ABSTRACT
This chapter provides explores some of G. Bateson's leading ideas, and then examines the nature of the learning process in group relations conferences, what participants may be expected to derive from them, and the inherent demands of the staff role in such events. It argues that this will throw light not only upon the conferences themselves, but upon learning and teaching in a wide range of contexts. The chapter suggests that Bateson's concepts, as presented in his collected papers, do not adequately describe the processes that the researchers encountered in their experience, and work towards a tentative model which seems to place his insights in a more adequate frame. Bateson draws attention to the following hierarchy of levels or orders of learning zero-learning: a condition in which the individual makes specific responses to specific stimuli or situations. The conferences are not distinctive in focusing attention upon fantasy; this is an integral part of many group activities intended to develop self-awareness.
