Peer consultations

Peer consultations are a way of sharing experiences, knowledge, and expertise from one teacher to another. Research shows that engaging in peer consultations with your colleagues and being exposed to different ways and styles of teaching develops your way of thinking about teaching and could therefore lead to better quality teaching – for you and your students. Teaching can sometimes be experienced as something you do on your own, and that you need to figure out for yourself. But even though you might be the only teacher in the classroom, there is great potential for opening up your practice to colleagues in order to develop your own teaching skills, and also get inspired by others. Maybe you are already discussing teaching with your colleagues, e.g. in a teacher group, ERFA groups, or other local initiatives, and are therefore familiar with the benefits that this approach offers.

Peer consultations are at CBS perceived as a developmental process, not an evaluative or summative one. This means that what you and your peers discuss is between yourselves – and you only share as much as you like with your Head of Department or other colleagues.

At CBS, every faculty member is obliged to engage in at least one peer consultation every fifth year, preferably more often. PhD students and assistant professors are already engaged in such activities through their PhD School or HETEP, but for tenured faculty, this was initiated January 1st, 2023. The faculty member is herself responsible for reaching out to colleagues (unless the local departmental framework has other guidelines) and managing the peer consultation process, as well as letting the department know that she has engaged in a consultation.

The specific organization of and framework for peer consultations at each department is decided locally – if you would like to know more about how peer consultations are organized at your department, we recommend that you reach out to the teaching responsible or Head of Department.

Teaching & Learning has developed some guidelines and recommendations for the peer consultation process, and you can find them below. If you have any questions or could use some input, sparring, or support for your collegial consultation process, you are more than welcome to reach out to your local department consultant or write to tl@cbs.dk.