Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, Chief Executive of Universities UK, in the 2004 Barbara Diamond Memorial Lecture¹, highlighted many contributory factors that can lead to the under-representation of women in higher education. These include:

The catalyst for offering action learning to support and develop women in higher education was an earlier wide ranging conversation with a pro-vice chancellor with responsibility for pulling together the Rewarding and Developing Staff Strategy for his university. A particular concern he had identified related to the recruitment and retention of female researchers and lecturers in "male dominated departments".

Working with universities when seeking to introduce action learning confirmed that the factors noted by Lady Warwick inhibit women playing a full role suggesting that they can find themselves:

Action learning seems to me to be an ideal way of addressing some of these issues. This article draws on my experience of introducing and facilitating action learning in higher education and aims to explore the value to women of being in an action learning set.

Action learning, as described in this article, refers to working in small groups to resolve problems. The originator of action learning, Reg Revans, perceived that people can effectively work together in a group to tackle the real problems they experience, rather than restricting their learning to considering hypothetical examples. He made a useful distinction between ‘puzzles’ for which a right answer can be found and ‘problems’ for which there is no single solution or one way forward. Action learning is a tool to resolve problems, not puzzles.

Underpinning action learning is a belief in experiential learning, that we can use our experiences as a source of learning and development. Being in an action learning set provides an opportunity for describing our experience, developing our understanding of this experience, reflecting upon it, identifying resources that will enable us to move things forward whether from within ourselves or without, deliberating upon & deciding on options for action and reviewing action.

Typically a group of 4 to 7 people comes together to form an action learning set, which meets at an agreed interval between meetings, usually about every four to six weeks, for a minimum of six sessions with the opportunity to review whether or not to continue at that point. For a fuller description of action learning see the references ^2,3&4 at the end of this article.

Over the last two years I have worked with four higher education institutions (University of Reading, Birkbeck University of London, King’s College London and University of Sussex) running introductory sessions at all of them. To date three action learning sets have run for a full programme, other sets are in the process of being established or are underway.

A variety of approaches are taken regarding the target group of women to whom action learning is offered. For example in one institution researchers were invited to attend an introductory session, whilst in another senior women were invited to do so and one university invited participation from any women in the organisation. The sets have varied composition: academics, administrators, senior women, mixed role – academic and support staff.

In every programme there was an introductory session. Sometimes this was in the context of exploring equal opportunity issues which gives women an opportunity to consider what these are for them as individuals and what needs to change to address them. Every introductory session provides the opportunity to experience working as an action learning set. At the end women are invited to complete a form indicating whether they would like to be in a set or not, or whether they are unsure for example because they need more information or are concerned whether they can commit the time.

Once sets are established the frequency of meeting varies. Usually the set makes the decision based on their requirements, priorities and commitments. Some sets meet monthly, others less often. Two sets that started within a week of each other, both meeting for six facilitated sessions, finished meeting as facilitated sets one after 6 months and the other after 10 months. All set meetings are for a half-day either 3 or 3.5 hours long.

How the set time is used in meetings differs between groups. All sets at the start give each woman time to "check in" – up to about five minutes in which to update each other on what is going on for them individually including action taken following the last set meeting. Some sets then negotiate how to use the time each session – some or all members having a chance to bring an issue or problem of concern to them, other sets agree at the outset to divide the time up equally at each set meeting. Opportunity to look at group process is built in during and at the end of each set meeting.

Overall across the three groups that have completed a programme all of which met for six facilitated sets, there was an 86% attendance record. In final review sessions, most women wanted to continue meeting though not always as an action learning set. Concern was held by some set members as to whether there are sufficient skills to maintain effective working of the set and the possibility of the facilitator returning to help a review of practice after a number of sessions was explored. Opinion (collected on evaluation forms – see next paragraph) varies about the number of facilitated sets, some wanting more, others feeling it had been about right. Though the statistical data collected received strong agreement that "this action learning group was an appropriate use of my time" some women would have preferred shorter sessions at less frequent intervals.

Focussing on facilitating the group to explore and take forward the issues women bring to the group or on developing skills in the group is an issue for me as the facilitator. Both are important, though on balance I give the former priority. Regular reviews of group process are built into sessions. Always a challenge of action learning is not giving advice unless it is asked for, something that most women come to appreciate. The evaluation forms completed after the three full programmes indicate that most felt that they had enhanced the skills that working in an action learning set requires e.g. listening, questioning, appropriate disclosure, challenging.

