Improving pre‐service teacher learning through peer teaching: process, people and product

This research investigates the perceptions of first‐year Bachelor of Teaching students (primary and secondary) and Diploma of Education students (secondary) about their peer teaching experience in a postgraduate subject called Curriculum and Assessment. Peer teaching is a learner‐centred approach to teaching and learning that is intended to provide significant benefits for learners' knowledge, skills and metacognition. However, concerns have been raised over the quality of the learning and teaching and the risks associated with such a pedagogy. In the present study, student responses to questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews were analysed, using a mixed methods approach, with respect to three broad and somewhat interconnected categories: process, people and product. These responses suggested a wide range of reactions to peer teaching, but overall students feel they benefited from the experience. The findings of this study should be of interest to lecturers and students in pre‐service teacher education courses, especially. Knowledge about peer teaching, learning and assessment would be especially valuable for both education lecturers and beginning teachers seeking to design and manage learner‐centred pedagogy in their own primary, secondary and tertiary classrooms. However, the results of this research would have far‐reaching appeal for all teaching and learning contexts.