ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of how to facilitate small group learning. Community-based supervisors simply do more of the practical supervision. Supervisors need not spend more time on the educational tasks to achieve practice-based teaching, but rather use their time differently, so that the group process empowers group members to achieve their learning objectives. The secret of facilitating small group learning is to get the group working together in an environment of mutual trust on a common task. Group learning has the potential to 'unlock' opportunities for individuals to pursue different learning objectives and contribute what they learn to group discussions. The basics might be taught with manikins, models and simulated patients within the medical school, but the opportunities for practice with real patients are now better in general practice than in hospitals. Practice-based small groups in vocational training are a little different because attachments are long term and almost always one learner to a single practice.
