The Operating Group and Participative Methods: Learning and Power in the Professional Relationship

Abstract

This article examines several experiences of participant observation within the Operating Group Method in social intervention and in university teaching. From these, we intend to extract methodological keys that allow development of a professional style of emancipatory social work, i.e., one that understands and handles power in the professional relationship as opposed to a style of control. The text focuses on the theoretical and empirical analysis of the Operating Group and participatory methods and their relationship with power and learning, not so much at the socio-structural level, but rather, focusing on practices that professional practitioners develop from their respective roles in work in social services or in higher education. As methodological keys, the following stand out: the recognition of different subjectivities, the need for a collective type of intervention, methodological reflexivity, use of spaces for meeting and reflection, theoretical work, affective learning, professional supervision, encouragement of horizontal relationships and the effort to encourage linkages and the development of networks.