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ABSTRACT
This paper reviews the group counselor education literature and considers implications for the practice of facilitator education. In contrast to the facilitation literature, the literature from the field of group counseling, group psychotherapy, and group work is more explicit about the strategies that can be used to train, develop and educate practitioners in these fields. The use of didactic teaching, observation, experiential participation, and experiential leadership are discussed and implications for facilitator education practice and future research are identified. These include the need to: help emerging facilitators to establish an explicit theoretical orientation; encourage explicit discussion about facilitator education strategies; close the researcher-practitioner gap.
KEYWORDS
Facilitation, Facilitator Education, Group Counselor Education
Introduction
The literature in the facilitation field lacks critical discussion of the strategies and approaches that are used to develop facilitators, although there are a few recent exceptions (Hogan, 2002; Thomas, 2004, 2005a). The purpose of this paper is to consider the facilitation literature from the related field of group counselor education and to discuss how the latter may inform or guide the way that group facilitators may also be trained and developed. However, before delving into the group counselor education literature, some key terms and assumptions will be discussed.
Defining group facilitation
Understanding what a group facilitator actually does is not a simple task, especially for someone new to the term. As Hunter and Thorpe (2005) explain,
General use of the term facilitator makes no distinction between the professional group facilitator who skilfully guides the group process from a basis of co-operative values and ethics and other professionals, such as managers, consultants, and trainers, who use some facilitative techniques but may operate from different values sets and competencies, (p. 545)
Despite the lack of a homogenous definition of group facilitation in the literature (see Hogan, 2002, for an analysis of various definitions of facilitation) this paper will sidestep a long and contentious discussion and use Schuman's (2005) definition of group facilitation as "helping groups do better" (p. xi). Although grossly inadequate at capturing the diversity and complexity of group facilitation, this definition does provide a common understanding, albeit a simple one.
Need for facilitation in numerous contexts
Hogan (2002) identified the role that many different fields have played in the...