The skills students learn when they teach each other

Imagine a classroom of 70 students and one teacher. It's hot. The fan stopped working last month. The teacher explains a maths problem once, twice, three times. Half the class understands. The other half is lost.

Now imagine the teacher says: "Everyone who understood, find someone who didn't. You have ten minutes." Suddenly, the room is buzzing. Students explain, draw, point, argue and laugh. By the end, most of the class understands — and something surprising has happened: the students who explained now understand even better than before.

This is peer teaching. It's one of the oldest classroom tricks in the world, and it's especially powerful in big classes.

What do students actually learn when they teach each other — and how can teachers use peer teaching without losing control of the class?

The protégé effect: teaching makes you smarter

Scientists have a name for what happens when you teach: the "protégé effect." When people prepare to teach something, they learn it more deeply.

In a well-known 2014 study at Washington University in St. Louis, researchers asked two groups of students to study a text. One group was told they would take a test. The other was told they would teach the material to someone else. The "teacher" group remembered more and organised the information better — even though neither group actually taught.

Why? When you expect to teach, your brain changes strategy. You look for the main ideas, you organise them, you think about questions others might ask. You move from "I recognise this" to "I can explain this."

Peer tutoring has an average positive effect on learning equal to around five months of extra progress over a school year. (Education Endowment Foundation, Teaching and Learning Toolkit) The effect is often strongest for the tutors themselves and for low-attaining learners.

Note for readers: The EEF evidence mostly comes from UK and international studies. Results in African classrooms can differ, but the principle — active explaining helps learning — appears across many contexts.

Skill 1: Real understanding (not memorising)

Many students are good at memorising. They can repeat the definition of photosynthesis word for word. But ask them to explain it to a 10-year-old, and they freeze.

Teaching forces understanding. You can't explain what you don't understand. When a student tries and fails to explain, they discover exactly what they're missing. That's a gift, not a problem.

The physicist Richard Feynman used this idea to learn. It's now called the "Feynman Technique":

• Choose a concept.
• Explain it in simple words, as if to a child.
• Find the gaps where your explanation breaks.
• Go back, learn, simplify again.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." — widely attributed to Albert Einstein (source uncertain)

Skill 2: Communication

Teaching is communication practice. Students learn to:

• Choose words the listener understands.
• Use examples and drawings.
• Check understanding: "Does that make sense? Can you show me?"
• Adjust when the first explanation doesn't work.

These are skills every job needs, from sales to nursing to engineering. In many African classrooms, students rarely speak at length in front of others. Peer teaching gives them safe practice.

Joke break: A student once explained fractions to his friend using a pizza. His friend understood immediately — then asked where the pizza was. The lesson ended in a small riot. Recommendation: use imaginary pizza.

Skill 3: Patience and empathy

When you teach, you meet confusion face to face. You learn that people learn at different speeds. Good peer tutors learn to stay calm, try another way and encourage their partner.

This builds empathy — the ability to understand another person's feelings. It also changes class culture. Students who help each other are less likely to mock someone who struggles.

Skill 4: Confidence

For the student being helped, peer teaching reduces fear. Many students are afraid to ask the teacher a question in front of 60 classmates. Asking a friend feels safer.

For the student teaching, it builds confidence: "I know something valuable, and I can share it." Shy students often surprise teachers when they get a chance to explain something one-to-one.

Skill 5: Leadership and responsibility

In group work, someone must organise, keep time and make sure everyone participates. Rotating the "leader" role gives many students a chance to practise leadership.

This is how many future community leaders start — see A day with a community organiser in Cotonou.

Five peer teaching methods that work in big classes

The teacher asks a question. Students think alone for one minute, discuss with a neighbour for two minutes, then some pairs share with the class. Simple, fast, no materials needed.

• Think–Pair–Share

Older students help younger students — for example, Form 4 students run a reading club for primary pupils. Both groups benefit. The older students often improve their own reading. Libraries are great places for this — see The people keeping public libraries alive.

• Cross-age tutoring

Split a topic into four parts. Each group becomes an "expert" on one part. Then new groups form with one expert from each part, and each expert teaches their piece. Everyone teaches, everyone learns.

