Rethinking peer teaching

In order to better prepare student teachers there has been a shift away from teacher-centred pedagogies in pre-service education courses. A substantial peer teaching assignment is undertaken by students in the Bachelor of Teaching and Diploma of Education courses (primary and secondary) at the University of Melbourne. The process of peer teaching involves students working in collaborative teams to plan, teach and evaluate a lesson on a topic related to curriculum and teachers' work. The roles and the skills of students and teachers in this process require some rethinking. This paper will report on students' perspectives on peer teaching and learning, the related assessment and how these impact on their own learning.