Feedback Culture That Needs Feeding!

A strong culture of responsive feedback is essential for ensuring that assessment is not just a stale summative measure of learning, or worse – performance, but a tool that purposely captures what children have learnt and provides useful next steps to improve future learning. It shifts our focus from assessment of learning (measuring outcomes) to assessment for learning (guiding next steps). To build this culture, we must create an environment where feedback is valued, actionable, and embedded in everyday practice.

A Mindset Shift: Feedback as a Learning Tool, Not Just a Judgment

For feedback to be truly effective, teachers and children must see it as a tool for growth, not a verdict on ability. In a classroom with a strong feedback culture:

• Teachers continually assess where students are in their learning journey—not just at formal assessment points but through ongoing interactions.
• Pupils see feedback as an opportunity to improve rather than something to fear. They expect feedback, act on it, and see learning as an iterative process.
• Mistakes are valued, even celebrated – children understand that struggling with a concept doesn’t mean failure but an opportunity for deeper learning, even just more attention with a knowledgeable other.

This aligns with Dweck’s growth mindset theory and the idea that effortful learning leads to stronger retention. It also connects with Bjork’s concept of desirable difficulties – struggling with retrieval, applying knowledge in new ways, and receiving feedback, actually strengthening long-term learning. Read Bjork’s Theory of Disuse to know more about strengthening storage and retrieval.

What Does Responsive Feedback Look Like?

Great ideas from Chiles’ CRAFT of Assessment – responsive feedback must be:

• Immediate and Timely – Given in the moment, whenever possible, rather than waiting for the next lesson. Immediate feedback allows students to correct misconceptions before they become embedded.
• Specific and Actionable – Avoid vague comments like “Good job” or “Try harder.” Instead, use targeted feedback like: “You used the right method but need to check your calculations—what happens if you break the problem into smaller parts?”; “This is a strong argument, but your evidence needs more depth—how could you expand your explanation?”
• Embedded in Classroom Routines – Rather than being reserved for formal assessments, feedback should be a constant feature of daily learning through questioning, discussions, and formative checks.
• Encouraging Peer and Self-Assessment – Students should be trained to evaluate their own work and that of their peers critically. Strategies like success criteria, rubrics, and model answers help students develop an internal sense of quality and standards.

Feedback-Driven Formative Assessment: in Real Time

To ensure that feedback informs assessment, we must prioritise high-quality formative assessment strategies that give teachers real-time insights into student learning. This connects back to Rosenshine’s Principles, WalkThrus, and TLAC 3.0 strategies, which provide structured opportunities to check for understanding and respond accordingly.

Here are some key formative assessment tools that support a culture of responsive feedback:

• High-Participation Strategies for Immediate Feedback.
• Cold Calling – Ensures all are engaged and allows the teacher to identify gaps in real time.
• No Opt Out – Ensures that everyone contributes, even if they struggle initially.
• Think, Pair, Share – Encourages structured discussion, making learning visible.
• Show Me Boards – Provides an instant snapshot of understanding across the class – great to see what everyone thinks in the moment.
• Retrieval & Spaced Practice for Ongoing Assessment.
• Daily/Weekly Retrieval Quizzes – Helps identify forgotten knowledge before it becomes a learning gap.
• Exit Tickets – A quick check for understanding at the end of a lesson.
• Cumulative Tasks – Revisiting past learning ensures that assessment captures long-term retention, not just short-term performance.

Responsive Teaching: Adapting Instruction

The key to responsive feedback is that it informs instruction—it’s not just about telling them where they went wrong, but adapting teaching to address misconceptions and gaps.

For example:

If Show Me Boards reveal that half the class has misunderstood a concept, the teacher re-teaches immediately rather than waiting for the next lesson.

If retrieval quizzes show that key knowledge from last term is fading, teachers plan deliberate retrieval and re-teaching before knowledge decays any more.

This aligns with Dylan Wiliam’s work on formative assessment, emphasising that checking for understanding should lead to instructional decisions, not just grading or feedback that comes too late to be useful.

Building Teacher Confidence in Responsive Feedback

For this approach to be embedded school-wide, teachers need ongoing development on:

• How to ask the right questions to check for understanding effectively.
• How to recognise poor vs. good proxies for learning and not mistake engagement for understanding.
• How to provide immediate, actionable feedback that moves learning forward.
• How to use retrieval and assessment strategies to continuously track learning over time.

By creating structured coaching sessions where teachers can observe, discuss, and refine their practice, we ensure that responsive feedback isn’t just an idea – it’s an embedded habit in every classroom.

A School Culture That Values Reflection and Improvement

Finally, leaders must model a culture of feedback and continuous improvement. Just as we want children to embrace feedback and refine their learning, we need teachers to feel empowered to:

• Observe each other and discuss feedback strategies openly.
• Reflect on what works in their classroom and adjust accordingly.
• Share best practices across the school.

When feedback is woven into everyday teaching – not just at assessment points – it becomes a culture, not a one-off event. This ensures that our formative assessment practices are truly answering the question: “How do I know they have learned?” and not just assuming learning has happened based on performance.