Learning by teaching

In professional education "Learning by Teaching" (in German "Lernen durch Lehren", therefore LdL) designates a method which allows pupils and students to prepare and teach lessons or parts of lessons. LdL should not be mixed up with presentations or lectures by students, as students do not only convey a certain content, but choose their own methodological and didactical approach in teaching their calssmates a certain area of the respective subject. Although Professor Jean-Pol Martin, the promoter of this method, is strictly against the assigning of credits for these lessons, this point remains a focus of discussion.

History

The principle of LdL is not new, it was already part of the so-called Lancaster-Schools. The first book about the topic was published in 1971 in the USA by Gartner and in Germany in 1975 by R. Krüger. A broader recognition of the method started in the early eighties, when Jean-Pol Martin developed the concept systematically for the teaching of French as a foreign language and gave it a theoretical background in numerous publications. At the same time other educational theorists did research in this area (e.g. Renkel, 1997; and a publication in the magazine PÄDAGOGIK, 11/97). The method spread from 1987 on, when Martin founded a network of several thousand teachers that employed LdL in many different subjects, documented its successes and approaches and presented their findings in various teacher training sessions. From 2001 on LdL gains more and more supporters as a result of educational reform movements started throughout Germany.