Students should be supported to critique their own work: Students should not be overly reliant on feedback from tutors. One of the key skills developed in higher education is the ability to critique, and students should be supported to be able to review their own work and that of fellow students. Developing students’ abilities to peer review and self-reflect are important skills for future employment,as well as deepening their own learning.(NUS Charter on Assessment and Feedback, 2010)

The HEA Feedback Toolkit highlights some of the pedagogical benefits or peer assessment and feedback:

• From receiving feedback from their peers….

Feedback from peers is more likely to be given in language they can understand and causes them to review and question their personal beliefs. Peer feedback may be available more speedily than tutor feedback, and ensures they gain more than one perspective on their work.

• From giving feedback in response to the work of others….

Providing feedback to others involves active engagement in critical understanding of what an assessment task demands and the criteria used to assess and grade work. It can enhance student subject knowledge and develop their reflective and evaluative skills; the process of evaluating the work of others both mirrors and helps to develop the internal process which is a natural part of learning and of preparing students’ own work for assessment by tutors, ascertaining the gap between performance and the standards expected for a task.

(HEA, 2013)

Lecturers from the School of Health Sciences have drawn on their own experience to compile a list of options to support peer formative feedback, along with benefits, challenges and alternative suggestions.

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