ABSTRACT
Revans never prescribed exactly how action learning should be done, so there is no single agreed definition of action learning and therefore no single way of doing it. The definition offered in Chapter 1 is personal to the author and for working purposes only – and there are certainly others. This preference for avoiding definition reflects the root sources of action learning practice and, as a result, attempts have been made to ascribe them to different “schools” – Scientific, Experiential, Critical Reflection and Tacit/Incidental (1). As action learning has grown and spread, it has metamorphosed into a range of different varieties and variations, at the last count some 62. Perhaps a useful analogy of action learning is that of a tree, where “Classical” action learning forms the trunk, and the evolving varieties form the branches. The main versions and varieties are:
