Personalised feedback is feedback that is specific to the learner.

This does not mean that it will always differ from the feedback other learners receive.

For example, it is perfectly possible for two or more learners to receive the same feedback from their teacher because they need to work on improving the same thing.

However, the personalisation comes from the fact that the information delivered by the teacher is relevant to the learner who receives it.

Feedback that is not personalised may not relate to the learner who receives it.

Or it might be clear to the learner that this feedback has come from another source, as opposed to any engagement with their work or learning.

For example, we can imagine a teacher bringing out a sheet of feedback they use every year when teaching a given topic, handing it to their learners and saying something like: ‘This is what I always tell learners when we do this.’

Feedback of this type is disconnected from the learner’s present experience.

In our example, the teacher is relying on feedback they have formulated in years gone by.

This may remain relevant – but it is presented as a historical document from which learners are to make selections, as opposed to a response in the present to what learners are currently doing.

As part of a wider process of giving feedback, such a sheet may be useful.

One example of this is when the teacher presents learners with a mistakes crib sheet at the start of a topic. This primes learners to spot common mistakes in their own work, as they go.

However, in this situation the teacher is using the mistakes crib sheet as a supplement.

They will still give learners verbal and written feedback as the topic progresses. Feedback that is personalised and relevant.

Two questions you can ask yourself to ensure feedback is personalised are:

• Does this feedback relate to the information I’ve elicited about students’ current learning?
• Does the learner know that this feedback is for them and relates to their learning?

A simple technique through which to signal the personal nature of feedback is to attach the learner’s name to it:

‘Paul, this is a really interesting answer. What I’d like to see is whether you can include as much detail in your next piece of work. Keep that in mind as soon as you begin answering the next question.’

Through this, the learner sees the teacher treating them as an individual. This, combined with the signal that the feedback is specifically relevant to them, tends to be motivational.

If we now consider the logic underpinning the process of personalisation, we can note that feedback that is personalised is more likely to contain a high level of relevance for the learner in question.

This is because the teacher has elicited information about that learner’s learning and used this information to tailor a response based on their own expertise.

Thought of in this way, we can see how personalisation is intimately bound up with a sound understanding on the teacher’s part of where learners are at, what they know, and where they need to go next.

It is not always possible to give personalised feedback to every student.

Time does not allow it.

In some cases, then, we might find ourselves delivering feedback to a group, or perhaps the whole class.

In these situations, it is good to emphasise that while this feedback is not being given directly to individual learners, it is still a result of you having analysed what learners are doing and what they need to change, improve or do differently (as well as what they are getting right).

For example, we might mark a set of student books and note that the class splits into roughly five groups, each of which needs to work on a specific area.

We could then share this information with the class at the start of the next lesson and display five targets on the board, one for each group.

After explaining that this feedback is personalised – because it is a direct response to what we have observed in learners’ books – we could then circulate and offer further support.

In conclusion, personalised feedback motivates learners by signalling that you are paying close attention to them and their learning.

It is also more likely to be good feedback because the personalisation is a result of you having elicited accurate information about student learning.