How Peer and Self-Assessment Can Be Used Effectively to Promote Learner Involvement and Personal Responsibility in The Assessment of Learning

• Peer assessment involves a student providing feedback or assessing another student’s work or progress. This enables the student to make decisions about their learning, assess the accuracy of their learning, and reflect on what they have done by comparing their work with others. For example, in my safety in construction unit, I divided the 15 students into groups of three and gave them a formative assessment that involved the production of a COSHH risk assessment document by each group. Once each group completed the documents, they gave them to the other groups to critique or assess their work. When observing the assessment process carried out by each group, I realised they were quick to see what they had done right, what they had done wrong, and how they could have improved on their work. Each group was able to independently ascertain the level of detail that should have been included in their documents. This exercise informed them how the COSHH risk assessment document required for summative assessment two should be presented.

• Self-assessment involves a learner assessing their own progress. For this to be effective, the student has to understand the assessment criteria and give an objective judgment about the works or activities produced. This process can develop the reflection and critical thinking skills of the students. For example, in my Level 2 unit, construction drawing techniques, I gave students a construction site plan and asked them to state and describe at least three things they could see in the plan. Once they completed it, we discussed as a group all the things that could be seen in the plan. I then asked them to grade themselves based on the group discussion. In grading the description part of the question, I gave them the criteria or points to look out for when grading themselves such as did you provide the definition, location on the site plan, dimension, etc. I observed that by giving them the pointers they were able to objectively grade themselves appropriately. Also, I informed them about how the activity relates to their summative assessment and the expected pieces of evidence they would need to include to achieve the required criteria.

Reference/Bibliography

• Davies, A. and Stiling, L. (2021) TAQA – training assessment and quality assurance [PowerPoint presentation]. 22 October.

• Gravells, A. (2014) Achieving your assessment & quality assurance units (TAQA). 2nd edn. London: Learning Matters SAGE.

• Gonzalez, V. (2019) How we can fairly assess English learners. Available at: https://www.middleweb.com/41421/how-we-can-fairly-assess-english-learners/#:~:text=Reducing%20the%20language%20barrier%20when%20assessing%20students%20will,the%20literacy%20they%20have%20in%20their%20primary%20language (Accessed: 19 November 2021)