PEER ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ROADMAP FOR DEVELOPING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN POTENTIAL JOB SEEKERS

PEER ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE ROADMAP FOR DEVELOPING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN POTENTIAL JOB SEEKERS

PAUL MUPA

OWENCE CHABAYA

CHRISPEN CHIOME

RAPHINOS ALEXANDER CHABAYA

The focus of the study was on the assessment of students’ attitudes towards both being assessed by and assessing
other students’ work.Concerns about graduate employment issues, the world over, suggest that employers are
concerned by the lack of employability skills exhibited by entry-level job applications. It is also suggested that
employers consider it the responsibility of higher education institutions to develop and sharpen such skills. The
current study seeks to identify peer assessment as a potential strategy for developing employability skills and aims to
examine, from a students’ perspective, the process of introducing peer assessment into higher education teaching
programmes. Data were gathered from a sample of undergraduate students following a semi-structured interview.
The study found that students expressed a positive attitude towards peer assessment but had concerns relating to
their capability to assess peers and to the responsibility associated with assessing peers. Students felt that peer
assessment would raise standards in higher education and equip graduates with the needed employability skills. The
study recommends that peer assessment should be adopted as regular practice on undergraduate programmes
wishing to equip students with a complete repertoire of employment-relevant skills

International J. Educational & Research

2013