From Teacher Identity to Learning Culture: Three Case Studies on the Transformation of Learning by Teaching (LdL)

This report examines three practice-based cases from the history and international transfer of Learning by
Teaching (German: Lernen durch Lehren, LdL). Rather than claiming that LdL can be applied universally, the
report investigates how a pedagogical innovation can preserve a recognisable conceptual core while being
transformed across different contexts. The three cases represent three levels of transformation: Roland Graef
illustrates biographical and professional appropriation; Günter Leitzgen shows the didactic reorganisation of
classroom interaction, control, and responsibility; and Margret Ruep and Noor Malihah document the cultural
and institutional transfer of LdL in Indonesian higher education. The cross-case synthesis argues that the
durability of LdL does not depend on identical reproduction. It depends on a stable participatory core
combined with context-sensitive reconstruction. The report therefore frames LdL as a generative pedagogical
principle whose transferability rests on biographical ownership, interactional realisation, and institutional
adaptation. The analysis is qualitative and theory-guided; it does not claim representative evidence or causal
proof.