Effective feedback at Tudor Primary

Our FULL document can be downloaded below!

(You may also want to look at our additional Tudor document on assessment.)

Research shows that feedback is the most important factor in pupil learning. Studies of feedback reviewed in the Teaching and Learning Toolkit found that ‘on average the provision of high-quality feedback led to an improvement of eight additional months’ progress over the course of a year’. As a result, Tudor Primary School is committed to providing high-quality, relevant and timely feedback to children.

Marking is an essential component of feedback, but they are not the same thing. Marking is focused upon checking and correcting, whilst feedback is more focused on how successful something is and how it can be improved. This document outlines how, at Tudor, we are placing our emphasis on providing effective feedback to enable our students to achieve better progress.

“At its heart, it is an interaction between teacher and pupil: a way of acknowledging pupils’ work, checking the outcomes and making decisions about what teachers and pupils need to do next, with the primary aim of driving pupil progress.” (2016 Independent Teacher Workload Review Group)

Feedback is effective when it is timely (not too late after the task), frequent (not too scarce) and acted on (not ignored). There are many ways this feedback can be provided, for example:

• Peer marking and evaluation
• Self marking and evaluation using prompts etc
• Whole class oral feedback
• Shared whole class critique
• Using example models
• Online/written answer quizzes with instant scores and feedback
• Recording of feedback and next steps via online resources
• 1:1 and group modelling and feedback
• Use of prompts and symbols in work
• Written feedback

Feedback should maximise the responsibility pupils take for self-checking, correcting, editing and redrafting their work.

Additionally, it should also maximise preemptive teaching, preventing frequent errors and common misconceptions; it minimises laborious, slow, reactive written comments.

“The quality of feedback, however given, will be seen in how a pupil is able to tackle subsequent work.” (2016 Independent Teacher Workload Review Group)

With this in mind, all marking by teachers should be “meaningful, manageable and motivating” (2016 Independent Teacher Workload Review Group). This means trust is placed upon each teacher to adjust and vary their approach (within these our school guidelines) as necessary and to use this to inform subsequent planning and teaching. This should always be balanced against workload considerations and ensuring the pupils are motivated to progress.

Aims

We aim to:

• Provide a consistent approach throughout the school, so children are familiar with the methods but adults are able to adapt as appropriate;

• Use marking as a tool for formative on-going assessment;

• Raise standards by encouraging children to have a ‘growth mindset’ and improve on their last piece of work;

• Increase children’s self-esteem through praise and positive comments;

• Create a dialogue between teacher and child which will aid progression;

• Encourage pupils to always be the first markers of their work.