Developing scholarly teaching through peer review of teaching in higher education: a case study of one research-intensive university
Creators: name: Johnston, Alexandra
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390303
subject: Higher education
classificationCode: 390305
subject: Professional education and training
classificationCode: 390307
subject: Teacher education and professional development of educators

description: Over recent decades, peer review of teaching (PRT) has become an important mechanism for improving the quality of teaching in higher education (HE). For the present study, PRT is defined as a process where academics provide feedback on one another’s practice to improve teaching quality. While there is considerable international research on PRT outcomes, these are not widely reported in Australian universities.
 
A systematic review of 19 studies examined PRT processes that contribute to teaching development in Australian HE. Thematic synthesis revealed teaching development influences span organisational factors (including context, collegiality, and leadership), program factors (comprising framework, program design, and teaching practices), and individual factors (incorporating prior experience and individual requirements). These findings identified a research gap in how engagement in PRT influences scholarly teaching development and situated this research within the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) literature.

Using constructivist grounded theory and design thinking methodologies, a case study of one research-intensive university’s PRT program was undertaken to address the research question, How does engagement in PRT influence academics’ scholarly teaching? Data from 31 semi-structured interviews were analysed using a Vygotskian sociocultural theoretical perspective. A secondary analysis unearthed of scholarly teaching archetypes, including the valued teacher, the collegiate teacher, the reflective teacher, the observer teacher and the continuously improving teacher.
 
The substantive theory becoming scholarly proposes a multi-pronged approach of safeguarding, affording, and sustaining opportunities for academics to develop scholarly teaching capabilities. A central recommendation is PRT programs are led and designed to scaffold meaningful conversations about scholarly teaching. These conversations become transformative to teaching quality in HE. The result is a realisation of evidence-informed knowledge, skills, and behaviours – or scholarly teaching capabilities. Implications for leaders in HE organisations include developing PRT related policy that aligns with academics’ needs and fostering collegiate cultures that value teachers and foster learning about teaching. At the program level implications incorporate program design that comprises structured processes to support learning about teaching. Implications at the organisational and program levels can support individual academics to engage in evidence-informed continuous improvement.

The efficacy of any intervention such as PRT is dependent on how it is led (organisational factors), which subsequently informs the intervention itself (program factors) and the experience of those who engage with it (individual factors). Without visible leadership support for and value of teaching, engagement in PRT may not be sustained, and the opportunity to develop scholarly teaching capabilities through PRT is compromised. Thus, leadership value of teaching has implications for the development of scholarly teaching capabilities in PRT.