• What is
    Peer Review of Teaching?

  • What is
    Peer Review of Teaching?

Peer review of teaching refers to the participation of colleagues in the development and/or evaluation of teaching. Formative reviews are designed to provide qualitative feedback. Many international institutions and funding bodies have adopted both formative and summative peer review processes as an effective means to monitor teaching standards (Harrison et al., 2022; Zeng, 2020). Peer review provides an effective channel for teachers to share their teaching experience in a structured manner and can be used to support and motivate teachers. Although individual staff development may be one objective, teaching evaluation can also provide documentation that course goals are attained and instructional standards are maintained. In some cases, it can be used to assist decision making when undertaking curriculum review.

Peer review of teaching could be review of any aspect of teaching, including course materials, online provision, curriculum design; analysis of feedback practices. However, in the context of HKU, summative peer review of teaching focuses on classroom observation. Peer review can contribute to better student learning and help enhance the overall educational quality of a course or programme. It can also be used to share good practice within a department or faculty or across the university. Formative peer review promotes agency as the teacher can invite colleagues to act as peer reviewers. Summative peer review of teaching at departmental / faculty level by allocated reviewers provides a robust, independent quality assurance measure.

Summative Vs Formative Peer Review of Teaching

Summative and Formative Peer Review of Teaching (PRT) serve different purposes. However, both types of PRT should be grounded in the professional standards that underlie effective teaching in the university. Each university may draw on different frameworks and guidelines to establish and define such standards. For example, in the University of Hong Kong, we draw on the Professional Standards Framework (PSF) criteria, while in UNSW Sydney, they use six principles of quality teaching to guide their PRT.

Here is a simplified and adapted version of Kasztalska’s (2021) table which compare summative and formative PRT:

Formative Peer Review of Teaching Summative Peer Review of Teaching
Purpose To improve teaching & learning by:
(i) providing feedback on teaching with the goal of informing future instruction,
(ii) identifying good practices &
(iii) identifying areas for enhancement
• To assess teaching effectiveness and achievement of professional benchmarks through observation
• Used for making hiring, promotion, tenure and other personnel decision
Reviewer • Can be colleagues at the same rank or senior faculty members • Can be colleagues at the same rank, but usually senior/experienced faculty members
(At HKU, a reviewer can be in the same or higher rank as the reviewee.)
Format • Usually informal, semi-structured, optional, ongoing, private and confidential • Formal, structured, mandated, shared with department head/dean/HR
Product • Informal written report that encourages discussions on teaching and documents growth over time
• Professional dialogue with notes taken by the reviewee		 • Formal written report that offers a snapshot of teacher’s effectiveness and achievements at a given point of time
Formative peer review of teaching is not currently mandated as part of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) policy. However, teachers can voluntarily engage in such practices to seek feedback and enhance their teaching.

Models of Formative Peer Review of Teaching

Here are three models of formative peer review of teaching recommended by Robertson (2006) and summarized by Kasztalska (2021).

Models of Formative Peer Review of TeachingBuddy SystemTeam SystemMentor System
What is it?• A teacher self-selects a “buddy” who is another faculty member of a similar professional rank (can be from another department) to conduct teaching observations and provide formative feedback on each other’s teaching practice.• Teachers form small groups on their own to conduct teaching observations in each other’s classes and provide formative feedback on each other’s teaching practice.• A less experienced or new teacher (mentee) is paired with a more experienced or senior teacher (mentor) who would observe his/her classes and provide formative feedback and support.
Reviewer(s)• Teacher of similar rank, with similar teaching experience & interest.• Can involve teachers of different ranks, with similar or different teaching experiences and interests.• Senior teacher who is more experienced.
Advantages• Can lead to honest discussions.
• Offer opportunities for collaboration as teachers of similar rank may find it easy to relate to each other especially if they are experiencing similar problems/issues.
• Exposure to different perspectives & teaching methods.
• Easier to schedule class observation with large number of team members.
• Helps to assimilate new teachers into the department.
Disadvantages• Risk of getting poor advice if buddy is a new colleague and has not adapted well to the department.• May be difficult to form a team in a small department.• Risk of personality clashes and interpersonal conflicts if a mentor is imposed rather than being chosen by the mentee.
• Mentee may fear being observed by mentor who might be involved in their promotion/tenure judgement in the future.
Formative Peer Review of TeachingSummative Peer Review of Teaching
PurposeTo improve teaching & learning by: (i) providing feedback on teaching with the goal of informing future instruction, (ii) identifying good practices & (iii) identifying areas for enhancement
Reviewer• Can be colleagues at the same rank or senior faculty members • Can be colleagues at the same rank, but usually senior/experienced faculty members
Format• Usually informal, semi-structured, optional, ongoing, private and confidential• Formal, structured, mandated, shared with department head/dean/HR
Product• Informal written report that encourages discussions on teaching and documents growth over time
• Professional dialogue with notes taken by the reviewee		• Formal written report that offers a snapshot of teacher’s effectiveness and achievements at a given point of time
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