“Because, as a teacher, giving feedback and assessment is actually really difficult”: using self- and peer-assessment to develop Higher Education teachers’ skills in assessment and feedback

This paper explores the use of self- and peer-assessment to develop skills in assessment and feedback in a postgraduate programme in teaching and learning, targeted at Higher Education practitioners. It explores the rationale underpinning a focus on the development of self- and peer-assessment skills, particularly in the context of the challenges experienced by early career teachers in making evaluative judgments and providing feedback to support student learning. Examples from practice are included to illustrate the activities used to develop practitioners’ ability to evaluate their own learning and that of their peers against given criteria, based on a model for incremental skill development proposed by the authors. In particular, the importance of scaffolding and support, in the form of guidance, templates and rubrics, is explored, in order to build confidence and competence in assessment and both giving and receiving feedback. Focus group feedback confirms that such an incremental approach is welcomed and valued, along with a programmatic approach to the development of these skills, whereby all modules across the programme provide opportunities for the enhancement of the skills associated with assessment and feedback for academic practice.