Feedback is information given to the learner about their performance, against the learning goals of a lesson or activity, with the aim of further improving their learning.
Most commonly, feedback falls into one of two categories: formative or summative.
Formative feedback is when learners are given feedback and then allowed additional opportunities to practise or resubmit their work.
Summative feedback is given at the end of the learning process to provide students with an overall assessment of their learning.
How does feedback work in the classroom?
There are many different ways to deliver effective feedback - and the process doesn’t have to be hugely time-consuming.
For example, staff at Dixons Trinity Chapeltown, an all-through academy in Leeds, follow an approach that they call “messy marking”.
During lessons, teachers monitor students’ work and, in their markbooks, jot down the names of those who are succeeding against the learning goals and those who are struggling, as well as making brief notes about any common errors or key knowledge that needs developing.
When marking books, teachers follow a similar process: they look through students’ work, making notes in their markbooks about common successes and gaps in knowledge. If they wish, they may also provide students with written comments.
The key to this approach, according to Jon Gilbert - the school’s all-through vice-principal for instruction and staff development - is that staff must act on the information gathered during the messy marking process.
“What they do with that data is crucial; whether it’s been collected in-class or post-practice, the teacher responds to it in order to close gaps, deal with misconceptions and, ultimately, push learning forwards,” he explains.
“How they do this can take many forms: further instruction, responsive additional practice, drilling on mini whiteboards or breakout teaching.”
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement.
To achieve this, it summarises the best available evidence for teachers; its Teaching and Learning Toolkit, for example, is used by 70 per cent of secondary schools.
The charity also generates new evidence of “what works” to improve teaching and learning, by funding independent evaluations of high-potential projects, and supports teachers and senior leaders to use the evidence to achieve the maximum possible benefit for young people.
