Students as teachers: interdisciplinarity and peer-learning in tourism education

Abstract

Describing a collaborative and interdisciplinary project carried out within the scope of an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course, this paper focuses on the adoption of peer-review and peer-learning in Tourism Education. The project, which involved 12 groups of second year Hotel Management Students, challenged participants to produce learning materials on Health & Safety topics to be used in online training modules targeting their peers. Defined as “the acquisition of knowledge and skills though active helping and support among peers who are equals in standing or matched companion” (Topping, 2005, p. 631), peer-learning has been the subject of different studies, with researchers agreeing on its potential, particularly when paired with collaborative and co-creative approaches. Considered to promote students’ overall engagement and motivation, as well as fostering teamwork communication and metacognitive skills (Carvalho & Santos, 2022; Gyamfi et al., 2022; Mendieta-Aragón et al., 2022) peer-learning (also referred to as learning-by teaching) have a positive effect in students’ learning (Liu, 2018). However, despite this interest and perceived benefits, studies within the scope of Tourism Education are still lacking. As a result, this paper aims to address this gap, by mapping peer-learning initiatives in Tourism Higher Education, as well as describing a teaching and learning strategy implemented at the School of Hospitality in Tourism, framing it within existing research and trends. Resorting to a mixed-methods approach, based on documentary research and observation, in addition to a more general description, outlining the project’s design and implementation,the paper reflects on the affordances of peer-review in promoting domain-specific learning, putting forward the author’s perspective, as to inform other initiatives within this scope and contribute to the ongoing discussion on Tourism curricula.publishe