Recent nursing literature has illustrated an increasing interest in the use of peer assessment in nurse education programs. An examination of this mode of assessment has revealed that the way in which peer assessment is both analysed and applied in the educational domain in general, and in the nursing education domain in particular, is dependent upon the philosophy or theoretical framework that explains and directs the context in which it takes place. This influence may originate from the guiding philosophy of a curriculum, the regulatory constraints of a professional body, the mission statement of an educational institution, or the prevailing values and beliefs of society at large. Underpinning each of these influences are the particular interests of the empirical, the interpretive and the critical paradigms. This paper will examine the concept of peer assessment from the perspectives of its purpose in the development of the professional nurse and the particular interest(s) it serves.