Quality enhancement through the peer review of teaching for learning and learning for teaching- a process and an outcome

Abstract

This chapter is about quality enhancement of university teaching and learning. Confronted by regulatory systems, the increasing competitive climate of burgeoning knowledge economies and the over-reliance of student evaluations of teaching as sole arbiters of teaching quality, a process for peer observation of teaching quality (teaching for learning) and academic staff development (learning for teaching) has been investigated. We contextualise and report a case study of quality enhancement originating from a larger University wide initiative (PRO-Teaching) explicitly focusing on the enhancement of quality in teaching. The reason for this is the underlying argument that quality in teaching improves students' learning outcomes. We follow this line of argument throughout the chapter. In relation to the enhancement of quality in teaching we do argue that student evaluations, although holding important information about students' perception of quality in teaching, should not stand alone as an indicator of quality in teaching. We collate data from multiple observers together with the students' evaluations and learning outcomes from the observed episodes to create a data set from which defensible evidence of quality teaching for learning is inferred. We therefore propose peer review of teaching as both a process and an outcome towards quality enhancement in university teaching and learning.