By promoting self-assessment and feedback, pre-service teachers have been shown to develop their critical thinking skills, resulting in higher quality learning outcomes and a deeper approach to learning. Nevertheless, pre-service teachers’ responses to self-assessment vary widely. The students (n=61) from one intact class of the Bachellor of Science in Physical Education were required to follow an adaptation of the cyclical self-assessment process: (1) requirement to self-assess; (2) determine the criteria;(3) first submission; (4) general feedback; (5) self-reflection and self-assessment; (6) second submission; (7) specific feedback and grade; (8) final self-reflection, self-assessment and self-grade. Data were collected from students’ learning blogs (n=61), and video blogs (n=13) and were coded by the first author. Categories were identified inductively as they emerged naturally from the data. Results conveyed two main insights that aligned with an assessment for learning appreciation and summative assessment as a surface learning respectively.