How to promote Effective Group Work

Developing Effective Group Work
This simple resource is designed for key stage 2 teachers looking to promote effective group work in their classrooms.

In life, people need to be able to work together but these group working skills need to be carefully developed to ensure that they are effective and positive. Much has been said already about the positive impact of working in groups, but this isn’t always the case. For some children, working in a group can be daunting as they are either over-powered by a more confident person or demotivated because their ideas are not valued. Structuring group work by allocating distinct roles within the group is a means of valuing each child and ensuring that they play an equal part in the decision making.
The six roles are as follows: -

The Leader
The Leader is responsible for managing the group and ensuring that everyone has a chance to speak. They draw the discussions together and summarise what has been said or decided.

Scribe
The scribe is responsible for keeping a record of what has been discussed and what has been decided.

Timekeeper
The timekeeper is responsible for keeping time. They remind the leader when time is running out and suggest to the leader that the group move on if they feel that the group are not going to complete the task.

Spokesperson
The spokesperson is responsible for feeding back to the class at the end of the group task.

Encourager
The encourager is responsible for offering support to other group members to encourage them to speak and to celebrate good contributions. At the end of the task the encourager should nominate the person they think made the most significant contributions to the task.

Challenger
The challenger is responsible for challenging ideas. They should be asking the ‘hard’ questions to ensure that ideas are well thought through.

Each session the children swap roles so that each child has the opportunity to take on each role. Some will be more of a challenge than others, but each child has a part to play.