I thought we agreed the minimum difference was 5? 
Also this function:
is not just a plateau, itâs a peak. As T >> S, the likelihood of good teaching starts to decrease again (I assert )
GaJ
Totally agree. A related question:
Are there any Go books out there that teach you how to teach?
Obviously there are heaps of Go books about basics, joseki, life&death etc but Iâve never heard of or seen one that is designed to help a player learn to teach Go more effectively. Since I regard myself as an abysmal teacher, especially online, such a book would be of particular interest to me.
Quite interesting seeing all the responses.
It is quite a funny experience, I was most eager to âteachâ when I was about 15k. I thought I understood so much of the techniques and ideas and wanted to share it with others (and letâs face it boost my ego by doing that as well 
)
Now that I am about 10 stones stronger I am afraid to teach anyone safely above 20k. Things I thought were obvious mistakes now seem plausible when done correctly, moves I thought were safe and sound are actually slack in retrospect and so onâŚ
And yet (and this is completely just my feeling not based on any real data) I think even those - in reality objectively wrong - lectures, can be helpfull to some degree. By getting lectures from a dan 20k does not become a dan. He has to become 19k first and has to go through all the steps like everyone else. First one needs to learn to sacrifice trash stones, before one learns not to play them in the first place, walk before you jump and similar wise sage expressionsâŚ
In extreme cases of differences in strength (unless the teacher is good) I think the experience might even be less usefull than from just a 5 stones stronger player, as the two players think about the game on a different level.
Just random thoughts, do not stone me, otherwise I very much agree that almost none of us has the right to teach (if the original question was this specific), but that should not mean we cannot help in other ways. As long as you are honest in your statements, it never hurts to provide thinking material (not answers) for a weaker - or even similarily strong - player.
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(In this context, teaching refers to game reviews and teaching games, not teaching the rules or what a ladder/eye is.)
In that particular regard I think 3 things are needed:
- A reasonable margin of rank (e.g. 4-5 ranks and above), so that your advice can be aiming the new player towards a better understanding of the game (and a better rank later on)
- Making the explanations and reviews as beginner-friendly as possible ( Go can be overwhelming initially. The rules are simple, but beyond that there are so many things to consider, so âdrowningâ someone in advice can have the opposite results).
- Always pointing out at some point that your advice is not the definitive answer, but that even better or different solutions can be found by other people. This way you urging them to grow as players and find the better answers and you are giving a word of caution that we are ALL students of this game. I think that inciting a playerâs curiocity and making them see the fun into finding a better move or thinking a new idea, is always useful.
Totally agree. I try to take care to always make this point when I get involved in teaching: there is no gospel, anything I say is just what I currently understand.
Closely related is this point: âThere is no âbest moveâ, it depends on the playerâ.
For example an early 3-3 invasion might be the best move for Leela Zero, but not for a TPK.
GaJ
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Not to my knowledge. Years ago I looked into that and the closest match I could find was
Go as Communication - The Educational and Therapeutic Value of the Game of Go by Yasuda Yasutoshi.
An interesting read in itself, but itâs mostly anecdotes about how capture go can help kids and the elderly. I canât find my copy right now, otherwise Iâd see if thereâs anything else noteworthy.
Personally, I think Shygostâs style of teaching is the best for most DDK. I used to watch his lectures regularly, even recorded some of them back when screen capturing was definitely not a thing and disk space a scarce resource. 
Nowadays, a large collection of Lanceâs Go Dojo (LGD) lectures is on youtube. If anyone wants to create a structured approach to teaching, just pay close attention to the recurring themes in those videos.
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See, I feel that when Iâm teaching someone around 15k, Iâll happily tell them not to do âplausible when done correctlyâ, and will tell them to make slack moves.
I think that developing good fundamentals is more important, at that level, than playing the âcorrectâ move. If a move is slack, but the follow up is otherwise complicated, a 15k should just play the slack move and not worry about it. If a move is safe, but leads to a giant running fight, Iâd recommend against it. âIf you canât read it, donât play it,â will generally lead to higher quality direction of play and shape, compared to playing the âbestâ pro move.
For example, given the choice to either live small locally, or get a bit more through a ko fight, Iâd recommend the former, even if the global ko situation favors the player. Evaluating the global ko situation is likely too complicated for a 15k, and if theyâre reliant on something that complicated to win the game, itâs because their shape and direction of play are bad.
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