It is well established that Assessment for Learning (AfL) is a model for assessment that strengthens young peoples’ learning in schools as well as in higher education. This is also the case in school physical education and in physical education teacher education (PETE). One of the key learning strategies in AfL is to activate peers as resources for learning, often operationalized as peer assessment. In physical education, peer assessment has proven to strengthen learning for both the observer and the observed.
One dimension of peer assessment, that has only scarcely been covered in the physical education context, but that is more highlighted in research of peer assessment in general teacher education, is the tensions inherent in giving feedback to peers, and perhaps friends, on their work. It has been argued that teacher students do not feel comfortable when critiquing other teacher students, and that peer assessment could reflect friendships more than learning outcomes.
In the physical education context, studies have shown that peer assessment is one area that physical education teachers are sceptical about. Further, it has been argued that pupils can be mean to each other if implementing peer assessment during physical education teaching. In this paper we aim to dig deeper into this problematic aspect of peer assessment in physical education.
More specifically, drawing on the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of capital and using qualitative methodology, the question that will guide our analysis reads:
What capabilities and behaviours among students are by PETE students and physical education teachers acknowledged as legitimate and valuable when peer assessment is implemented in physical education teaching?
Preliminary results show that in order for peer assessment to be successful in physical education teaching questions regarding who gives feedback on what needs to be considered.
2022.