A guest session at a partner college. Annotations and links added. Not comprehensive and jumps around a bit following the in-class discussion.

1. Groups in teaching
James Atherton
13 February 2014, Tresham College
“Insanity in individuals is something rare—but in
groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.”
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Beyond Good and Evil: 156 (1886)

2. www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/usingthegroup.htm

3. The material in this
presentation (and more)
is available on this site:
(hyperlinks are inactive)
www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/usingthegroup.htm

4. Approaches to Groups

“Reading” groups


Understanding what is going on from a
descriptive and analytic perspective
Leading groups

Application of above and approaches to
structuring groups to serve a particular task

5. Approaches to Groups

“Reading” groups


Understanding what is going on from a
descriptive and analytic perspective
Leading groups

Application of above and approaches to
structuring groups to serve a particular task
Of course teachers are primarily interested in
how to lead and manage groups (classes), but
being able to read them certainly helps. You
almost certainly know a lot of this already, but
you can use it more effectively when you have a
language to discuss it.

6. Approaches to Groups

“Reading” groups


Understanding what is going on from a
descriptive and analytic perspective
Leading groups

Application of above and approaches to
structuring groups to serve a particular task
As you ably
demonstrated by
the kind of
comments you
were making later
on in the session
Of course teachers are primarily interested in
how to lead and manage groups (classes), but
being able to read them certainly helps. You
almost certainly know a lot of this already, but
you can use it more effectively when you have a
language to discuss it.

7. The Group Dimension


Groups have
emergent
properties, i.e. they are
more than the sum of
their parts









norms
culture
cohesiveness
trust
inclusion/exclusion
pressure
roles
leadership/authority
hidden agendas
career

8. The Group Dimension


Groups have
emergent
properties, i.e. they are
more than the sum of
their parts
As teachers, we often like
to pretend that these
aspects don’t exist; that
they are simply hindrances
to the real tasks of
teaching and learning









norms
culture
cohesiveness
trust
inclusion/exclusion
pressure
roles
leadership/authority
hidden agendas
career

9. But you can’t legislate
them out of existence.
And managed properly
they can really
contribute to the
process of learning

The Group Dimension
Groups have
emergent
properties, i.e. they are
more than the sum of
their parts
As teachers, we often like
to pretend that these
aspects don’t exist; that
they are simply hindrances
to the real tasks of
teaching and learning










norms
culture
cohesiveness
trust
inclusion/exclusion
pressure
roles
leadership/authority
hidden agendas
career

10. Formal and Informal Groups
Formal
Task
System
Role
Individual
Informal

11. Formal and Informal Groups
Formal
Task
System
Role
Individual
For a fuller discussion, see:
www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/group_cultures.
htm
Informal

12. Task and Maintenance
Task
Individual
Group

13. Task and Maintenance
This is the basic
model, to which we
returned several times.
Task
Individual
Group

14. Task and Maintenance
This is the basic
model, to which we
returned several times.
Task
Individual
Group
All three components
require attention from
the leader (teacher)—
and they may well pull
in different directions

15. Group Size




2: Limited group
process
3: Potential for 2
against 1
4: 3 against 1 and
even splits
5: clear and marginal
majorities



6–12: developing
complexity:
individualism
preserved.
12-20: tendency to
operate on sub-groups
20+: sub-group
process inevitable

16. More on this at:
www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/group_size.ht
m




2: Limited group
process
3: Potential for 2
against 1
4: 3 against 1 and
even splits
5: clear and marginal
majorities



Group Size
6–12: developing
complexity:
individualism
preserved.
12-20: tendency to
operate on sub-groups
20+: sub-group
process inevitable

17. Group Development




Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Forming
Storming
Performing
Norming

18. Group Development




Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
More detailed discussion and source links:
www.learningandteaching.info
/teaching/group_development.htm
Forming
Storming
Performing
Norming

19. Basic Assumption Behaviour 1

Two levels:



Work-group
Basic Assumption
In ba behaviour: Group acts as if it had
made the assumption that it is here to...
In the early ‘60s, psychoanalyst W R Bion proposed a different model,
outlined at
www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/group_cultures.htm (page
down to “Bion”) and linked material.

20. Basic Assumption Behaviour 2




ba Dependence
ba Fight/Flight
ba Pairing (Expectancy)
We only discussed
ba dependence, as most
relevant to teaching, so
other slides have been
edited out.
correspond to the 4 “F”s of organisms’ basic responses to
external objects




Feed
Fight
Flee
Mate

21. Basic Assumption Dependence


Groups acts as if it
had made the
assumption that it is
here to depend on
someone.
May be very seductive
for leader (but
doesn’t last)

22. (This is an added slide)




In discussion the “additional” basic assumptions came up—indeed they were
mentioned by group members before me. Great stuff.
They are ba OneNess, postulated by Pierre Turquet in 1974. That is where
the group as a whole is determined to deny differences and individuality. I
admit that the discussion concentrated rather too much on the imposition
of uniformity, rather than a desire arising out of the emotional needs of the
participants, and I did not correct that drift as actively as I should have
done.
And ba MeNess is the polar opposite (from Gordon Lawrence et al. in 1996).
In our discussion it arose from one of you identifying that in a class of
people with severe learning disabilities, some or all may lack the capacity
to understand what a group is.
They are looked at in a little more detail at
www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/groups_other_bas.htm (scroll
down); an authoritative account can be found at;
www.acsa.net.au/articles/thefifthbasicassumption.pdf

23. Roles in Groups

Function of




Formality
Task
Pressure
Individual valency
This issue is taken up further at:
www.learningandteaching.info/
teaching/roles_in_groups.htm

24. Management Teams




Company worker
Chairman
Shaper
Plant




Resource Investigator
Monitor-evaluator
Team-worker
Completer-finisher
According to Belbin (2004); the
formula is disputed as well as followed
even its own field. But teaching and
learning is clearly beyond its range of
convenience and applicability

25. Classes in School









swot
rebel
joker
teacher's pet
dunce
scapegoat
chatterbox
bully
victim

…and the teacher

26. Major dimensions of
Roles in groups
Dominance
Included/
Committed
Excluded/
Uncommitted
Submission
Here for the sake of
completeness… there
was no time to
examine implications
for classes.

27. What to do about them



Roles become a problem mainly when a
member is locked into one
Members who have a high valency for a role
regardless of group can be tackled
individually
But if the role is a function of group needs,
work with the whole group to give the
problem member space to change

28. Proportion of time
speaking
Participation:
vocal and silent members
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Group members (in order of contribution)
We didn’t get a chance to discuss this research,
although I promised we would, but there is more
at: www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/
participation_levels.htm

29. Working with Groups

“Interaction breeds sentiment”
(Homans)
Task and Maintenance both need
attention
 Behaviour is information at the
maintenance level
 especially modelling
 and representation


30. www.learningandteaching.info/teaching/usingthegroup.htm