Student Self-Assessment in Primary and Secondary Education in Greece and Internationally

The present study is a review of 36 empirical studies in Primary and Secondary Education, in Greece and internationally and aims at investigating: a) the benefits of student self-assessment, b) the contribution of self-assessment to the development of students’ skills to accurately self-assess. Moreover, this study presents the factors that affect student self-assessment ability. According to the main findings, self-assessment has been investigated more in Secondary Education. Furthermore, self-assessment has positive effects mainly on performance and learning in both secondary and primary students. Self-assessment ability and the factors that influence this ability have mainly investigated on Secondary Education with clearer and more positive findings, whereas there is a lack of research in Primary Education. In Greece, it was found only one study in Secondary Education that examines the issue of self-assessment ability with positive conclusions for students. Factors that contribute to the accuracy of student self-assessment in Secondary Education are the use of a video-based modeling examples, the observation of a human model engaging in self-assessment by students, the use of scripts and the training of students in selfand peer-assessment, whereas in Primary Education the social status, training and guidance in self-assessment and the entrance examinations affect self-assessment ability.


Results
Analytically, Table 1 presents the main findings of the studies regarding the benefits of student self-assessment in Secondary Education.   The use of self-assessment with the goal setting motivates students and leads to higher levels of academic achievement. Table 3 presents the main findings of those studies that examined the benefits of student self-assessment in Secondary and Primary Education. self-regulation only found in the self-assessment process. In addition, students in higher grades tended to do more work and get more involved in the feedback process, whereas there was more feedback during peer-assessment and less during self-assessment.
Research question 2: Does student self-assessment contribute to the development of students' skills to accurately self-assess and what are the factors that influence this ability? Table 4 presents the main findings of the studies regarding the contribution of self-assessment to the development of secondary students' skills to accurately self-assess and the factors that influence this ability. the assessment script has on student self-assessment. Table 5 presents the main findings of the studies regarding the contribution of self-assessment to the development of primary students' skills to accurately self-assess and the factors that influence this ability. self-assessment ability.
Students at the age of 10 can self-assess.
Teachers noted that students could assess themselves but training and guidance in the use of the procedure of self-assessment was necessary. Time and practice in self-assessment make students be better showed difficulty accurately self-assessing themselves.

