“Let's Go round the Circle:” How Verbal Facilitation Can Function as a Means of Direct Instruction

Abstract

The facilitation of experiences through group discussion is well documented in adventure education literature. Using an ethnomethodological approach this article draws attention to how the leader in these facilitation sessions structures the discussions. It is argued that the current practice of facilitation based on verbal discussions conducted in a circular arrangement can function as a form of direct instruction. It is suggested that this form of facilitation offers limited opportunities for student creativity and favors leader sponsored accounts of student experiences. This research is significant in that it uses recorded data from facilitation sessions; it does not present an idealized or exemplary account of how the discussions should occur. The issues of power and knowledge, and in particular whose knowledge is privileged, are not peripheral for experiential educators. These findings question the positioning of the facilitator in the literature and call for a reappraisal of the way that verbal facilitation is commonly practiced.