## Key Ideas > [!abstract] Core Concepts > > - **Tell students they're incorrect**: Avoiding explicit correction leaves students unsure whether they understand or hold misconceptions > - **Directive vs non-directive**: Use directive feedback for novices who lack knowledge; non-directive for relative experts > - **Don't mark or write comments**: Focus on identifying trends and reteaching rather than extensive individual written feedback ## Definition **Feedback**: Information provided to students about their performance, designed to improve work quality rather than judge the student personally. ## Connected To [[Use Booklets]] | [[Question Level Analysis]] | [[Fluency]] | [[Exit Ticket]] | [[Implementation Fidelity]] --- ## Core principles ### Tell students they're incorrect Some teachers feel telling students they're wrong will demotivate them. This misguided kindness is counterproductive. Avoiding explicit correction means students have no idea whether they truly understand or hold misconceptions (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Uncertainty about correctness undermines confidence more than clear feedback. Feedback should improve the work, not judge the person (Butler, 1988; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). ### Directive vs non-directive feedback The effectiveness of feedback depends entirely on student expertise. Novices and experts require different approaches (Fyfe & Rittle-Johnson, 2016; Kalyuga et al., 2003). Directive feedback tells students exactly what they got wrong and how to correct it. This approach works best for novices, who likely lack knowledge or have misconceptions (Shute, 2008). Students receive clear guidance about specific steps to improve (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). Non-directive feedback tells students they've made a mistake. This approach frustrates novices who don't have the [[Fluency]] to identify their mistake independently (Sweller et al., 2019). However, relative experts can think through the question and self-correct (Kalyuga et al., 2003). Dropping hints frustrates struggling students who need explicit instruction, not puzzles (Chi et al., 1989). ## The feedback model: three questions and four levels Hattie and Timperley (2007) developed a comprehensive model examining when, how, and why feedback affects learning. ### Three feedback questions Effective feedback addresses three questions: **Where am I going? (Feed up)**: Students need clear goals and success criteria. Feedback should reference the intended learning and what successful performance looks like. **How am I going? (Feedback)**: Students need information about their current performance relative to goals. This identifies the gap between current and desired performance. **Where to next? (Feed forward)**: Students need strategies for closing the gap. Feedback should include specific actions for improvement, not just identification of errors. ### Four levels of feedback Feedback operates at four distinct levels with different effects on learning: **Task level**: Focuses on how well tasks are understood or performed. This includes correctness of answers and specific errors. Task-level feedback is effective for building knowledge and correcting misconceptions but has limited transfer to other tasks. **Process level**: Addresses strategies and processes used to complete tasks. This includes information about how to approach problems and which strategies work better. Process feedback is more powerful than task feedback because it transfers across similar tasks. **Self-regulation level**: Targets students' ability to monitor and direct their own learning. This includes developing self-assessment skills and metacognitive awareness. Self-regulation feedback builds independent learning capacity. **Self level**: Consists of personal evaluations and praise ("good job!", "well done"). Self-level feedback is the least effective for learning. It does not provide information about the task, process, or strategies for improvement. Praise focused on the person rather than the work can undermine motivation and learning. Effective feedback requires clear goals and success criteria, information about current performance relative to goals, strategies for closing the gap, appropriate timing, and focus on the task not the person. Quality matters more than quantity (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). ## Feedback during independent practice ### Strategic circulation Walk around the room checking progress and providing feedback. Standardise the format using [[Use Booklets|booklets]] and explicit work layout expectations. Track student progress systematically rather than casually watching - actively monitor with a clipboard and write down common issues to address. ### Immediate response Make frequent affirmations and corrections. When many students make the same mistake, stop the class and reteach explicitly. Focus on widespread issues rather than individual problems. ## Don't mark or write comments ### Time management reality Individual written feedback may be an inefficient use of limited teacher time with minimal learning benefit (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996). Extensive written comments often have little impact on student learning (Butler, 1988). Individual marking takes roughly 5 minutes per student, totalling 2.5 hours for a class of 30. With five classes, this is an entire work day writing comments. Students are unlikely to read comments, let alone act on them (Lipnevich & Smith, 2009). ### Better alternative A more effective approach involves three steps. First, spend 10 minutes scanning entire class work for quick trend analysis. Second, spend 10 minutes planning how to address common issues. Third, identify trends during lesson circulation and address them immediately (Rosenshine, 2012). This approach takes 20 minutes total instead of 150 minutes and provides more effective feedback that students can act upon (Black & Wiliam, 2009). Exams still need to be marked for formal assessment. ## The marking workload crisis **Marking represents the single biggest driver of unsustainable workload and teacher stress.