Group work in schools: A process consultation approach

This paper provides a description of how an educational psychologist can consult with groups of teachers mostly in relation to their work with pupils who display emotional behavioural difficulties. The paper includes a review of the work on group consultation in schools, followed by a description of process consultation (Schein, 1988) and how the principles of this model can be combined with Hanko's (1985, 1999) approach to group work with teachers. A model of group process consultation is then proposed that is based on these two approaches of working with groups, and which is predominantly based on systemic thinking, and a psychodynamic approach.