Other learning for me as the facilitator centres around being flexible about what suits a particular group. For example whether to divide up the time equally to work on issues or to bid at the beginning once checking in has taken place. Another example is that for some women it is impossible to identify dates far ahead as they do not know what their lecturing timetables will be, challenging the notion that it is best to have dates fixed well in advance.

Most important in reflecting on the experience is what value has the opportunity to be in an action learning set been to the participants. The issues that women bring to work with in the sets vary. It is not appropriate to go into any detail given the boundaries of confidentiality that working in a set involves. The factors and situations noted at the beginning of this article chime with most of the issues worked with in the sets.

Past experience of facilitating action learning sets and being a set member leads me to believe that most learning in a set can be categorised in four ways:

Feedback on the evaluation forms suggests this broadly summarises the experience of the women in the sets. Quotations are taken, with permission of set members, from the evaluation forms completed after six sessions. In response to the question "What have you learned from working in the group?" – one woman writes:

Another woman says:

Asked "What have you changed (or are in the process of changing) about your work?", responses include:

"Confidence in abilities, negotiating skills improved, aiming also to become more empowered and able to speak out & delegate where necessary."

"As an independent research fellow I am pretty much isolated from other groups in my department. The AL group has provided much needed support & I have used skills learnt to join with an existing group & integrate more. This has made my daily lab-work far more effective."

Women or men might have made the comments quoted above about their experience of action learning. Of particular importance given that these were women only groups are the responses to the question "What is your view of the value of action learning in (x universities) equal opportunities provision?". They include:

"Particularly important for under-represented groups: I greatly appreciated, & developed from, a woman only group"

"Highly value it as an excellent resource for women to share experiences, advice re insecurities / difficulties in life-work balance"

"I think it provides a way into other helpful issues e.g. networking – for individual women"

"I think action learning is a positive contribution towards the equal ops. provision – very supportive in a safe environment".

The statistical data collected on the evaluation forms confirms these views. Asked on a scale 1 (strongly agree) – 7 (strongly disagree) if they thought this was an effective method of providing support to other women in the institution the average response is 1.5 indicating strong agreement. Similar averages are achieved when women were asked if they would recommend action learning to a colleague (1.3) and if they were helped to deal with the specific issues they brought to the group (1.7). Table 1 provides further data relating to the action learning sets described in the current article. The average findings closely match the responses noted by Colin Evans in a recent article regarding action learning sets at Birkbeck College⁵.

An additional benefit of action learning, that was highlighted by set members, is the opportunity to share experience and knowledge, for example, of how to achieve promotion. This often leads to networking outside of the sets and some women to work together to consider how to develop networking across their institution.

Action learning can aid the development of younger women to enable them to progress and take up more senior roles and can support more established women fulfil their roles.

Lady Warwick¹ stated:

"It isn’t any good for us if higher education is perceived as being a male-dominated culture. We need diversity within the sector. We need to encourage as much new blood, and as many of the sharpest minds, as we can."

Action learning can play a significant role in achieving the changes needed in higher education.

June Whetherly

23.7.04

* Source of data:

1 set x 3 – all 6 sessions attended by all participants

1 set x 6 (2 returns not received) – of potential attendances of 35 there were 5 absences (one woman did not join until 2^nd meeting)

1 set x 5 (I return not received) of 30 potential attendances 7 absences (one woman missed four meetings – 3 of 4 for health reasons)

1 set x 5 (2 returns not received - 1 from a women who left institution before set finished) of 20 potential attendances 3 absences (2 of which sickness) 

1 set x 4 (2 returns not received) - of 22 potential attendances - 2 absences

1 set x 5 (1 return not received) - of 30 potential attendances - 2 absences

1 set x 5 (3 returns not received) - of 30 potential attendances - 3  absences (1 person left institution before set finished)

1 set x 8 (1 return not received) - of 48 potential attendances - 7 absences

1 Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, The Barbara Diamond Memorial Lecture, Wednesday 17 March 2004, University of Westminster – http://www.ecu.ac.uk/downloads/Diamond.pdf

2 June Whetherly, Action learning – developing the person and the organisation

3 Ian McGill and Liz Beaty, Action learning: a guide for professional, management and educational development, 2^nd ed, Kogan Page,1995

4 Ian McGill and Anne Brockbank, The Action Learning handbook: powerful techniques for education, professional development & training, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004

5 Colin Evans, The power of action learning groups to develop the HE organisation and its managers, Educational Developments, 5.1, March 2004

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