ABSTRACT
Small group teaching is an ideal teaching medium for learning practical skills as it allows the teacher to easily demonstrate the skill, using appropriate methods enables important feedback to be given and allows learners to learn from and with each other in a community of novices. Many disciplines in higher education require learners to practise and master a variety of manipulative techniques and to use specific pieces of equipment and machinery. Some time should be devoted to the cognitive and attitudinal components that learners should understand prior to the learning of a practical skill. The novice should be able to practise the skill. Skill mastery occurs after much practice and allows the learner to demonstrate to the facilitator that they have achieved a specific level of required competence. It is up to the judgment of the facilitator whether a skill needs to be practised as a whole or, in the case of a more complex skill, broken down into some of its component parts. In order for learners to improve their practical skills they need feedback on their performance.
