In some cases, we may deliver personalised, clear, intelligible feedback yet still find ourselves in difficulties.
Learners either ignore our feedback or simply don’t believe in it.
In the latter case, this can lead to a half-hearted attempt to act on it, with disappointing results.
In the learner’s eyes, these results confirm their initial decision not to believe in the feedback.
Credibility and relevance are often wrapped up with student perceptions.
Ask yourself:
- Is the feedback credible?
- Is the feedback relevant?
If a student perceives feedback as credible, if they perceive it as relevant, then they are more likely to be positively disposed towards it and to believe that acting on it can bring about positive change.
Perception matters when it comes to learners receiving feedback.
So, what stops some learners from seeing feedback as either credible or relevant?
One of the most important factors is the learner’s sense of self, as it relates to learning, or to the specific subject you are teaching.
If a learner does not believe they can get better at something, they will generally find it harder to trust a piece of feedback that implies they can get better.
Imagine a student who does not believe they can better at art. Someone who believes artistic ability is innate and thinks they weren’t born with the genes necessary to be artistic.
This learner’s sense of self in relation to art is antithetical to the underlying principle of feedback: that feedback is expert information provided by the teacher which learners can use to improve what they do.
Every time their art teacher gives them feedback, both the feedback itself and the underlying principle are butting up against the learner’s beliefs about themselves and about what constitutes artistic ability.
This conflict leads to the feedback losing credibility in the learner’s eyes.
It’s as if they are being asked to believe something (that they can get better) that runs contrary to a central belief they hold about themselves (I’m not artistic and therefore cannot improve).
Clearly this also impacts on the perceived relevance of the feedback.
If the student is operating under a belief that they cannot change their abilities, then feedback of any type becomes largely irrelevant.
One of the common ways in which this perception manifests itself is when a student refuses to put any effort into implementing a target, despite the teacher offering support, cajoling and coaxing them to try.
Here, we see the student exercising a passive power (the ability to withdraw or not to act) in response to a belief that what the teacher thinks – and what their feedback implies – is untrue, and therefore not relevant to them.
When it comes to credibility and relevance, achieving our goal of delivering effective feedback can be tough.
This is because we are usually concerned with changing how learners think about themselves, which takes longer and requires more sustained effort than making changes to our own practice and the things over which we have direct control.
Such as the form our feedback takes and how we plan for learners to interact with it.
Nonetheless, lots of options are open to us, many of which take their cue from work on growth mindsets, wherein the beliefs learners have about themselves and their ability to change, learn and develop take centre stage.
Here are five techniques you can call on to change learners’ perceptions and therefore change how they view the credibility and relevance of the feedback you give.
Acknowledge learners’ beliefs but then ask them to try anyway.
This means we are not denying the learner’s point of view but that we are asking them to put it to one side once it has been acknowledged.
The technique doesn’t always work, but sometimes it can be enough for a student just to know their voice has been heard.
Use case studies which demonstrate how individuals have benefitted from feedback.
You can use examples of famous people, former learners, or current pupils and staff in school – including yourself.
Case studies are easy to identify with because of the human interest and narrative structure.
They are also an effective way to embody abstract ideas in concrete terms.
Find two pieces of student work that demonstrate progress over time.
This may or may not be a result of feedback you’ve provided.
It is nearly always possible to find two appropriate pieces for any student. If you can’t, think creatively.
For example, you could compare how they spoke in class three months ago with how they speak now.
Use the contrast between the two pieces of work to demonstrate the learner’s inherent capacity to improve and develop.
Tie this to the benefits acting on feedback can bring and suggest that the student might like to change their mind considering the evidence.
Break your feedback down into a series of small steps.
This can make life easier for a student who struggles to believe they can change.
Smaller steps are easier to visualise than larger ones.
They are also simpler to implement.
Doing this is therefore about giving learners an easier path through which to start acting on feedback, lessening the sense of risk (which is generally a by-product of fear of failure).
Ask a student to give you feedback and agree that you will act on this if they act on yours.
This calls on the notion of reciprocity and forms a social contract between you and the student.
It can be risky, and you will need to set the boundaries of what student feedback should entail.
It is also good to stress that the learner’s feedback should take a similar form to yours – rational, specific and supported by evidence.
If you can get all this in place, though, it can be a powerful experience for the student, binding them into the idea that feedback is both positive and non-threatening.
Overall, issues of credibility and relevance are often tied up with student perceptions.
Finding strategies through which to change how learners think will help to dispel many of these.
