A

problem
shared
Develop a culture of peer
assessment and children will
achieve far more together than they
would alone, says David Dunn...
S
o far we’ve dealt with AfL through
differentiation, questioning and
marking. Now we move onto the
last piece of this series and, arguably, one
of the most difficult to get right – peer
assessment. So, how do we get it right?
Well, let’s clear a few misconceptions up
first. Peer assessment is much, much
more than children just marking
each other’s work. A couple of
ticks and a smiley face really
don’t cut the mustard! If it’s
going to be effective it must be
done in a way that helps
children to engage with and
reflect upon each other’s
work, and consider how the
work can be improved.
Through their work
Inside the Black Box and
Working inside the Black
Box, Professors Paul Black,
Dylan Wiliam and others at
King’s College London are
very clear that both peer and
self assessment are valuable in
promoting learning, but they
believe that skills in peer assessment
should be developed first. Peer
assessment enables children to give
each other valuable feedback so
they learn from and support each
other. It adds so much more to
learning and the opportunity to
talk, discuss, explain and
challenge enables children to
often achieve more than they
would unaided.
So, how is it best
introduced? Obviously, you
don’t want comments
along the lines of: “You
mean that you want me
to mark his work so you
don’t have to do it?” Or
“She’s not looking at my
work – she’ll copy it!”
Therefore, it is important that children

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 ASSESSMENT

are introduced to the concept of peer work can be a little daunting for all involved. By need to give them a few minutes before the
assessment carefully, as well as being given the using this technique you focus more on the plenary in order to get their thoughts together.
tools to carry it out effectively. Try these two positive. In a nutshell, the children give three If they feel confident enough, they can discuss
ground rules to get them started: things they think their partner has done well their work with the class and check it against

1 Establish from the beginning that the with (the stars), and one suggestion for the learning objective and success criteria. You
purpose of peer assessment is to help improvement (the wish). Remember to keep could use a visualizer (if you have one; it’s a type
children to have an understanding of those focuses specific! of camera that projects work straight from the
assessment and what constitutes progress and book onto your interactive whiteboard), or have
success. This will eventually lead them onto Peer assessment will not a piece of their work photocopied and handed
round, or photocopied onto an overhead
planning their own work to meet their own
individual targets.
be effective until you have transparency and projected. Ensure children

2 discussed, shared and

Create a supportive, non-threatening relate their learning back to the learning
environment where it is safe to share objective and success criteria.
thoughts without the worry that any developed the correct use
demoralising, destructive comments will be of learning objectives and What do I know?
allowed. It’s important that children feel secure If you’re feeling confident, this activity works
in this or you won’t reap the maximum benefits. success criteria very well; the children love it and it promotes
Peer assessment will not be effective until healthy discussion. Give children the opportunity
you have discussed, shared and developed the The feedback sandwich to assess your work or understanding of the
correct use of learning objectives and success Here is one way to provide a feedback concept being taught. Talk your way through
criteria. Children need to know what they are ‘sandwich’: your learning as if you were one of the children.
looking for before they can identify it. It may ■ positive comment Remember to make mistakes; the children will
well be best, as you begin this, to use ■ constructive criticism with an explanation of pick up on these and provide you with a good
anonymous work from another class or, even how to improve assessment opportunity – children can both
better, a previous year. Keep the focus tight, ■ positive comment recognise that what you are doing or saying is
ensuring that you don’t ask the children to try wrong, and tell you how to improve or put right
to look at too much at once. The benefits of an And here’s a similar, but slightly different, way: those mistakes.
anonymous approach are that the children learn contextual statement: ‘I liked . . . because . . .’
all the skills necessary to make peer assessment ■ ‘Now/next time . . .’ Chat it!
work successfully, without the stress that can ■ interactive statement (question): Ask children to mark each other’s work by
come with trying to assess the work of other ■ ‘Why did you use . . .’ putting a cross next to any errors, but without
children from their class. identifying what is wrong. The answers then
There are many ways of using peer The first way is suitable for both KS1 and KS2, have to be corrected whilst in dialogue with
assessment and the following ideas are just the second more for KS2. their partner.
a few of the strategies I find work well in As you can see, there are many ways of
the classroom. Plenary buddies enabling the children to become effective peer
This technique requires you to choose a pair (or assessors. And it is well worth persevering with
Three stars and a wish small group) of children to take responsibility for peer assessment as the benefits to the learning
Asking children to make judgements on others’ the plenary at the end of your lesson. You will in your classroom can be huge.

The language
of peer
assessment
IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU SAY
BUT THE WAY THAT YOU SAY IT...
Give the children - through posters on the wall, if
necessary - the correct language to use when peer
assessing. Some examples of this include:

✔ ‘I like this part, but have you thought of...’

✔ ‘What made you use this word/phrase/
connective/simile/metaphor and not
another one?’
✔ ‘The best part is when you...’
✔ ‘I think that next time you ought to think about...’
✔ ‘I think you’ve achieved these two success
criteria, but I’m not sure about the third. What do
you think?’

And so on. Obviously, the kind of language used

will be dependent on the age of the children.

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