Durham University academics have studied 129 pupils over two years ... and concluded that 'peer tutoring' is an effective way of learning basic literacy and numeracy for the 'tutor' as well as the 'tutee'. Teaching someone a skill means that you have to sharpen up your own understanding, as I recall very well from when I started teaching A level physics, so peer tutoring would seem a good approach.
But it really is back to the future; if I strain my brain, I can recall lectures about the education system in the 1870s and the 'monitorial system' which was introduced to keep costs down and use teachers more effectively. Now there's a thought ...
