ABSTRACT
An overview surveyed the development of action learning within the UK and charted the evolution from the original concepts developed by Reg Revans. It identifies 'Revans' Classical Principle', a shorthand for the consistencies within the reading of Reg Revans' considerable output. Indeed, Revans endorsed many different forms of action learning at different times in his long career and his own concepts evolved over that time. From the outset action learning and the National Health Service have been intimately interlinked. Indeed, Revans' work at Manchester Royal Infirmary in the early 1960s and later with the Hospital Internal Communication project in that same decade together with further work in learning disability services in the 1970s suggest that healthcare has been one of the 'proving-grounds' for action learning. M. Pedler et al. offer a cognitive map indicating where action learning 'fits'. They propose a framework for thinking about the positioning of action learning based on three positions: speculative, emancipatory, and performative.
