The literature on facilitation describes the skills, methods, models and theories of facilitation but gives less coverage to the assumptions and philosophies that underpin the processes by which facilitators develop. This paper reviews the literature on facilitation and provides a typology, which classifies the different approaches to facilitator education, based on the levels of consciousness proposed by Giddens' (1984). In the typology, technical facilitator education approaches are skills-based and formulaic, whereas intentional facilitator education approaches purposively ground facilitation skills and methods in theory. Person-centered facilitator education approaches intentionally emphasize the attitudes, personal qualities or presence of the facilitator, whereas critical facilitator education approaches seek to raise the awareness of the political nature of facilitation. The typology provides an interpretive framework to stimulate reflection, discussion and further research into the theory and practice of facilitator education within experiential education.
ArgyrisC.SchönD. A. (1996). Organisational learning II: Theory, method and practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
2.
BendalyL. (2000). The facilitation skills training kit. New York: McGraw-Hill.
3.
BentleyT. (1994). Facilitation: Providing opportunities for learning. Journal of European Industrial Training, 18(5), 8–22.
4.
BrockbankA.McGillI. (1998). Facilitating reflective learning in higher education. Buckingham, England: SHRE and Open University Press.
5.
BroussineM.GrayM.KirkP.PaumierK.TichelarM.YoungS. (1998). The best and worst time for management development. Journal of Management Development, 17(1), 56–67.
6.
BrownM. (2002). The facilitator as gatekeeper: A critical analysis of social order in facilitation sessions. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership, 2(2), 101–112.
7.
BryantC. G. A.JaryD. (1991). Giddens' theory of structuration: A critical appreciation. London: Routledge.
8.
BurbulesN. C., & BerkR. (1999). Critical thinking and critical pedagogies: Relations, differences, and limits. In ThomasS. P.FendlerL. (Eds.), Changing terrains of knowledge and politics (pp. 45–65). New York: Routledge.
9.
CerveroR. M.WilsonA. L. (2001). Power in practice: Adult education and the struggle for knowledge and power in society. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
10.
DenzinN. K., & LincolnY. S. (Eds.). (2003). Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials (2nd ed.). London: SAGE.
11.
EllingerA. D.BostromR. P. (2002). An examination of managers' beliefs about their roles as facilitators of learning. Management Learning, 33(2), 147–179.
12.
ErlandsonD. A.HarrisE. L.SkipperB. L.AllenS. D. (1993). Doing naturalistic enquiry: A guide to methods. London: SAGE.
13.
EzzyD. (2002). Qualitative analysis: Practice and innovation. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
14.
GiddensA. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge, England: Polity.
15.
HabermasJ. (1984). The theory of communicative action. Vol. 1: Reason and rationalisation of society (McCarthyT., Trans.). Boston: Beacon Press.
16.
HabermasJ. (1991). Communication and the evolution of society (McCarthyT., Trans.). Cambridge, England: Polity.
17.
HackettD.MartinC. L. (1993). Facilitation skills for team leaders. Menlo Park, CA: Crisp.
18.
HartL. B. (1991). Faultless facilitation: An instructor's manual for facilitation training. Amherst, MA: Human Resource Development Press.
19.
HartL. B. (1992). Faultless facilitation: A resource guide for group and team leaders. Amherst, MA: HRD Press.
20.
HavergalM.EdmonstoneJ. (1999). The facilitator's toolkit. Aldershot, England: Gower.
21.
HeronJ. (1989). The facilitators' handbook. London: Kogan Page.
22.
HeronJ. (1993). Group facilitation: Theories and models for practice. London: Kogan Page.
23.
HeronJ. (1999). The complete facilitator's handbook. London: Kogan Page.
24.
HoganC. F. (2001). The makings of myself as a facilitator: An autoethnography of professional practice. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Australia.
25.
HoganC. F. (2002). Understanding facilitation: Theory and principles. London: Kogan Page.
26.
