Peer review of teaching in higher education: A systematic review of its impact on the professional development of university teachers from the teaching expertise perspective

Abstract

The increasing emphasis on the quality of teaching in higher education places increasing demands on the professional development of teachers. Peer review of teaching (PRT) is commonly used in higher education for teachers’ professional development. However, to date, there is no systematic review exploring its actual impact. This review synthesised the empirical studies of PRT published between 1990 and 2017 and adopted the framework of expertise in teaching in analyzing PRT’s impact on university teacher’s professional development. The review identified evidence of PRT’s impact in all four dimensions of expertise in teaching (knowledge, skills, judgement, and process). Less than half of the papers mentioned participants’ learning gains in the seven categories of knowledge of teaching proposed in the previous literature. More papers reported participants’ learning gains in technical skills than in pedagogical skills. PRT’s impact on helping participants establish the process for continued improvement was found to involve mainly the willingness to do so rather than the actual actions. The insufficient evidence of PRT’s impact on some dimensions seemed due to participants’ ineffective use of PRT skills. The results suggested the need to embed expertise framework in PRT practices and research.