Discussion
The McMillan and Hearn (2008) and Brown and Harris (2014) confirm the contribution of self-assessment to improvement of students' performance and learning. The findings of this study show that self-assessment contributes to improvement of learning and performance of both secondary and primary students. Analytically, internationally in Secondary Education, the findings of this study demonstrate that student self-assessment improves students' ability to write (DeMent, 2008;Andrade et al., 2010), helps students make progress in Religious Education (Fancourt, 2008) and even self-assessment helps students perform well in external examinations (McDonald, 2009). In addition, self-assessment plays an important role in the development of learning abilities and supports learning about the English language (Dalala, 2014). Still, the use of self-assessment scripts enhances learning in Geography (Alonso-Tapia & Panadero, 2010). Besides, the implementation of self-assessment with scripts and rubrics can improve learning in this particular subject (Panadero et al., 2012). Furthermore, self-assessment has a positive effect on students' performance and understanding of scientific concepts in Physical science, whereas the process of self-assessment helps low-performing students to understand the scientific content (Thrasher, 2012). In addition, self-assessment in Chemistry can slightly improve the scores in the final assessment (Feldkamp, 2013 same subject the implementation of self-and peer-assessment has a positive effect on students' achievement (Popelka, 2015). In Geometry, cooperative learning with self-assessment positively affects performance of students with high and low cognitive skills (Hatami, 2015). In addition, it was found that self-assessment improves future performance in Physical Education (Peyton, 2017). In Greece, one study in Physics demonstrated that computer and mobile based self-assessment can help students achieve higher performance (Nikou & Economides, 2016).
In Secondary Education, apart from the contribution of self-assessment to improvement of performance and learning, there are also other benefits from its implementation, such as enhancement of students' motivation in the English language. Particularly, it was observed that students developed motivation for writing and independent learning (Dalala, 2014). In addition, in Physical Education, student motivation was increased during the course (Peyton, 2017). Still, in Greece computer and mobile self-assessment motivated students (Nikou & Economides, 2016). Enhancement of motivation as an outcome of student self-assessment is confirmed by literature review of McMillan and Hearn (2008).
Moreover, internationally in the field of Secondary Education, the findings show that self-assessment contributes to enhancement of self-regulation. Its implementation with scripts reinforces self-regulation in Geography (Alonso-Tapia & Panadero, 2010;Panadero et al., 2012). In Geometry in the context of collaborative learning, self-assessment can have a positive effect on self-regulation (Hatami, 2015).
Some authors have noted that there are few studies that have examined the self-assessment process regarding self-regulating learning (Alonso-Tapia & Panadero, 2010). This conclusion is in line with the findings in this study. Specifically, it was found a small number of studies that examined the variable of self-regulation as an outcome of self-assessment procedures. Furthermore, in Religious Education various self-assessment techniques can increase students' self-esteem (Fancourt, 2008). Still, in Physical Education, self-assessment can increase self-efficacy and communication between the teacher and students (Peyton, 2017). Additional benefits of self-assessment have also been identified in Physical science. In particular, students seem to be more satisfied with their work, they work more diligently to achieve their goals, they participate more often in classroom discussions, while higher-performing students show less anxiety about the final evaluation (Thraser, 2012). Furthermore, students' engagement in self-assessment processes can be beneficial for high school students.
Specifically, self-assessment can help students become introspective, analytical, independent, critical and improve their study habits. Besides, students with high professional expectations feel more capable of choosing their careers according to their personality. Moreover, self-assessment process can help students understand how all the lessons are integrated into the learning process. Still, it helps them feel that they can prepare themselves for the exams and plan their future (McDonald, 2013).
In Primary Education, self-assessment has primarily helped students improve their performance and learning. Analytically, internationally reading a model written work, generating criteria for the written work and self-assessment with rubric help students produce more effective writing (Andrade et al., 2008), whereas the use of portfolio as a self-assessment tool improves performance in communication skills (Stylianou, 2008). In addition, in the English language, the implementation of self-assessment can positively affect students' performance although the effect sizes can be small as noted by Goto and Lee (2010), whereas self-assessment training was found, that can help students become more aware of what a good written assignment requires and it makes them understand better the writing practices and themselves as a writer (Zapitis, 2011). Furthermore, in Mathematics, the use of self-assessment with the goal setting leads to higher levels of academic achievement (Clift, 2015). In Greece, studies were found in the English language and according to findings, self-assessment improves students' speaking skills and helps them identify strengths and weaknesses in their learning (Chalkia, 2012). In the same lesson, self-assessment makes students take responsibility for their learning and contributes to the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills (Anastasiadou, 2013).
In the field of Primary Education, self-assessment also has a positive impact on motivation. In particular, the implementation of self-assessment with the goal setting motivates students in Mathematics (Clift, 2015), while in Greece self-assessment fosters students' motivation in the English language (Chalkia, 2012;Anastasiadou, 2013). At this level of education, other benefits from self-assessment procedures have also been identified. Among these, are the increase of students' self-esteem and confidence in speaking in the English language in Greek Primary Education (Chalkia, 2012). Also, in Greece, in the English language, self-assessment helps students develop their affective skills (Anastasiadou, 2013), while the electronic European Language Portfolio through a wiki platform and self-assessment cards motivate students (Mexi & Vlachos, 2014).
Internationally, studies involving both levels of education, showed that self-assessment enhances self-regulation (Harris et al., 2015), whereas self-assessment through the long-term use of a rubric can have a positive impact mainly on girls' self-efficacy .
Internationally, in Secondary Education, studies investigated the topic of self-assessment ability and the factors that affect this ability. Analytically, there are studies that demonstrate that students have the ability to accurately self-assess (Chang et al., 2012;Popelka, 2015) and emphasize the importance of some factors that are crucial for gaining this ability, such as the use of video-based modeling examples to teach self-assessment skills to students (Van Gog et al., 2010), the observation of a human model engaging in self-assessment by students, (Kostons et al., 2012), the use of assessment tools such as scripts (Zamora et al., 2018) and the training of students on self-and peer-assessment (Popelka, 2015).
Some of the previous findings that contribute to the development of students' skills to accurately self-assess are also confirmed by other researchers, such as the training on self-assessment (Topping, 2003;Ross, 2006) and nature of the assessment tools (Topping, 2003). Moreover, there is one study where students' self-assessment wasn't different from teachers' assessment with regard to some elements of a work, but regarding other elements there wasn't any consistency (Oi, 2014). Besides, it was found one study where students' self-assessment ratings where significantly higher than teachers (Jackson, 2014). In Greek educational reality, one study demonstrated that students can assess themselves (Koukoulis, 2015). Internationally, in Primary Education, it was found a smaller number of studies as compared to Secondary Education that examined the topic of students' self-assessment ability and its success factors.
Wong (2014) and Elder (2010) also underline the lack of research at this level of education. In particular, in Primary Education, there are studies only internationally, and these studies underline that the social status and the entrance examinations contribute to the development of critical and correct self-assessment, whereas gender affects self-assessment ability, as women tend to underestimate and overestimate their academic achievements (Kostova & Atasoy, 2009). The influence of gender is also confirmed by Topping's (2003) literature review. Despite the fact that there are studies which show lack of students' self-assessment ability (Paleczek et al., 2015), there are others studies that support that students at the age of only 10 years old have the ability to self-assess and underline the importance of training and guidance in self-assessment (Wong, 2014), whereas there are other studies which underline that children's self-assessments can become significantly more accurate in line with the higher prior literacy attainment and increased developmental stages (Keane & Griffin, 2018). Other findings of this study show that children with low literacy attainment seem to have difficulty accurately self-assessing themselves (Keane & Griffin, 2018), which is in line with the existing literature which emphasizes that performance affects self-assessment ability (Topping, 2003).

