What Kathryn Tickell said was that she taught tunes by ear and gave her students the notation to take away with them. As someone who relies totally on notation, I find it a handicap and wish I wasn't too scared to learn by ear. For one thing, ear learning is quicker, as she pointed out. When I have beeen brave enough to do it, the tune has gone straight into my head then directly to fingers, bypassing the need to visualise the notation or even having to dive surreptitiously into a manuscript notebook to remind myself of the first few bars. I'm convinced her way is better though I don't practice what I preach very much.