Peer assessment and professional behaviours: what should we be assessing, how, and why?

It has long been argued that professional behaviour is better assessed by peers than tutors. Although many studies published on peer assessment have focused on professional behaviour, concerns about the reliability and validity of student marking remain one of the widely discussed challenges. Roberts and colleagues’ work rightfully challenges the assumptions many of us have previously made about peer assessment of professional behaviour within medical education, namely that it can be a reliable and valid measurement for the purpose of grading. The paper raises further questions, tensions and issues around: (i) the purposes of peer assessment, (ii) contextual factors that have an impact on assessors and ratings, and (iii) standards of professional behaviour, which we will further explore.