When teachers seek student feedback

There are a few things I definitely won't do - no way! Too risky. What if it goes wrong, what if I come off worse? Bungee jumping is the first item on that list. Just after that public speaking possibly comes in next...and it takes an extremely brave teacher to actively seek feedback from their students. It's potentially one of the most nerve-racking experiences a teacher can have. It takes hours to set up, you need to design the most effective means of getting the feedback and that usually means crafting a survey. It is also an activity best reserved for those classes a teacher has taught for some time. Time is essential for building up the rapport and trust which is the inherent ingredient for getting the most suitable insights into teaching practice. Feedback is not, 'sounding off', 'slagging off' in order to attack a person. An ad hominem attack is not feedback.

So, what is feedback? My recent Google Squared (Digital Marketing Diploma) experience made me revisit a definition but I really like their definition that feedback is not about commenting on personality and traits but on what happened and what contributed to what happened when accessing a fellow team member's contribution to a project. In addition, as a form of peer-assessment, that seemed to work very well. The content of feedback enables the recipient an insight into what went well, what happened and offers them an opportunity to reflect on their performance. Decisions can then be taken, in light of what was pointed out, to enhance performance in future team projects. It's what is done with useful insights that has the impact and makes feedback a potentially powerful tool.

Teachers know all about the relevance of offering their students feedback. Feedback takes many forms such as written comments on assessed work, verbal comments made in the classroom and it features in subject reports at key points throughout the school year. Teachers constantly offer feedback to their students and the means for doing so can vary with each subject. Last week I delivered a 5 minute presentation on the topic of feedback and can say that when I asked the gathered teachers to identify the benefits of feedback for students the responses were numerous and all positive. Students know where they are going, how to improve, steps for improvement, empowering students. The listed seemed endless and its contents so very powerful.

A 2007 study of New Zealand school by Hattie and Timperley ("The Power of Feedback") identified feedback, amongst the many approaches used by teachers to facilitate learning, as having the most impact in enabling students to learn and progress. Feedback is excellent. It is here to stay. It is part of what teachers do.

However, let's flip that 'feedback' coin over to consider the situation reversed. How do teachers feel about receiving feedback? Has anyone tried it? Many have but when asked how they 'feel' about it the experience is a mixed one. It can really feel like being placed well outside any notion of a, 'comfort zone'.

I have carried out the exercise a few times and found it quite revealing. Having said that asking for feedback is not something a newly qualified teacher ought to do at all. It takes time to build up the working relationship with students and to be familiar with teaching them for some time before considering this at all. My experience told me to teach how to give feedback ahead of asking for it and to introduce peer-to-peer feedback to give students direct experience of giving and receiving feedback to a required set of standards. The act of offering feedback has to be carefully considered before any comments are made. Feedback is meant to help the recipient and not the means to negatively criticize or outwardly blame. Students need to develop the skill of offering and receiving feedback for their future careers. The skill is worth being taught.

The criteria on which to base the feedback and the questions to ask come from the teacher. It is their feedback and the questions asked would tie into aspects of their teaching such as the extent to which instructions were understood and how well learning was supported with library and other resources. These are a few examples of what can be covered. In my case, I created an online questionnaire and had students complete it as a review of a particular topic - it happened to be how well a cross-curricular project between ICT and English had gone.

For the sake of openness, in my opinion, it is a good idea to share the results with the class that offered the feedback. The structure of the feedback meant that going through it was pretty straightforward and my experience is that students were genuinely interested in finding out about class opinion. Now, that was brave...though I would say that wouldn't I?

To sum it up:

1. It takes a brave teacher to ask for student feedback on their teaching. It is best done when the teacher-student working relationship has been established, which takes time.
2. The process has to be thoroughly planned and executed. Students need to be taught how to give and receive feedback. Decoupling personality from reporting on what happened is part of that process. Students need this skill anyway for their adult life - it is worthy of being taught as a skill.
3. The teacher decides on the form and content of their feedback questions and delivering the feedback task in class. The feedback is for the teacher, but sharing feedback with the class can be a useful exercise.

My students loved being asked and consulted and I must say that their feedback was honest and frank. What was my feedback like? Hey, that's my feedback, not yours! Feedback of this kind should perhaps be considered when the circumstances feel right and that is a very individual decision. I would though recommend it as something to try and as soon as relationships with my new classes is established it is certainly on my agenda for 2015-16.