International Conference: Action Learning, 7th – 9th April 2025, University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School

Blog piece from Jane Garnham (IFAL Member) and Chandana Sanyal (Conference contributor)

The International Action Learning Conference took place in the late spring in the UK at the University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School and was attended by over 70 people from all over the world. This biannual conference brings together academics and practitioners to share research stories from practise and to connect to explore and discuss how action learning is being used across the globe.

Jane Garnham attended as an IFAL member and Chandana Sanyal attended as a conference contributor, presenting on the topic of Action Learning as an agent in planning and implementing Quality Improvement Projects in an organisational context.

There was a packed conference programme including:

• Keynote Speaker – Naomi Chambers, University of Manchester
• Drawing on her 25 years of experience of facilitating, researching and evaluating action learning, Naomi identified the critical ingredients. She went on to explore both the difficulty and the importance of striking a good balance between the processes of learning, reflecting, and taking action.
• Keynote Speaker – Mike Pedler, ‘Manchester and Action Learning’
• Mike shared his experience and knowledge of the development of action learning and the many links between Manchester and Action Learning.
• Symposium - Being an Action Learning Scholar-Practitioner
• David Coghlan, Trinity Business School, Dublin
• This symposium was a panel session in which four experienced action learning scholar-practitioners (Mike Pedler, Christine Abbott, Lesley Wood and Bernhard Hauser) were interviewed and shared their reflections as action learning scholar-practitioners. Delegates then had the opportunity o share their stories about how they came across action learning and how they are using it.

Reflections: Jane Garnham

I enjoyed my time at the conference meeting both new people and familiar faces. Whilst not attending in an official IFAL capacity, I did get agreement from the conference organisers to say a few words about IFAL. A big thank you to Helen Baxter who led the planning and organising of this three-day event.

It was great to be able to share the story that almost 50 years ago, eight people signed the Memorandum & Articles of Association to form the Action Learning Trust. They included a previous Principal at the Manchester University Institute of Science & Technology, the principle of Sheffield poly, a past president of the Royal College of Physicians, the former chairman of the Manpower Services Commission, the general secretary of a trade union and …….Reg Revans.

The M & A state that the company’s key objects are;

“to advance the education of the public with particular reference to education by Action Learning, a system of learning by which the participants are personally and directly involved in the identification and analysis of practical problems and in the diagnosis and responsible treatment of such problems.”

In 1984 the Action Learning Trust became known as the International Foundation for Action Learning or IFAL and it is a charity registered in the UK with the Charity Commission. 

I was able to talk about IFAL’s pride in being connected to the Action Learning Research & Practice Journal – if you become an IFAL member you can subscribe to the journal and receive all annual editions as hard copy delivered to your door for £36 saving £160 on the standard subscription. The journal is a key read, providing accounts of practice, articles about research along with book reviews and editorial opinion.

As a conference delegate I attended as many sessions as possible and learnt lots from those I went to.  They included:

• Towards an International AL Archive and Research Centre which was facilitated by George Boak, John Edmonstone and Mike Pedler.  The session began to explore how a centre might be established to house all the historic documents about AL
• Action Learning as an Enabler of Equity: Redistributing power in Leadership Development - Ruby Ubhi
•  Using psychogeography to get movement into the leadership development journey - Leigh Morland
• Shadow Facilitation: Creating Conditions for Practitioner Reflection and Action in Critical Action Learning - Russ Vince & Bernhard Hauser, University of Bath and University of St Andrews BHCG Impact Network, Germany
• Codevelopment Action Learning as a supervisory tool to support graduate students' academic persistence and leadership - Nesrine Fazez, Nathalie Lafranchise, Léane Larose & Maxime Paquet, University de Montréal, Canada, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
• Bridging Theory and Practice: Action Learning in Long-Term Mentorship of Young Entrepreneurs - Paul Argyle
• Comparing in-person and virtual action learning - George Boak York St John University
• Where is the action learning in health & care to address system-wide challenges? A provocation. Simon Moralee University of Manchester.

Reflections: Chandana Sanyal

I was able to attend only a couple of sessions at the conference this year. One of the sessions was an application of action learning to develop the capacity within West Yorkshire Police using action modes of research related to the significant issue of anger within and between communities. This was an excellent example of building ‘actionable knowledge’ through the cycles of collective reflection and learning within an action learning group.  The second session was an account of practice showcasing action learning as a strength-based and inclusive approach to leadership development and problem solving.  Here, action learning was positioned as an ‘enabler of equity’ within an international leadership development programme; this example of practice highlighted that action learning can uplift and recognise leaders from all backgrounds by helping them to build the confidence to think with criticality, challenge the status quo productively and see value in their contribution and perspective when innovating and problem solving.  I also attended the Keynote by Mike Pedler on ‘Manchester and Action Learning’; it was fascinating to learn more about Reg Ravans’ work on Action Learning in Manchester.
My overall reflection from the conference is that action learning continues to be used in leadership and management development to create a space for collaborative learning and reflections to support individual management and leadership capabilities and as well as impact organisational objectives and values.

Thanks for reading!