The monitorial system is an early form of peer tutoring in which:

Concept

Peer tutoring is an instructional arrangement in which learners help teach other learners under a teacher’s direction.

In the historical monitorial system, one teacher prepared selected advanced pupils, called monitors, who then instructed groups of classmates. This structure made it possible to teach very large classes.

Application

The statement that selected pupils teach lessons to other pupils directly describes the pupil-to-pupil relay used in the monitorial system.

Contrast

• Teaching only small classes changes the group size but keeps instruction teacher-led.

• Teaching one class at a time describes scheduling, not the use of pupil monitors.

• Parental supervision assigns oversight to adults from pupils’ families, not instructional responsibility to trained pupils.

Result

Therefore, the monitorial system is the arrangement in which selected pupils teach lessons to other pupils.