Peer review of teaching: What features matter? A case study within STEM faculties

Abstract

Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) programmes have been implemented in the Higher Education context to ensure teaching is a collaborative, evolving and inspiring activity in an era of ever shrinking resources. These programmes are reported to have many benefits but are notoriously difficult to implement and even more difficult to sustain, with research implicating the mechanics and specific characteristics featured in the programmes as vital to their ultimate success. This paper addresses this issue through first, detailing one version of a PRT programme implemented at one institution and second, by reporting on how the participants of this programme viewed its specific characteristics. Data from participant interviews and forms provide both confirmation of the efficacy of certain features, such as receiving feedback and having the opportunity to observe others and also provide more detail on some lesser researched features, such as the relevance of discipline and number of observations.