Action Learning

Assumptions, Objectives and Educational Method

Core assumptions that underpin Action Learning are that learning derives from taking action and asking insightful questions about pressing problems or enticing opportunities. Formal instruction and theory are not sufficient. External training, instruction or expertise is not relied upon because the existing codified knowledge, whilst it may be drawn from, may not suit the specific context of a particular problem. Processes such as action and feedback, asking fresh questions, learning from and with peers and creating a multiplier effect between individual and organizational learning are central to Action Learning.

Revans saw the objectives of Action Learning as follows:

• To make meaningful progress on the treatment of some real opportunities, challenges or problems
• To enable participants sufficient scope to learn for themselves with others
• To encourage those engaged in providing management development to assist participants to learn with and from one another

Based on a philosophy of action (praxeology), Action Learning is a challenging educational method that is much more than simply learning by doing, in that it engages participants in risk-taking experimentation and a degree of self-challenge, on the basis that individuals cannot expect to change others or an organization if they cannot change themselves.

Revans’ Classical Principles

Though Revans resisted a simplistic definition of Action Learning, there were consistent principles in the practice he wrote about, which have become widely known as Revans’ Classical Principles (RCPs) (see Figure

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