Abstract:

Peer mentoring has been increasingly recognized as a powerful strategy to enhance teaching quality and academic culture in higher education. International literature shows that mentoring benefits mentees, mentors, and institutions by improving integration, communication, motivation, retention, and a collaborative feedback culture. In the Italian context, however, formal mentoring programs for university teachers are still rare. The “Progetto Mentore per la didattica” at the University of Palermo, launched in 2013, is the oldest and largest initiative of this kind. It is characterized by a non-evaluative focus on teaching and learning enhancement, voluntary participation, reciprocity of roles (each participant is both mentor and mentee, with two mentors), peer relationships, integration of workshops and experience-sharing meetings, rich social activities, and participatory governance through an annual general assembly. Over ten years the project has evolved, introducing senior mentors, mentoring on demand, an alumni network, and an expanded community dimension.

The contribution presents both the current structure of the program and a monitoring study on 15 faculty members with at least three years of continuous participation. A mixed-method design was adopted. In the quantitative phase, changes in teaching quality were examined through students’ evaluations (organization, clarity, stimulation of critical thinking, etc.), identifying mentees with the largest perceived improvement compared to those with flatter trends. In the qualitative phase, mentoring records were analysed comparatively to explore areas of strength and improvement, and to interpret why some trajectories were more successful. Particular attention is given to the specific mentoring actions and reflective practices associated with higher gains in student feedback, without treating mentoring as a simple quantitative independent variable.

The goal is to offer an in-depth, evidence-based understanding of how peer mentoring supports meaningful pedagogical change and to inform the design of mentoring programs in higher education. The detailed results of the monitored trajectories will be presented and discussed at the conference.

Keywords:

Mentoring, Evidence-based, Faculty development.