Originally not a formal
philosophy, the
concept of the
learning teacher has become widespread, both in the
cognitive sciences and in
public. It opposes the
conventional idea of the teacher as a
static authority, whos only
purpose is to convey a predetermined list of
knowledge to his or her students. One
expression compares this view to considering the teacher a 'talking
textbook'. The view is increasingly criticized for not only reducing the teacher's positive
results with students, but also for causing
stagnation within the
practical field of modern teaching. The latter refers to the impossible task of
continual improvement within a field determined to be a constant
repetition of its contents.
A 'learning teacher' is, on the most basic level, assumed to learn about his or her students during the
act of
teaching. This means continual
adjustment to the
details of teaching a specific
skill or
topic, so that students with different
predispositions are capable of learning at a fairly equal rate. In practice, this means explaining certain things in several different ways to ensure that every student can identify with at least
one way of understanding it. While any teacher will either learn or be told to think of this when teaching, this particular skill tends to develop better with
experience than by formal
instruction. However, for the learning teacher, it is always important to
observe students while they try to learn.
To aid in this
aspect of the learning teachers work, many different
branches of
psychology and the cognitive sciences are trying to establish
routine methods for creating '
learning profiles'. The reason is to make it easier to prepare a teacher for teaching a specific student or group of students, allowing him or her to know
in advance what sort of problems to expect and what sort of
solutions to prepare.
Log books made by teachers during and after teaching students, concerning observations of the students' prefered ways of learning, are one angle through which such profiles are meant to be established. Some, however, put
emphasis on the need for methods comparable to
personality tests, which allow a simple, possibly even
universal set of
questions and
challenges, to be viewed by an
expert to quickly produce reliable learning profiles. For both
approaches, it is important to emphasize the need for continual updating of profiles, since any persons learning profile will inevitably change through continual learning.
One, arguably very different approach to the concept of learning through teaching is an
extension of the concept of
learning by doing. Practical experience has long been seen as a vital part of learning, even in
conventional education. Experts all over the globe are currently working hard on developing new and improved
simulations of skills in use, to allow students to practice those skills in a
risk-free environment. However, this aspect of the learning teacher expands the idea to teaching, using
standard class presentations as its base model. Class presentation, as found in many schools, involves a student to study, on his or her own, a single
item of interest within a greater body of knowledge and then present it to the rest of the class, This is learning by teaching at its most basic: The student is forced to be aware of many otherwise ignored details and
relations in the item in order to properly present it. Also, the possibility of being asked several questions after a presentation requires further thoroughness. In later
education, writing a
report or even a
thesis will
emulate this way of improving the detail of learning by having the student present the
subject to others. Learning by teaching is merely a conscious extension of this, putting the student in the teachers place, possibly even to
teach the
material to others (as opposed to merely presenting it; teaching requires a sufficiently prepared and diverse presentation and knowledge to ensure that people actually
understand you, not just listen).
The philosophy of the learning teacher is constantly being expanded and modified, and different
variants on it keep appearing. The above only sketches out the two major
themes of it.