Peer assessment involves students giving feedback to one another. This may be verbal, written as comments or codes, or by checking and scoring. Feedback can be shared individually, in pairs or in groups. While peer assessment can be valuable, it is not without challenges. Teachers need to be mindful of the variables that influence its effectiveness. Since students are novices at giving feedback, they will need explicit modelling and ongoing guidance. 

Paul Chin, Head of Learning and Teaching at the University of Bath, summarised the research,

“There have been many decades of research into the potential benefits of peer assessment, and numerous studies have shown that peer assessment offers real educational and sometimes social benefits for students”(Chin, 2016). 

The benefits, however, depend on the context. Factors such as students’ prior skills, knowledge, and willingness to act on feedback determine the value of peer assessment. Peer assessment can support learning, but there are also circumstances where it should be avoided. Teachers can reflect on the following questions when deciding whether to use peer assessment in the classroom. 

Are students ready and able to provide meaningful feedback?

If learners lack confidence or the ability to give feedback, peer assessment is unlikely to be effective. Teachers should first model what constructive feedback looks like, including examples of unhelpful or unkind comments so that can be prevented. With sufficient guidance, and resources such as a mark scheme or success criteria, students are better placed to offer useful feedback that supports progress. 

Are the stakes high?

Peer assessment should never be used for formal or summative assessment. Students may review questions, mark schemes or overall performance, but they must not assign grades. In low-stakes contexts such as retrieval practice, peer assessment can sometimes be helpful. For example, students may check one another’s answers after a quiz. Yet teachers should proceed with caution. For some learners, the act of sharing results with peers may raise anxiety and increase the perceived stakes. In these cases, self-assessment may be a better option, allowing learners to reflect privately on what they can or cannot yet recall from memory. 

Is there an opportunity to act on the feedback?

Feedback is only useful if students can apply it. If peer assessment takes place after a task is complete, such as an essay or story, the comments may have little impact. In contrast, feedback given during the process (for example, after each paragraph of a piece of writing) allows students to act immediately and improve their work in real time. 

Is there sufficient time?

For peer assessment to work well, students need time to review their partner’s work, reflect and select appropriate feedback, and then communicate it clearly. If rushed, the process can feel superficial and simply ticking a purple pen box! Teachers should plan for the time demands, which will vary according to task complexity and student ability. 

Is there a supportive learning environment in the classroom?

The Great Teaching Toolkit: Evidence Review (Coe et al., 2020) highlights the importance of promoting a positive classroom climate built on trust, cooperation and care. Under these conditions, peer assessment can thrive. In contrast, if relationships between students lack mutual respect, peer assessment may do more harm than good. 

Peer assessment can be powerful when used selectively. Teachers may find it most effective when: 

• Students have been explicitly taught how to give constructive feedback. 

• The activity is low-stakes. 

• There is time to act on feedback within the same task or sequence of work. 

• The classroom culture is supportive and respectful. 

Where these conditions are absent, alternative approaches such as teacher feedback or self-assessment may be more effective. Peer assessment is not a silver bullet nor a strategy to be avoided altogether. Its success depends on timing, purpose and preparation. Teachers must carefully consider the context and conditions, and use their professional judgement. Used wisely, peer assessment can help learners to reflect, refine and take greater ownership of their learning. Used poorly, it risks becoming unhelpful at best and harmful at worst. 

To find out more about The Great Teaching Toolkit, and a course specific to creating a supportive learning environment, click here.

The course provides an evidence-based overview of how and why a supportive environment helps both teachers and students, and what great teachers do to create it. Other features within the Great Teaching Toolkit are designed to support teachers not just deepen their teaching expertise, but also to strengthen their teaching skills and embed lasting habits. 

 

References

Chin, P. (2016). Peer assessment. New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences, (3), 13–18. https://doi.org/10.29311/ndtps.v0i3.410 

Coe, R., Rauch, C.J., Kime, S. & Singleton, D. (2020) Great teaching toolkit: Evidence review. Evidence Based Education. https://evidencebased.education/the-great-teaching-toolkit-evidence-review/