Study Circle basics

Persons that are curious about the same things sometimes form study circles. The name circle stems from ancient times when students would form a circle around a teacher but in this case there are no teachers, only facilitators. In many countries this form of cooperative studies is a strong tradition, in other it emerges. The results are extraordinary, read on if you are curios.

Photo by Mr Wabu Flickr CC

The method is suitable for any level of training, from basic training to higher education. The choice of themes is generally very free and based on participant's interests. A feature of study circles is that participants enters with their individual curiosities, learn from each other's interests, find a commons ground for exploration and emerge with a basis for understanding grounded in dialogue.

Basic training

In Canada the Literacy and Essential Skills network use the Study Circle method for basic training. In Sweden it is a century old tradition and involves up to a third of the population at any one time.

Strengthening democracy

In Larsson's 2001 paper on Study Circles and Democracy he investigates several aspects:

1. Equality



2. Relations



3. Deliberations



4. Knowledge



5. Diversity



6. Internal democracy

In future posts I will explore these and other aspects more deeply.

Training of facilitators

Facilitator training focuses direct discussion, asking leading questions, handling difficult situations, encouraging participation, generating new ideas, drawing conclusions and making choices.

Past and future

To build on equality and internal democracy is central to Study Circles. At times it can be a challenge for students not used to the method, learning can appear to be slow and the absence of lecture plans frustrating. Only after accepting that learning takes place even outside formal settings, can you start to appreciate the joy and efficiency inherent in the system.

Teaching can be a bit like selling, you try to make somebody see the world your way, accept your arguments and do something about it. Building on the "sales" concept, it easy to realize that to learn you need to know, like and trust the teacher or facilitator. In Study Circles trust can develop rapidly, thus learning has the potential of being very quick. Music, art and language studies has proven to be very popular in the circle format.

Interestingly, Sugata Mitra has shown that groups of children can teach themselves with access to a computer. He has also shown that their performance increases with the support of a facilitator, even if that persons is only present through a broad band connection. I interpret Mr Mitra's research as a reinforcement of the Study Circle concept's credibility.

Validation of knowledge

The enormous efforts poured into the European Qualification Framework EQF, and its solution to the problem of validating "Learning Outcomes" might open new doors to the Study Circles, maybe their agreeable and sociable way of knowledge acquisition can be more generally accepted for formal studies.

Resources

• Wikipedia's definition of Study Circles


• Canada's Literacy and Essential Skills Network facilitator training program


• An example of a study circle program on democracy from the Canadian initiative


• Larsson, Staffan. "Seven Aspects of Democracy as Related to Study Circles." International Journal of Lifelong Education v20 n3 p199-217 May-Jun 2001. Online version available

The way forward

Since all the world's knowledge is accessible by anyone with an Internet connection, the role of the teacher as a classroom dictator belongs to the past. What we need now are facilitators that like pilots helps us navigate narrow straights and close to rugged shores. Coach-like, trust-worthy trail-blazers that like Senseis walk the paths before and beside us.

What do you think, any comments?