Debriefing to Find Patterns In Experience

Debriefing is very important because it helps individual members of the group to deepen their learning and understanding. However, within a popular education approach, the focus is not only on individual learning, but also is on how the collective learns together for the purpose of shaping and informing collective action.

For this reason, when thinking about debriefing, it is more important to focus on what is being learned together as a collective. This is done by looking for patterns in experience or finding the commonalities in the lived experiences that individual members of the group share. Looking for patterns in experience will happen primarily at the “So What?” stage in the progression of debriefing questions.

The role of the facilitator at this stage is to encourage group members to draw links between their experiences. For example, group members may individually have experienced racism or homophobia. By sharing these experiences, group members may notice the shared experiences or see a relationship between their experiences. Participants may also need your help in making the links. By looking for patterns in experience it is possible to encourage group members to see that they are not alone in their experience and to strategize towards actions that can address the systemic nature of the oppressions group members have experienced. This is different to focusing on working through the individual actions each girl has experienced or witnessed.

For more information on approaches to debriefing experiences see Debriefing to Deepen Learning in Section 2.