ABSTRACT
Group methods for developing cognitive learning skills will need to encourage students to reflect on their cognitive learning in a similar way to their affective and organizational learning. Development activities for group learning need to be scheduled both within a tutorial and within a tutorial programme. Group learning skills activities are clearly best concentrated at the front end of a course. It has been argued that the principal aim of student support is to produce students who no longer need that support: students who are independent learners or have good 'studentship' qualities. If proactive support for learning skills is to be effective it will have to be targeted at students at the times when it is most appropriate. A student who is clear about the 'why' of study will be well on the way to developing one critical learning skill.
