Good Feedback Practices

As Hattie and Timperley (2007, p. 86) argue, effective feedback should answer three questions for the learner: ‘Where am I going?’, ‘How am I going?’, ‘Where to next?’

Black and Wiliam (2009)proposed five key strategies for feedback, which are as follows:

1. Clarifying and sharing learning intentions and criteria for success: This strategy involves making learning goals and objectives clear to students and providing them with specific criteria for success. This helps students understand what they are expected to learn and what success looks like.

2. Engineering effective learning engagements such as classroom discussions, collation tasks and written activities that elicit evidence of learning: This strategy involves designing classroom activities and tasks that allow students to demonstrate their learning in various ways. Teachers can use these activities to gather evidence of student learning and adjust their teaching accordingly.

3. Providing feedback that moves learners forward: Feedback is an essential component of formative assessment. This strategy involves providing students with feedback that is specific, timely and actionable. Feedback should be focused on the learning objectives and criteria for success and it should help students understand how they can improve their work. Some contemporary literature in education now reframes "feedback" as "feedforward".

Moving from Feedback to Feedforward

1. Activating students as owners of their own learning: This strategy involves empowering students to take ownership of their learning. Teachers can provide opportunities for students to set goals, monitor their progress and reflect on their learning. This helps students become more self-directed and engaged learners.

2. Activating classroom and school communities to support learning: This strategy involves creating a supportive learning environment where students feel safe to take risks and learn from their mistakes. Teachers can work with parents, administrators and other teachers to create a culture of learning that supports student growth and development.

These five strategies are interconnected and work together to create a comprehensive approach to formative assessment or feedback. By implementing these strategies, teachers can help students become more active, engaged learners who are better able to monitor and improve their own learning.