Peer assessment use, its social nature challenges and perceived educational value: A teachers' survey study

The implementation of peer assessment (PA) in the classroom faces considerable interpersonal challenges. In this quantitative survey study (N = 225) we focus on the current use and format of PA among secondary education teachers in Flanders and explore teachers' awareness of these interpersonal challenges. We validated an instrument for measuring teachers' awareness which was then used to investigate how this awareness level relates to their conceptions of the educational value of PA. SEM results show that teachers are slightly to moderately aware with regard to their students' concerns about the impact of interpersonal processes in PA as well as the importance students attribute to anonymity within PA. This study illustrates that teachers' perceived accuracy of PA is a major predictor of their belief in its educational value and opens up a new avenue for research on teachers' awareness of interpersonal processes in PA.