Action Learning Sets: a pedagogic and professional tool

Alongside the coaching and mentoring per se we introduce and deploy a range of tools to support the development of the students’ plans and activities, supporting their strategic and operational thinking and allowing for the value of learning as professional peers to be maximised.  One such tool is Action Learning Sets.  This blog first outlines this approach and then includes reflections from the PGCert students about its potential.

Action Learning Sets (ALS) are used and adapted in a number of contexts, including where services are being designed and provided (for example in education and health) or in development work (for example by charities and NGOs).  They are a structured approach which a small group of individuals use to address complicated issues.  Typically, an ALS meets regularly and the ‘set’ members seek to work collectively, with each member individually being able to bring a pertinent problem or issue to the group for discussion. In our PGCert session we are using ALS to explore initial practice development ideas and then follow through with reflection on how the work is being developed and made sense of.  The members of each set are asked to be honest, curious, and respectful. The ALS cycle is split across several months to allow for real time development of activity. They are therefore used authentically not just modelled. One person (labelled the ‘presenter’ in the steps below) is the focus of the ALS at a time, with enough time given (at least 20 minutes) for the relevant stage of the discussion to unfold.  ALS sets can be facilitated or self-regulated.  Members are asked to give ensure adequate time is given to the steps in each stage.

Action Learning Sets models do vary a little, but the stages we are adopt on the PGCert are essentially as follows:

Stage One:
1.    The challenge, question, issue, or problem is outlined to the other members of the ALS. In the case of the PGCert these all relate to mentoring or coaching.
2.    The set members discuss the information provided, allowing the presenter to listen in to the discussion.  They then offer questions to help the presenter to gain clarity and to check their assumptions and preconceptions.  The presenter can ask for feedback or ideas, but these are by invitation. Set members do not give unsolicited opinion or advice.  No judgement is made.
3.    The presenter reflects and indicates what insights or understanding they have gained, and how this might impact on action.  This might mean clarifying a goal, or first (or next steps) in taking action.
Stage Two:
4.    The planned (and possibly adapted) actions are undertaken in the workplace.  
Stage Three:
5.    The set meets again and the presenter shares with them the outcomes of the actions, what worked, what didn’t work and why.  This can the basis of a discussion.
6.    The presenter takes stock, they indicate what they are learning (not just doing), and how this learning is being or might be integrated into practice.

Follow on:

The steps can loop around, with each cycle building on the last.

Having started to use ALS during online taught sessions of the PGCert the students are seeing the potential of them beyond helping them to complete the programme. Emma, a senior leader in a primary school suggested that she can see ALS being really helpful for colleagues in their ‘Lines of Enquiry’. In her school staff have developed their own lines of enquiry for professional development and they talk them through with a member of senior leadership team as a coach. Emma considers that having a team of people working as a ‘set’ using action learning would not only help the individuals but bring back some of the collaborative habits which have suffered over the pandemic.

Helen, a leader who works in Higher Education in a Further Education context reflected that ALS might help solve problems that both she and her colleagues encounter. She recognised that ALS offer a structured way to consider things and allow others to question us, to help seek clarification in what we think is the most appropriate course of action. Similarly, Sarah, who leads a group of schools reflected that ALS methods are universal and can support personal growth and development.

Danny, an academic working in creative practices in Higher Education valued the uncomplicated nature of ALS. Since our first use of the approach in the PGCert he has used it with a small group of undergraduate students and noted that “their mutual respect for each other grew”. He sees ALS as a tool which can encourage coaches (for example) to adopt tools that they can use autonomously, with the potential to increase their agency and time efficiency. Merin, a teacher from an international setting reflected that the ALS group in the PGCert became self-facilitating and so reflected that engaging in ALS could develop the facilitation skills of members.

Joel, a primary teacher reflected that ALS would be useful in topic planning within year groups where teachers, teaching assistants and students could use them to help produce fresh ideas and promote collaborative idea sharing.  Suzanne, a teacher educator felt that ALS have a role in any context where it is helpful to experience support in a safe environment to explore a complex issue by allowing understanding and action to evolve.

In conclusion, as the course tutor, I choose to use Action Learning Sets act as a pedagogic tool. They offer a method through which the post-graduate students articulate the challenges that they face in their professional lives and can gather informed and non-judgemental insights from their peers. Articulating ideas and hearing from others in the set can enhance self-knowledge and self-determination. Their use over the programme allows time to elapse within which actions are undertaken in professional spaces.  These actions are influenced by insights gained during the ALS. Further sense-making and peer-learning opens up as the ALS reconvene for reflection on action. For my students they can also become a professional tool, part of their repertoire to support their own practices and decision-making both for, and beyond, coaching and mentoring.