HoganC. F. (2003). Practical facilitation: A toolkit of techniques. London: Kogan Page.
27.
HovelynckJ. (1998). Facilitating experiential learning as a process of metaphor development. Journal of Experiential Education, 21(1), 6–13.
28.
HovelynckJ. (2003). Moving active learning forward: Keynote presentation of the 30th Annual AEE Conference, St. Paul, Minnesota, November, 2002. Journal of Experiential Education, 26(1), 1–7.
29.
HunterD.BaileyA.TaylorB. (1995). The art of facilitation. Auckland, New Zealand: Tandem Press.
30.
HunterD.BaileyA.TaylorB. (1999). The essence of facilitation: Being in action in groups. Auckland, New Zealand: Tandem Press.
31.
ItinC. M. (1999). Reasserting the philosophy for experiential education as a vehicle for change in the 21st century. Journal of Experiential Education, 22(2), 91–98.
32.
JusticeT.JamiesonD. W. (1999). The facilitator's fieldbook. New York: AMA-CON, American Management Association.
33.
KillionJ. P.SimmonsL. A. (1992). The Zen of facilitation. Journal of Staff Development, 13(3), 2–5.
34.
KincheloeJ. L., & McLarenP. (2003). Rethinking critical theory and qualitative research. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), The landscape of qualitative research: Theories and issues (2nd ed., pp. 433–488). London: SAGE.
35.
KirkP.BroussineM. (2000). The politics of facilitation. Journal of Workplace Learning: Employee Counselling Today, 12(1), 13–22.
36.
LucknerJ. L.NadlerR. S. (1997). Processing the experience: Strategies to enhance and generalize learning (2nd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
37.
MongeauP. A.MorrM. C. (1999). Reconsidering brainstorming. Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal, 1(1), 14–21.
38.
NiedermanF.VolkemaR. (1999). The effects of facilitator characteristics on meeting preparation, set up and implementation. Small Group Research, 30(3), 330–360.
39.
ParryL. (1995). Effective facilitators—a key element in successful continuous improvement processes. Training for Quality, 3(4), 9–14.
40.
PriestS.GassM. (1997). Effective leadership in adventure programming. Adelaide, Australia: Kinetics.
41.
PriestS.GassM.GillisL. (2000). The essential elements of facilitation. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
42.
RasmussenD. M. (1996). Critical theory and philosophy. In RasmussenD. M. (Ed.), The handbook of critical theory (pp. 11–38). Oxford, England: Blackwell.
43.
RingerM. (1999). Two vital aspects in the facilitation of groups: Connections and containment. Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, 4(1), 5–11.
44.
RingerM. (2002). Group action: The dynamics of groups in therapeutic, educational and corporate settings. London: Jessica Kingsley.
45.
RogersC. R. (1983). Freedom to learn for the 80's. London: Charles E. Merrill.
46.
RogersC. R. (1989). The interpersonal relationship in the facilitation of learning. In HendersonV. L.KirschenbaumH. (Eds.), The Carl Rogers reader (pp. 304–322). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
47.
SchönD. A. (1988). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
48.
SchönD. A. (1995). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Aldershot, England: Arena.
49.
SchwarzR. (2002). The skilled facilitator: A comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators, managers, trainers, and coaches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
50.
SharpP. A. (1992). The “never-evers” of workshop facilitation. Journal of Staff Development, 13(2), 38–40.
51.
SugermanD. A.DohertyK. L.GarveyD. E.GassM. A. (2000). Reflective learning: Theory and practice. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
52.
WarrenK. (1998). A call for race, gender, and class sensitive facilitation in outdoor experiential education. Journal of Experiential Education, 21(1), 21–25.
53.
WeaverR. G.FarrellJ. D. (1997). Managers as facilitators. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
WhiteS. A. (1999). Participation: Walk the talk In WhiteS. A. (Ed.), The art of facilitating participation: Releasing the power of grassroots communication (pp. 15–32). London: SAGE.
