If a student does not have the opportunity to act on the feedback they’ve been given, it is highly likely the feedback will disappear into the ether, never to be seen again.

Time moves on quickly in the classroom.

And we soon find ourselves focussing on new content, new tasks and new ideas.

Feedback becomes effective when time is provided in which learners can act on it.

While this is not a constituent of the feedback itself, it is an important supplement to the provision of feedback.

Active practice differs from passive practice.

In the former learners are actively attending to what they are doing.

They are engaged in the process, meaning it has greater impact and requires higher levels of effort and concentration.

For example, consider the difference between a child who is actively practising playing the piano and one who is passively practising.

The former is engaged with their practice.

They are thinking about what is happening and targeting their effort in pursuit of a goal: improvement.

The latter is not engaged.

They may be thinking about other things.

They are going through the motions.

As a result, they will probably not draw the same benefits from their practice nor make the same progress as their peer.

When it comes to target implementation, then, the first step is to provide time in which learners can focus on using their targets. On putting them into practice.

When it comes to active practice, we want to set up situations where:

• Learners have opportunities to work on their targets.
• Learners are focussed and engaged.

Over a period of time, a learner who is given repeated chances to implement targets and actively practice the necessary steps involved is far more likely to make strong progress than a student who receives feedback but is not given time in which to act on it, or who is given time but then remains passive and simply goes through the motions.

Five target implementation techniques you can use in your classroom

• Make target implementation time part of your planning. Just as you would plan starters, activities and plenaries, plan time in which working on targets is the primary focus.
• Use mid-lesson reviews to help learners reflect on whether they are fully focussed on their targets.
• Plan lessons that lead on from written feedback. For example, if you’ve given your class feedback on their most recent essays, plan a follow-up lesson in which essay writing is the focus. This means learners can immediately act on their feedback.
• Plan a series of short, sharp activities, one after the other, each of which gives learners a chance to apply their feedback. For example, a PE teacher might plan five passing drills, each five minutes in length, to run consecutively. Learners are expected to focus on their targets in each successive drill.
• Highlight the difference between active practice and passive practice. Make sure learners understand how they differ and ask them to monitor their own efforts.