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Peer and self-assessment
Marking. The pile of books grows. The hours disappear. You give back the work two weeks later, and by then the students have forgotten what they wrote.
Many teachers feel they must mark everything themselves. But this is not true. Students can check each other’s work. Students can check their own work. And when they do, something powerful happens: they actually learn.
Peer and self-assessment is not just about saving you time, although it does that. It also makes students more active, more aware of what good work looks like, and more responsible for their own learning.
In this lesson, we will look at how to do peer and self-assessment well — and how to make sure students take it seriously.
Q2: Which of these worries do you have about peer and self-assessment? (Tick all that apply)
- All of these worries are reasonable. The good news: most can be solved with good setup — not by avoiding peer assessment
- Students can check each other well if you give them clear criteria. Without criteria, they just guess
- Peer and self-assessment is not the teacher giving up. You still review the work later. You are just adding a stage where students learn from doing the checking
- The first time students try this, it will feel awkward. By the third or fourth time, it becomes normal — and useful
- Start small. One short task. Clear instructions. See how it goes
When students mark each other’s work, three things happen at once:
1. They see a different way of doing it. Their classmate may have approached the task differently — better or worse. Either way, the student now has more than just their own version in their head.
2. They learn what good work looks like. To judge someone else’s answer, you have to think about what makes an answer good. This is exactly the thinking they need for their own work next time.
3. They get feedback faster. Instead of waiting two weeks for you to mark it, they get feedback in five minutes — while the work is still fresh in their mind.
Self-assessment works in a similar way. When students check their own work against clear criteria, they start to see their own mistakes. They become their own first reader — which is a skill they will use for the rest of their lives.
Be specific. What would have been better? What would have been worse? What support would they have needed?
- Closed tasks (right or wrong answers) are easiest for peer assessment. Open tasks (essays, opinions) need more support and clearer criteria
- You will probably notice that for some tasks you really do need to mark them yourself — for example, end-of-term tests or formal grades. That is fine
- The everyday tasks — checking homework answers, correcting short exercises, looking at first drafts — are the ones where peer checking saves you the most time and helps students most
- Students need clear instructions: what to look for, how to mark it, and what to say. Without these, peer assessment becomes either too kind or too harsh
The right answer is the one most likely to help students learn and protect them from copying or unkindness.
Think about your subject, your students’ age, and what kind of tasks would suit each approach.
| Strategy | Your ideas |
|---|---|
| Give clear, specific things to look for | |
| Use peer checking for closed tasks (right/wrong) | |
| Teach “comment on the work, not the person” | |
| Have students self-assess against clear answers | |
| Walk around while students check — sample, do not control |
| Strategy | How it can work |
|---|---|
| Give clear, specific things to look for | Write 2–3 things on the board: “Tick if there is a capital letter at the start. Tick if the verb is correct. Tick if there are at least 5 words.” Now students know exactly what to do. |
| Use peer checking for closed tasks (right/wrong) | For grammar exercises, gap-fills, multiplication, vocabulary lists — the answers are clear. Pairs swap, you read the answers aloud, they tick or cross. Two minutes, no marking for you. |
| Teach “comment on the work, not the person” | Practice with simple sentence starters: “Your answer to question 2 is…” not “You are…”. Give one example of a kind comment and one of an unkind one. Students learn the difference fast. |
| Have students self-assess against clear answers | After a short test, share the answers. Students mark their own. They count their score, then write one sentence: “Next time I will…” This builds the habit of learning from mistakes. |
| Walk around while students check — sample, do not control | Look at 4–5 pairs while they work. You will quickly see if any pair is being too kind, too harsh, or copying. Step in only when needed. Trust the system. |
Q6. Watch the video below. Think about which change is easiest for you to try first.
Host: We have just looked at why peer and self-assessment work, and how to set them up. Now listen to three teachers. They share their problems first, then the changes they made.
Teacher 1: I used to mark every piece of student work myself. Every single one. By the end of the week I was exhausted, and the students had forgotten what they wrote. The feedback came too late to help anyone.
Teacher 2: I tried peer checking once. It was a disaster. Students just gave each other ticks without reading. Some were unkind. I decided peer assessment did not work in my class.
Teacher 3: I felt that if I asked students to mark their own work, parents or the head teacher would think I was lazy. So I never tried it, even though I was drowning in marking.
Teacher 1: I started small. Just at the end of grammar exercises. I read the answers aloud, students checked each other’s, took two minutes. The marking pile shrank. I had time again. And I noticed students were paying more attention because they knew they would have to check.
Teacher 2: After my first failed attempt, I learned that the problem was setup, not the students. Now I always give them 2–3 specific things to look for. I tell them “comment on the work, not the person.” The second time I tried, it worked. The fifth time, it was normal in my class.
Teacher 3: I started using self-assessment for short tasks. Students mark their own work against the answers. Then they write one sentence about what they will improve next time. Parents have not complained. The head teacher saw it and asked me to share with other teachers. The students take more responsibility for their own learning now.
Host: Peer and self-assessment are not about saving teacher time alone — though they do that. They are about students becoming active in their own learning. With clear setup, even shy or new classes can do this well.
Q7. For each strategy, choose the option that best describes where you are now.
Choose a real task. Write what you will ask students to do, and what they will look for.
- Peer and self-assessment save teacher time, but more importantly they make students active learners and give them faster feedback
- The key is clear criteria — 2 or 3 specific things to look for. Without these, peer checking becomes either too kind or too harsh
- Closed tasks (right/wrong answers) are the easiest place to start. Open tasks need more support and guidance
- Teach students to “comment on the work, not the person” — this prevents unkindness and keeps feedback useful
- Start small. One short activity. The first time will feel awkward; by the fourth or fifth time, it becomes normal — and powerful
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