The document discusses improving the quality and consistency of feedback given to students at a school. It outlines two goals: 1) improving the quality of feedback provided by framing it as questions rather than directives, and 2) giving students dedicated time to actively respond to and reflect on the feedback. The document notes that effective feedback is formative and moves learning forward by provoking student thinking, rather than just assessing learning. It provides tips for implementing dedicated improvement and reflection time (DIRT) to ensure students adequately engage with feedback.

1. MARKING OR FEEDBACK?
Assessment that moves learning
forward.

2. Ofsted 2014:
• “There is too much variability in the quality of some
marking across the school.”
• “The school needs to improve by ensuring that
marking is consistently good across the school and
all teachers give students clear guidance about how
to improve their work, and time to respond to their
comments.”

3. Two clear goals
1. Improving the quality of feedback
2. Giving students time to actively respond to their
feedback.

4. Why is feedback so important?
In 2012, the Sutton Trust published the Pupil
Premium toolkit, designed to show schools which
broad approaches work best at improving
achievement.
Feedback was top of the toolkit table.

5. Toolkit findings
Promising
Cost per pupil
Effect Size (months gain)
£0
10
0
£1000
Feedback
Meta-cognitive
Peer tutoring Pre-school
Homework 1-1 tutoring
ICT
AfL
Parental
involvement
Sports
Summer
schools
After
school
Individualised
learning
Learning
styles
Performance
pay
Smaller
classes
Ability grouping
May be
worth it
Not worth it

6. What have we already done about this?
• In the Summer term, we had a staff meeting focused on
marking and feedback. We asked departments to share
best practice, and asked all teachers what we thought our
policy should be.
• The responses indicated that everyone agreed how
important marking and feedback are – but that there was
still a lot of work to be done.
• Learning walks showed some outstanding feedback, but
that this was still not consistent enough either across the
school, or within departments.
• Clear evidence of students actively responding to
feedback was even more inconsistent.

7. GOAL 1
Improving the quality of feedback

8. What is effective feedback?
Feedback is information
given to the learner and/or
the teacher about the
learner’s performance
relative to the learning goals
which can then redirect the
teacher’s and the learner’s
actions to achieve the goal.
The ‘Learning Loop’
Adapt
teaching to
meet goals
Agree
learning
goals
Assess where
pupils are

9. Not just about giving feedback –
implementation is key
• It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it that counts.
• Where marking is less effective, it is used as a one way
street, when the most valuable information is to be found
from the pupils themselves.
• Marking is also less effective when it is unfocused - simply
urging pupils to do more of the same.
• Feedback can even be detrimental to performance if it
focuses on the wrong things.

10. The difference between marking and
feedback
Marking Feedback
Summative Formative
Assessment of Learning Assessment for Learning
Measures learning Moves learning forward
Directs thinking Provokes thinking
Solves Suggests
“You should…” “How could you…?”

11. Feedback that moves learning forward
• “Good feedback causes thinking.” – Dylan Wiliam
• Feedback that provokes thinking offers hints and
suggestions rather than complete solutions.
• It asks learners, “How could you…?” rather than telling
them, “You should…”. The emphasis is then on the
learner rather than the teacher.
• Effective feedback makes students think about their
learning. It also helps them to see that learning is
incremental rather than fixed. This metacognition is a
crucial aspect of Tallis pedagogy, linked to our work on
Habits of Mind and a Growth mindset.

12. Giving feedback by asking questions
1. You should organise your
writing into paragraphs.
2. You need to make sure you
are facing the audience at all
times.
3. You should always use
historical detail to back up
your answers.
4. Explain the impact of
deforestation on global
climate patterns now and in
the future.
1. How could you organise your
writing more effectively?
2. How could you use the space
in a more effective way for the
audience?
3. How could you support your
points more effectively?
4. Can you explain the link
between deforestation and
photosynthesis? How could
this help you explain global
climate change?

13. GOAL 2
Giving students time to actively respond to their
feedback

14. How can we make sure our feedback has
impact?
• Too often we spend a great deal of time marking student
work and giving them excellent feedback to improve.
Crucially, however, students often spend a relatively short
amount of time scanning the feedback for a grade or a
level and then move on.
• How can we redress that balance?
• “How do we get inside students’ heads and turn up the
knob that regulates quality and effort” (Ron Berger)

15. DIRT
• DIRT stands for Dedicated Improvement and
Reflection Time.
• When giving feedback, make sure you give students
a chunk of time to reflect critically on how to craft and
improve their work and then to develop new
techniques to put your feedback into practice.
• The idea is that they must respond to the suggestions
made in your feedback by writing responses
underneath.
• They must have time and space to do this.

16. The importance of critical reflection
• “Most discussions of assessment start in the wrong place.
The most important assessment that goes on in a school
isn’t done to students but goes on inside students. Every
student walks around with a picture of what is acceptable,
what is good enough. Each time he [or she! ] works on
something [s]he looks at it and assesses it. Is this good
enough? Do I feel comfortable handing this in? Does it
meet my standards? Changing assessment at this level
should be the most important assessment goal of every
school. How do we get inside students’ heads and turn up
the knob that regulates quality and effort” (Ron Berger,
‘An Ethic of Excellence’, p.103)

17. DIRT - top tips
1. Allow time and space - expect students to
spend approximately twice their time reflecting
on their feedback as you have devoted to
giving feedback.
2. Keep it focused - with clear task instructions,
including timing and outlining exact
expectations, students can be more focused in
their DIR time and considerably more effective.
3. Model and scaffold – although DIRT is about
independent reflection, teacher guidance is
crucial.

18. Summing up
We are asking for more consistent use of two
fundamental principles in order to improve
feedback across the school:
1. Feedback should be phrased as questions;
2. Students are given time and space to respond
to and act on their feedback.

19. Where next?
•We will be asking Curriculum Areas to revisit their
marking policies, ensuring that the emphasis is
on effective feedback. We will use these to write
an updated school feedback policy.
• Further consideration of the role of oral and peer
feedback.