How important is the feedback between teachers and students?

Feedback is among the most powerful influences, but the effects can also be most variable. First, there are three feedback questions – Where am I going? How am I going? And Where to next? When we ask teachers to describe feedback they tend to use the first two questions, but students are emphatic that feedback helps them move forward – and indeed if there is no “where to next” feedback many times they claim they received no feedback. Second, there are three levels of feedback – feedback about the task, the processes, and the conceptual or self-regulation levels of learning. Providing feedback at the right level (and +1 level) relative to where the student is in this instructional cycle leads to enhancements. Third, feedback that is praise and directed at the self, when accompanying feedback about the content is distracting (although there is nothing wrong with praise as it may help build trust and relationships, and we all like it). Fourth, the feedback a teacher receives from students about their impact is most effective – hence every time a test is given the teacher needs to ask what the results tell them about their teaching – who they taught well, who needs different teaching, what was taught well, where to next, etc. These four notions help unravel the reasons for the wide variation in the effects of feedback” (John Hattie, personal communication, July 24, 2016).