Assistant Principal News 

Student Feedback

The reports and research are clear: the use of effective feedback can almost double the average student growth over a school year. According to Professor John Hattie, expert researcher in education, feedback informs a student and/or teacher about the student’s performance relative to learning goals. Feedback redirects or refocuses teacher and student actions so the student can align effort and activity with a clear outcome that leads to achieving a learning goal. 

The best feedback is immediate, ephemeral and in the moment, it is often referred to as live marking. Live marking can be beneficial as it helps correct the student as they are doing the work and implement feedback straight away. An example of live marking is for the teacher to give individualised verbal feedback whilst a student is engaged in a learning task.  The student receives evidence through the use of a stamp with ‘Verbal Feedback Given’ or simply the letters ‘VF’ with the teacher's signature and date. A ‘Star and a Wish’ and ‘Success Criteria Rubrics’ are also effective strategies that give students precise pointers to achieve improvement.

One of the myths we have in education is that feedback is the same thing as marking. Extended retrospective marking, completed after the task in the absence of the child can be utterly pointless if a student is never going to act on the comments. Even with written feedback, there is a need to explain the comments verbally to the students so they understand what to do. Therefore marking of student work should serve a single purpose - to advance pupil progress and outcomes.  

Finally, the quantity of feedback should not be confused with the quality. The quality of the feedback, however given, will be seen in how a student is able to tackle subsequent tasks. All feedback should be meaningful, manageable and motivating.

Teacher Feedback 

At Our Lady of Fatima, the establishment of Learning Walks allows teachers to also engage in giving feedback to each other through observation of teaching practice. Observation of classroom practice makes teaching and learning more visible. It encourages collaboration between colleagues and helps develop teacher practice which in turn improves student learning. 

The teacher observation and feedback process lead to an increased focus on student achievement. This process is followed by collaborative discussion and planning for the setting of learning targets that address the next steps in student learning across the curriculum.

Mrs Jo Ford |Instructional Specialist