** Elliott and Baird's (2016) Oxford/EEF evidence review found "striking disparity between the enormous amount of effort invested in marking books, and the very small number of robust studies" supporting extensive marking. UK teachers spend approximately nine hours weekly marking, with 72% writing targets for improvement on all or most work and over 50% identifying and correcting errors on all or most work. The review emphasised: "Quality of feedback should not be confused with the quantity." UCL research by Jerrim analysing 9,405 teachers across five countries found "marking is the key driver of work stress among teachers" and "time that teachers spend upon marking is particularly detrimental to their wellbeing;" an additional hour of marking has stronger negative wellbeing impact than other activities. The UK Independent Teacher Workload Review Group on Marking (2016) concluded "written marking has become unnecessarily burdensome" with a cultural expectation that "you must spend hours marking to be a good teacher," yet "quantity of feedback should not be confused with the quality." Marking was the single biggest contributor to unsustainable workload in the 2014 Workload Challenge. UK teachers average 49.5 hours weekly (2019 Department for Education survey of 7,287 teachers), down from 54.4 in 2016 but still vastly exceeding contracted hours. Critically, 70% of UK primary teachers and 76% of secondary teachers report they cannot complete workload within contracted hours. Australian teachers work 46.4 hours weekly compared to the OECD average of 41 hours. Australian teachers spend 24.9 hours weekly on non-teaching activities versus the OECD average of 18.2 hours. ### Evidence-based marking principles Education Endowment Foundation principles for sustainable feedback demonstrate alternatives: mark less but mark better, focusing on high-leverage assignments; distinguish error types (careless mistakes need only marking as incorrect; conceptual errors require hints leading to principles); avoid grading with comments (research shows students focus on grades and ignore comments); use live marking in class for immediate targeted feedback; and employ student self-assessment with success criteria and structured peer assessment protocols. This maintains or improves learning whilst reducing marking from nine to four-five hours weekly. ## Exam feedback strategy [[Question Level Analysis]] doesn't produce valid data and rarely yields useful information. It is mostly for reporting, not feedback. ### Three-column method While marking, get a spare sheet of paper and create three columns: things to reteach, things to embed into retrieval, and things to build into schemes next year. As you mark, categorise issues accordingly. Widespread errors go into the reteach column. Individual declarative knowledge gaps go into the retrieval column. Major unanticipated misconceptions go into the schemes column. ### Return process Don't return papers initially. First, reteach everything in the reteach column with understanding checks and practice. Then return papers at the end with a solutions copy. Offer individual support by telling students to 'see me during break if you have questions'. ## Show-call technique Use show-call when many students make mistakes or produce substandard work (Lemov, 2015). Pause the class to address widespread issues. Use a visualiser or tablet camera to show examples (Black & Wiliam, 2009). Use mini-whiteboards to ensure all students meet expected standards. ## References Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. *Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability*, 21(1), 5-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5 Butler, R. (1988). Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: The effects of task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on interest and performance. *British Journal of Educational Psychology*, 58(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1988.tb00874.x Department for Education. (2019). *Teacher workload survey 2019*. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-workload-survey-2019 Elliott, V., & Baird, J. (2016). *A marked improvement? A review of the evidence on written marking*. Education Endowment Foundation. https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/ Independent Teacher Workload Review Group. (2016). *Eliminating unnecessary workload around marking*. Department for Education. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-teacher-workload-marking-policy-review-group-report Jerrim, J., Sims, S., & Taylor, H. (2020). *Teacher workload and well-being: New international evidence*. UCL Institute of Education. https://johnjerrim.com/ Chi, M. T. H., Bassok, M., Lewis, M. W., Reimann, P., & Glaser, R. (1989). Self-explanations: How students study and use examples in learning to solve problems. *Cognitive Science*, 13(2), 145-182. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1302_1 Fyfe, E. R., & Rittle-Johnson, B. (2016). 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