ABSTRACT
The process of group work tends to follow a common pattern whatever the group has been set up to achieve. The rise in popularity of group work in educational settings is part of the 'liberation' approach to learning and change, which is based on the premise that learning is best done by reflecting, discussing and doing, rather than by receiving. Another early seminal writer on groups, Wilfred Bion, distinguished work groups from family, friendship or therapeutic groups. Whatever the finer points of the definition, it is generally agreed that the members of a group have a common purpose or task, and that the interaction between them is closer, and follows a different pattern, than in casual or brief encounters. The content of group work varies enormously, and it obviously depends on whether the group is formal or informal, the reason why it was set up, and the task or tasks that it sets out to address.
