ABSTRACT
In the UK there have been numerous attempts to define precisely what is meant by small group teaching in higher education (Abercrombie, 1970; Bligh, 1986). From a historical perspective, some of these attempts were linked to the fact that small group teaching often took place in association with the lecture method. Many of the aims and practices of small group teaching reflected this link. This led to the view that the method existed only insofar as it supported the proper business of teaching: the formal lecture (see Chapter 6).