• The jigsaw method

Before exams, students each prepare a five-minute explanation of one topic for the class. The teacher corrects mistakes gently.

• Student-led revision

After a lesson, the teacher picks a student to re-explain the key idea in their own words — or in a local language. This checks understanding and helps classmates who missed something.

• "Teach it back"

Peer teaching and local languages

In many African countries, students learn in French, English or Portuguese — but think and chat in Fon, Yoruba, Wolof, Swahili, Ewe or other languages. Peer teaching allows students to explain difficult ideas in the language they understand best.

A student might explain a physics idea in Fon to a friend, then both write the answer in French. Research by UNESCO shows children learn better when they understand the language of instruction. Peer explanations in local languages can be a helpful bridge. See The value of keeping African stories in local languages.

How to keep peer teaching from becoming chaos

Teachers often worry: "If I let students talk, I'll lose control." Here's how to keep it productive:

• Give a clear task and time limit. "You have 5 minutes to explain question 3 to your partner."
• Give roles: explainer, questioner, checker.
• Walk around and listen.
• End with a quick check: a show of hands, a mini-quiz or two students sharing answers.
• Use a signal to bring attention back (clap pattern, bell, raised hand).
• Pair carefully. Mix levels, but not too far apart. A top student and a struggling student can work, but sometimes two middle students learn more together.

What peer teaching is not

Peer teaching does not replace teachers. It doesn't mean the strongest students do the teacher's job all day. It's a tool that teachers use for part of the lesson.

It also shouldn't always be the same students teaching. Everyone knows something. The student who struggles with maths might be excellent at drawing, football tactics or a local language. Give every student a chance to be the expert.

Beyond school: teaching as a life skill

Peer teaching continues after school. At work, people train new colleagues. In workshops, apprentices teach newer apprentices (see How young Africans learn from older makers). In robotics teams, experienced members teach rookies (see How to start a school robotics club with one kit). In communities, people who learned to use mobile money teach their parents.

"Each one, teach one." — an African American proverb from the era of slavery, when enslaved people who learned to read were expected to teach others

That phrase is a reminder that sharing knowledge has always been a form of power — and of solidarity.

A classroom story (illustrative)

In an illustrative secondary school in Abomey-Calavi, a chemistry teacher we'll call M. Sossou (illustrative) had 68 students and one textbook for every three. Test scores were low, and many students were afraid to ask questions.

He tried something simple. Every Friday, the last 20 minutes became "Explain Club." He wrote five questions on the board. Students who solved a question first became "explainers" and moved to help others. Anyone who explained well got a small star on a wall chart — not for being right first, but for helping someone else get it right.

After a term, M. Sossou noticed three changes. More students asked questions (to each other, at least). The "explainers" changed every week — even students who had struggled before became helpers on topics they liked. And the class atmosphere became kinder. Students started saying "Let me show you" instead of "You're so slow."

The results weren't magic. But the class moved from 60 students waiting for one teacher to 60 students helping each other. That's a big change for zero money.

How to reward helping (without bribery)

Recognition helps, but be careful not to make peer teaching a competition. Ideas that work:

• Praise the helper by describing what they did well: "You drew a diagram — that really helped."
• Keep a "helpers wall" where students add names of classmates who helped them.
• Give group rewards when the whole class improves.
• Let helpers choose the next game or activity.

The goal is a class where helping is normal, not a class where helping is a trade.

Try it tomorrow

Teachers: in your next lesson, stop for three minutes and say, "Explain this to your neighbour." Watch what happens.

Students: next time you understand something, find a classmate who doesn't and teach them. You'll help them — and you'll remember it better for the exam.

More education ideas: Learning beyond exams: projects children remember, What Practical Learning Looks Like: Glim Education and the Power of Play, and African makers who teach what they know. Browse our Education section.

Questions

What is peer teaching?

Peer teaching is when students explain lessons or help each other learn, usually organised by the teacher for part of a lesson.

What is the protégé effect?

The finding that people learn material more deeply when they prepare to teach it or actually teach it to someone else.

Does peer teaching work in large classes?

Yes. Methods like Think–Pair–Share and jigsaw groups are especially useful in large classes because they get every student talking and thinking.