Roles in the process

The experiences made in the higher education sector as well as the experiences gained through the Leonardo projects indicate that a peer review should be carried out by a peer team. Teams consisting of four peers have proved most useful in the Leonardo projects.

Who is a peer or who can be a peer?

A peer is a person,

  • who is on equal standing with the person/s whose performance is being reviewed
  • who works in a similar professional environment (and/or in a similar institution)
  • who is external (i.e. from a different institution) and independent (i.e. has no personal / institutional “stakes” in the evaluation process)
  • who has specific professional expertise and knowledge in the field (similar values, professional competences and attitudes, language etc.)
  • who can thus bring a degree of “inside” knowledge of the object of review into the process and combine it with the external view of somebody coming from a different organisation (“external insider”).
    see European Peer Review Manual for initial VET (p.38) (LINK)

Peers are often also called “critical friends”.
The central tasks of the peers are analysing the self-report, drawing up an evaluation plan, conducting the peer review and writing the peer review report.

Roles within the Peer Team

Within the peer team, the following roles should be allocated, if possible:

Peer coordinator: responsible for leading the peer team, for coordinating, planning and moderating the peer review and for writing the peer review report

Evaluation expert: peer with special expertise in matters concerning evaluation (e.g. drafting the interview questions, moderating meetings, leading the feedback session and the communicative validation at the end of the visit)

Gender mainstreaming expert

Transnational peer (if possible)

Additional roles

Peer review facilitator or peer review organisator: responsible for the organisation and the smooth procedure of the peer review at the VET institution. S/he looks to it that the peers are invited in time, that the self-report is finished and sent to all peers and that the peer visit is prepared on site. S/he is the main contact person for the peers during the whole procedure.

More information about the procedure and about Peer Review in QIBB (only in German available!) >>