Conclusions
The present study examined through 36 empirical studies of last decade, in Greece and internationally, the process of self-assessment in Primary and Secondary Education in order to identify gaps and make proposals for further research. More specifically, this study investigated the benefits of self-assessment for primary and secondary students and its contribution to development of students' skills to accurately self-assess. Still, it noted the factors that affect students' ability to self-assess.
Majority of studies were found in the international area. Especially, the USA is the country with most studies, whereas according to levels of education, there are more studies in Secondary Education than in Primary Education.
Analytically, in the international field of Secondary Education, self-assessment has been explored in almost all teaching subjects with positive results, mainly in performance and learning of students, while there are fewer studies that have examined and demonstrated the contribution of self-assessment to other variables such as motivation, self-regulation, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Moreover, self-assessment increases communication between the teacher and students, increases the satisfaction of students for their work, reduces the anxiety for the final assessment, increases students' participation in classroom discussions and affects positively their targets because self-assessment helps students work more diligently to achieve their goals. Still, self-assessment affects High School students who prepare for Higher Education or career choice by helping them become analytical, independent, introspective, critical. Furthermore, it helps them improve their study habits. Yet, self-assessment procedure makes students with high professional expectations feel more capable of choosing their careers according to in Greece only in English language. Internationally, studies showed that self-assessment motivates primary students and improves their performance and learning. In Greece self-assessment has positive effects on performance, learning and increases self-esteem and confidence in speaking in English language. Still, self-assessment motivates students and helps them develop motivational, cognitive, metacognitive and affective skills. Therefore, based on this level of education, internationally, there is need to study the impact of self-assessment on other teaching subjects such as Geography, History, Religious Education, whereas in Greece there is need to investigate the process of self-assessment and its outcomes on self-regulation, self-esteem, motivation, performance and learning in Mathematics and in Language Arts.
Internationally, in studies involving both levels of education, self-assessment procedure shows that can enhance self-regulation and self-efficacy.
Self-assessment ability and the factors that influence this ability have mainly investigated on Secondary Education with clearer and more positive findings on the self-assessment ability of students of this level of education, while at primary level there is a lack of research as nearly half of the studies have been conducted in Primary Education in comparison with Secondary Education. Especially, there are studies that underline that there is a lack of self-assessment ability of primary students and from the other hand there are studies that support that students at the age of 10 years old can self-assess. Hence, self-assessment ability and the factors that influences it, require further investigation in Primary Education.
In Greece, it was found only one study in Secondary Education that examined the issue of self-assessment ability with positive conclusions for students. Therefore, in Greece there is need to investigate the self-assessment ability of students and the factors that influence this ability in Primary Education, because there is a complete lack of relevant research at this level of education.
In studies that examined the ability of students to self-assess in Primary and Secondary Education, it was found factors that affect this ability. Especially, in Secondary Education, the use of video-based modeling examples to teach self-assessment skills to students, the observation of a human model engaging in self-assessment by students, the use of scripts and the training of students on self-and peer-assessment contribute to the accuracy of student self-assessment.
In Primary Education, social status, training and guidance in self-assessment, and the entrance examinations can contribute to the development of self-assessment skills, while gender affects this ability as women tend to underestimate and overestimate their achievements. In addition, students' self-assessments can become importantly more accurate according to the higher prior literary attainment and increased developmental stages, whereas students with low literacy performance seem to have difficulty in self-assessment, which leads to the conclusion that students' performance affects their ability to self-assess.

Limitations and Proposals for Further Research
Limitation of this study is the focus on examination of Primary and Secondary Education. One more limitation is the fact that searching is restricted to specific search engines.
As proposal for further research could be the following: • In Greek Primary Education, it is necessary to investigate students' ability to self-assess and the factors that influence this ability.
• Internationally, the examination of primary students' self-assessment ability and the investigation of various factors that may affect self-assessment ability such as gender, learning profile and learning performance could be interesting.
• In addition, the contribution of self-assessment to the reinforcement of self-regulation, self-esteem and motivation could be explored, in Language Arts and Mathematics in both Secondary and Primary Education in Greece.
• Still, the examination of the impact of self-assessment on Greek High School students that prepare for entrance examinations in Higher Education with regard to their degree of preparation and their ability of career choice based on their personality could be also very interesting.