Critical Friends
Reviewed: January 2008
This page has been kept for reference.
It will no longer be updated by ICVET.
Critical Friends and Critical Friend Groups are peers or colleagues who ask probing questions and offer helpful critiques. While they may be independent of the project/task/issue, their role is to ask probing questions to enable those involved to gain fresh insights into their work. The strategy may be used in individual or group settings. The main benefits of using critical friends are that they provide
- an outsider's view of the project/task/issue
- independent questioning to ensure that the focus is maintained
- alternate sources of information or expertise.
Critical friendships begin by building trust. Critical friends must listen well, offer value judgements on the learner's request, respond honestly and promote the work's success - Costa and Kallick 1993
At first, teachers say, a commitment to a Critical Friend Group can be difficult. Teachers usually work in isolation, rarely discussing with other teachers what doesn't work in their classrooms. Critical Friend Groups provide a safe, non-judgmental place where teachers can have their work sympathetically critiqued.
Keeping the commitment to the group is the most difficult aspect of participating in a Critical Friend Group. In a teacher's life there are always a thousand things to do and not enough time to do it all. Disciplining yourself to take the time to meet with colleagues on a voluntary basis can be difficult at first. Eventually the rewards can become sufficient to make the Critical Friend Group self sustaining.
Websites
The missing Critical Friends' voices: An angel's heart or a beautiful mind?
This paper explores the identity of critical friends in research study
using an action research approach. The paper begins with the observation
that in a common sense, critical friendship seems to be ambiguous in both
its conception and practice. A person is a friend but does not need to
be critical; a person is critical but may not position himself/herself
to be a friend any more.
Critical Friends: A Process Built on Reflection
This paper outlines the formalised use of critical friends at Brown University (USA). It gives insight into how a structured approach can be successfully adopted by a larger educational institution.
Developing a Teacher Identity: The Impact of Critical Friends Practice on the Student Teacher
The collaborative inquiry model presented by CFGs is grounded in the belief that teachers at all levels can mentor and support one another. It offers a wealth of potential as a means of inducting new teachers into the practice and exposing them to the essence of professional development by inviting them to join with teachers examining their own evolving practice.
Standards need 'critical friends'
This is a short document however, it provides a good overview of critical friends, their value and some hints for taking on the role. Well worth the five minutes needed to read it.
Wikipedia - Critical Friends
Wikipedia overview of Criticial Friends and links to related entries and websites.
Publications
BAMBINO, Deborah 2002, Critical Friends, Educational Leadership, Vol 59 No 6.
A description of Critical Friend Groups in action for teachers.
COSTA, Arthur L & Kallick, Bena 1993, Through the Lens of a Critical Friend, Educational Leadership, Vol 51 No 2.
This article highlights the traits of a critical friend and explains how the methodology works.
DUNNE, Faith & Honts, Frank 1998, That Group Really Makes Me Think! Critical Friends Groups and the Development of Reflective Practitioners, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.
Critical Friend Groups developed at Brown University as a professional development activity for groups of teachers. This article explains the stages of development in CFGs and their benefits for the teacher involved.
HANDAL, Gunnar 1999, Consultation Using Critical Friends, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, Vol 79.
This article advocates the use of critical friends on a one to one basis as a way to develop teaching skills.