bit inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities. They might be slow to relinquish their plans in favor of positive changes.
3. Completer Finisher: Most effectively used at the end of tasks to polish and scrutinize the work for errors, subjecting it to the highest standards of quality control. They are painstaking, conscientious and anxious. Searches out errors. Polishes and perfects. They can be inclined to worry unduly, and reluctant to delegate. They could be accused of taking their perfectionism to extremes.

Role of the facilitator

A professional facilitation service 'Findafacilitator' defines the role of a facilitator who facilitates or simplifies an action or process in a group. This person has to keep the group focused, take the group deeper into the topic and (sometimes) manage a potentially volatile situation. This is a dynamic role in which the facilitator conveys important content and helps to establish productive interactions without necessarily knowing as much as the individuals they are facilitating.

A good facilitator is focused on the topic at hand, the process of interaction and the participants and the optimal way to achieve the goal. This is a complex balancing that requires many skill sets. There are eight different roles that a facilitator is likely to play during a session:

• Motivator: From the rousing opening statement to the closing words of cheer, you ignite a fire within the group, establish momentum, and keep the pace.
• Guide: You know the steps of the process the group will execute from beginning to end and carefully guide the participants through each step-in turn.
• Questioner: You listen carefully to the discussion and quickly analyze comments to formulate questions that help guide a productive group discussion and challenge the group when appropriate.
• Bridge Builder: You create and maintain a safe and open environment for sharing ideas. Where other people see differences, you find and use similarities to establish a foundation for building bridges to consensus.
• Clairvoyant: Throughout the session, you are attuned to signs of strain, weariness, aggravation, and disempowerment, and respond in advance to prevent dysfunctional behavior.
• Peacemaker: Although it is generally better to avoid direct confrontations, should it happen, you step in quickly to reestablish order and direct the group toward a constructive resolution.
• Taskmaster: You are ultimately responsible for keeping the session on track. This entails tactfully cutting short irrelevant discussions, preventing detours, and maintaining a consistent level of detail throughout the session.
• Praise: At every opportunity, you should praise participants for good effort, progress, and results – praise well, praise often, praise specifically.

Facilitator:

• Has much to do with setting the initial mood or climate of the group or class experience.
• Helps to elicit and clarify the purpose of the individuals in the class as well as the more general purposes of the group.
• Relies upon the desire of each student to implement those purposes that have meaning for him or her as the motivational force behind significant learning.
• Endeavors to organize and make easily available the widest possible range of resources for learning.
• Regards himself or herself as a flexible resource to be utilized by the group.
• In responding to expressions in the classroom group, accepts both the intellectual content and the emotionalized attitudes, endeavoring to give each aspect the approximate degree of emphasis that it has for the individual or the group.
• As the acceptant classroom climate becomes established, the facilitator is able increasingly to become a participant learner, a member of the group, expressing his or her views as those of one individual only.
• Takes the initiative in sharing himself or herself with the group - feelings as well as thoughts - in ways that do not demand or impose but simply represent a personal sharing which students may take or leave.
• Throughout the classroom experience, he/she remains alert to expressions indicative of deep or strong feelings.
• In his or her functioning as a facilitator of learning, the leader endeavors to recognize and accept his or her own limitations.