It is worth looking a little deeper at the idea of expertise and the notion that feedback is in large part a process through which you can give students access to your expertise.
The argument goes like this.
In the classroom we are not all equal when it comes to knowledge and understanding.
The teacher is the expert. That’s why they are there.
That is why they must be qualified to do their job.
And that is why they are in charge of planning and delivering lessons.
These are obvious points yet often overlooked.
Many teachers equate the desire for equality in the classroom with the idea that we are equal in all areas.
This is a misrepresentation of the truth.
Equality in the classroom concerns the notion that all students have an equal right to learn, to be treated with respect and to be seen as individuals.
Few, if any, could argue with that.
But it does not mean that the teacher is the same as the students. They aren’t. They are there precisely because they are not the same. This difference is the characteristic necessity of their being the teacher.
Students may teach each other at times, may offer peer mentoring, may engage in peer-assessment (and all three of these activities are efficacious) but they do not and cannot take on the role of teacher full time.
To suggest they can (and that, therefore, they are equal to the teacher in all matters) is wrong.
The teacher is the expert.
Their expertise covers the curriculum they teach, but it also covers their wider cultural knowledge, their understanding of teaching and learning, their knowledge of psychology, as it relates to the classroom, and their knowledge of the students they work with.
All this expertise is what separates the teacher from their students, and which puts them in a position to teach and to teach well.
A teacher who fully understands the curriculum, who has a broad cultural understanding, knows teaching and learning inside out, has an intimate understanding of psychology in the classroom, and who knows their students well is in an incredibly strong position from which to teach effectively.
And this will encompass giving good feedback on a regular basis.
When we give students feedback, we give them information about what they are doing and what they could be doing.
We elicit information about their learning, perhaps through marking but also through observation, questioning and listening, and we then provide feedback based on what we have elicited.
This means we make a judgement.
Something along the lines of: What do I now know about this student’s learning, and therefore what useful information can I give to help them improve?
We rarely articulate this, but it is a fair representation of the process underpinning our behaviour.
In answering the question – in providing relevant feedback – we refer to our own expertise and then deliver information to students based on this, in a form they can understand and will be able to use.
For example, a maths teacher uses their expertise in maths to give feedback that is relevant, meaningful and useful.
They may also use their expert knowledge of their students to tailor this feedback so it is well received.
And they might call on their expert knowledge of the curriculum to make a link between what they are asking students to try next and how this will help them further down the line.
For me, seeing feedback as being about unlocking your expertise has much to recommend it.
First, it reminds you that you are an expert and that your expertise is valuable; you can use it to shape and direct student effort.
Second, it suggests that the wider role of teaching is to bring students closer and closer to your level of expertise, even to help them surpass it.
This is neatly summed up in the old quote: ‘The student becomes the master.’
Why do they become the master? Because the master’s expertise is no longer superior to their own. They are equivalent, or the student’s has surpassed the master’s.
Third, it gives you a rule of thumb you can turn to whenever you are delivering feedback – be that written or verbal.
You can always ask yourself the question: how can I make sure this feedback gives the learner access to my expertise?
In asking this question you direct your own thinking towards the area of your expertise that is most relevant to the matter in hand, and you also remind yourself that your job is to translate that expertise so the learner can understand it and make use of it.
That, as I see it, is the essence of effective feedback.
