Feedback literacy: The building blocks for effective feedback in schools

Ngozi Oguledo, Lead Practitioner, Ortu Gable Hall School, UK Assessment is the planned or unplanned process involving the review of learning and the utilisation of the outcome for varied purposes. Identifying and closing learning gaps is one of the rationales for assessment. Feedback serves as a bridge, as it plays a crucial role in communicating the gaps and the gap-filling mechanisms. As Race (2014, p. 97) maintains, if ‘assessment is the engine that drives learning, then feedback is the oil that lubricates the cogs of understanding’. Hence, there is a place for feedback in teaching and learning. Variations exist in the understanding of feedback, ultimately resulting in varied feedback models in schools. I will draw on evidence and experience to discuss the characteristics of effective feedback, review the different feedback models in schools and highlighting the implications for teachers and students. What is feedback? Feedback in schools is generally viewed as the informatio