The use of peer assessment at a time of massification: Lecturers' perceptions in a teacher education institution

Abstract

The massification of higher education in South Africa has spurred a demand for innovative ways of assessing students. Peer assessment is an approach that is rarely used in higher education. In this paper, we explore lecturers' perceptions of the use of peer assessment at a teacher education institution. Using scaffolding as our theoretical underpinning for the study, we used in-depth semi-structured interview conversations to generate data from a sample of nine lecturers from various disciplines. Most of the participants use peer assessment although its application varies across disciplines. Participants also indicated a number of factors that they take into consideration when they use peer-assessment such as the students' level of study and the lecturers' disciplinary knowledge and teaching aims. Participants perceived peer assessment as significant in improving students' content knowledge and assessment skills as future teachers. The findings also indicated the limited use of e-learning-assessment tools. In the context of South Africa this work requires further studies to broaden our understanding of peer assessment in teacher education institutions.