Donna Erez Navot, “Tools for the Clinic Professor: Applying Group Development Theory to Collaborative Learning in Law School Mediation Clinics”

This article examines the theory of group development and collaborative learning as applied to a small group law school mediation clinic. When clinical instructors understand the framework and theory of typical group development, they can help to normalize and illuminate the group process in clinical education, and the clinical instructor can anticipate and better deal with typical developments in the course of a clinic. Conscientious application of group theory can help instructors take advantage of the group process to advance pedagogical goals and help clinical instructors overcome their students’ behavioural challenges.

Group development theory involves four stages: inclusion, control, affection, and termination. Inclusion involves an exploration of the purpose of the group and attendance to social relationships. This often involves testing boundaries acceptable to the group and the teacher. Students are more reliant on the teacher at this stage. Typically, this stage involves politeness, tentativeness, and deference to authority. At this stage, adapting talking circles or check-ins highlights the role of the teacher to be attentive to the needs of the group and to remove obstacles in the way of its natural growth. The second stage, control, is the storming and intragroup conflict stage. At this stage, it is common for group members to express anger toward each other and the professor to voice their individuality and resist the structure of the group, which often involves a lack of unity, infighting, and uneven interaction. The third stage, entitled affection, involves group members reaching the level of trust required to be productive and where the group is one of balance, resonance, safety, increased morale, trust, and self-disclosure.

There are many issues that arise during group development. Within group settings and under the purview of group development theory, anger, frustration, and conflict are normal and important aspects of group dynamics.  Clinical teachers must be aware that these are natural occurrences in group development and should be prepared to manage them. Groups sometimes skip stages because of supervision styles or organizational structures. For instance, stage skipping may occur in circumstances where students are rushed to get “work” done and pushed through developmental stages without time to sufficiently engage. This may occur where there is no opportunity to engage or meet other members of the class through ice-breaking or other activities. Clinical teachers can help students move through the control stage by ensuring that students feel listened to and valued, pointing out when advice is being given, encouraging eye contact, personalizing what is happening, and highlighting constructive risk-taking.

Finally, the authors suggest three lessons that are critical to success: (1) pick clinic collaborators carefully to ensure that complementary skill sets and learning goals, (2) choose an appropriate client, and (3) invest time and build trust in the collaboration.

Donna Erez Navot, “Tools for the Clinic Professor: Applying Group Development Theory to Collaborative Learning in Law School Mediation Clinics” (2014) 69:3 Dispute Resolution J.