The mutual observation and feedback process constitutes a collaborative work strategy in which colleagues engage in observing and providing feedback on one another’s teaching practices. The focus is to address issues faced by the teacher and their wish for peer mentoring with a collegial observer on a given educational aspect of their teaching. It is important to note that the emphasis is not on competency assessment but on competency reflection (Christensen, 2023), aiming to enhance the reflective practice of the teacher
Feedback involving a reflective dialogue (see: Feedback guide) where both colleagues contribute to the conversation with inquiring questions and specific feedback.
Ideally, observation and feedback should happen on the same day to ensure that impressions and considerations are remembered clearly. Therefore, it can be beneficial to distribute the entire process over three days, allowing time for preparation and adjustments between the three days.
Research on peer mentoring has shown that the establishment of trust, regarding being observed and having faith in collegial observation as an educational method for competency development, is significantly enhanced when observations are repeated regularly and not limited to a one-time occurrence (de Lange & Wittek, 2023).
In the past, there has been a perception of feedback as a process consisting of an active and a passive part where the active part is giving feedback to a "passive" recipient. However, several researchers point out that this is not accurate and that receiving feedback is also an active action (Møller, 2023). The moment you receive feedback it leads to an active assessment of the feedback, thus giving rise to a reflection on whether it is something you want to work on. Thus, the feedback can be a starting point for planning and implementing a change in one's behaviour and development. This processing of feedback has since been called ‘feedback literacy’ (Esterhazy et al., 2023; Møller, 2023).
de Lange, T., & Wittek, L. (2023). Faculty Peer Group Mentoring in Higher Education: Developing Collegiality Through Organised Supportive Collaboration (1 ed., Vol. 61). Springer International Publishing AG. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37458-6
Esterhazy, R., de Lange, T., & Damşa, C. (2023). Performing teacher feedback literacy in peer mentoring meetings. Assessment and evaluation in higher education, 48(2), 227-240. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1980768
Møller, J. E. K., Kristian; Malling, Bente. (2023). Feedback - hvordan tilrettelægges og gennemføres forskellige former for feedback i klinisk undervisning? In M. K. K. Christensen, Louise Binow (Ed.), Medicinsk didaktik: En guide til lægen som underviser (pp. 245-260). FADL's Forlag.
