The power of effective feedback for early-career educators

Student satisfaction is lower in assessment and feedback than in other areas of the student experience, according to recent data from the National Student Survey (NSS) and Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES). Delivering effective feedback to students consistently across markers and modules is something that many universities are having to grapple with.

There are numerous guides on how to write effective feedback. However, one of the most productive ways to show someone good practice is to lead by example.

Take advantage of feedback on teaching development programmes 

Learning and teaching development programmes offer opportunities to introduce early career educators to the principles of effective learning, teaching and assessment in higher education. In the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (LTHE) programme delivered at my institution, participants complete a unit on assessment, marking and feedback where they become familiar with different pedagogical theories and approaches, and begin to develop a rigorous and supportive assessment practice.

They are also assessed on a final portfolio they submit at the end of the programme. This assessment is a perfect opportunity for assessors to actively showcase good feedback practice through the written feedback they give educators on their work.

As an assessor on the Exeter LTHE programme, I see this as a chance to lead by example and write feedback that embodies the good practice principles we encourage our educators to follow when they write feedback for students. Receiving good feedback on their own work can help them to understand what “good” feedback looks like.

Use feedback models you want educators to adopt

When giving written feedback to educators, use a model that you would want them to use when writing feedback for students. Many of us have heard of the “feedback sandwich”, which provides constructive criticism between two positive statements. Learners on the Exeter LTHE programme are also introduced to the tell, explain, describe model (TEDM) as well as the “feedback trifle”, which frames feedback into three layers: the bottom layer highlights the strengths and what the learner did well, the middle layer outlines areas to improve and the top layer gives specific actions to take in order to “fix” what didn’t go well.

Apply your institution’s principles of good feedback

Use your role as an assessor to write feedback to teaching staff that exemplifies principles of good feedback. These could be principles or a model of good feedback that your institution has drafted or ones championed by organisations such as Jisc (which say that feedback should be constructive, specific, honest and supportive). 

• A checklist for inclusive assessment and feedback, in a post-ChatGPT world
• Why we should be giving feedback via video
• Master the art of effective feedback

Be kind

Use compassionate language and phrasing that you would expect from educators. Avoid judgemental phrases like “it’s a shame”, “it’s a pity” or “unfortunately”. Swap negative words such as “issue”, “mistake”, “problem”, “weakness”, “fails”, “lacks” or “inadequate” for neutral equivalents such as “challenge”, “learning opportunity”, “area for improvement” or “needs development”. 

If you’re returning work that you’ve annotated, make sure your annotations are self-explanatory: avoid ambiguous symbols (?, X, …, etc.) or short words that aren’t accompanied by an explanation, like “what?” or “irrelevant”.

Be personal

Use phrases that help you to connect with the person you are feeding back to as if you were having a conversation with them about their work. Everyone likes to think the time they put into their work has been recognised, and it can feel that way if you use more personal language and address specific examples:

• I enjoyed/liked reading about… 
• It was interesting to hear/read/see…
• I was very impressed with/by…
• Notable areas of strength were…
• Your essay/report could have been further strengthened by…
• In future essays/assessments you may want to consider/think about…
• I would encourage you to…

Keep it constructive

Always end on a constructive note where you highlight exactly what the person can do to improve for next time. After all, that’s exactly what we want our educators to focus on for our students, right? This can often be most effective in bullet point format.

We should take advantage of any opportunity to give written feedback to educators and exemplify good feedback practice in the process. Teaching development programmes, Advance HE Fellowship applications and other professional schemes provide ideal opportunities for assessors to model effective feedback practices that educators can apply to their students.

Jennie Fox is deputy education partner in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Exeter.

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