feedback

The Learner Voice

The learner voice is an important part of the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework.

The Ofsted survey report, Teaching, Learning and Assessment in Further Education and Skills – What Works and Why, September 2014, recommends that for providers to improve their teaching, learning and assessment, leaders should ‘draw fully on learners’ views about the teaching, learning and assessment that they receive to inform self-assessment and improvement actions’.

We need to listen to our learners in order to improve the quality of our services, and in the same way that feedback we give to them must be impactful, resulting in positive change, we must reciprocate with the feedback given to us.

A teaching observation is a 45 to 60-minute snapshot of delivery on an entire programme and can be affected by nerves, a bad day, sickness etc. However, an effective learner voice provides more of an overview into the entire programme and so is highly significant.

Using both strategies in conjunction enables us to compare our view of our services with that of those that use them.

Other benefits of the learner voice:

  • We can get instant feedback from the group of people who are most important;
  • We demonstrate our priorities to Ofsted; and
  • It provides an evidence base for the SAR.

One of the ways we collect feedback from associates is via our monthly online survey known as The Associate Barometer. The purpose of this survey is to collate regular feedback on associates’ motivation and identify those in danger of leaving prematurely.

There are a number of questions about training, mentoring and work placements, and the three key questions are:

1) Please rate your last month on the programme (0-10)

2) How challenging are you finding the programme? (Too challenging / Appropriately challenging / Not challenging enough)

3) Do you feel that you are receiving enough support on the programme? (Yes/No)

Another vehicle for obtaining feedback from learners is a recently-elected Associate Board, made up of one representative from each of our nine step teams. The Board will meet once a month for approximately two hours. Each meeting will include updates from the Step Forward Delivery Leadership Team as well as requests for feedback from each Step team.

There may also be times when Associate Board members choose to share ideas or are asked to present work they have done outside the meeting.

The aim is that this will be a forum in which everyone is able to speak openly about the successes and problems the associates and programme as a whole face, with the aim of improving the programme for everyone involved.

Associates are the only people present at all pathway training sessions, PD sessions, ILP meetings, assessment visits, and mentoring meetings, and are therefore best placed to provide the most comprehensive feedback about the programme.

Feedback is not Marking

The old-fashioned image of a solitary tutor wading through piles of marking has proven to do very little to raise achievement, because:

  • Learners don’t always read the written feedback they receive;
  • If learners read their feedback, they don’t necessarily understand it; and
  • Even when it is understood, learners might not act on it in a way that helps them make progress.

Feedback, on the other hand, should be interactive and collaborative. It’s part of a working partnership and not limited to achieving success in assignments or exams.

The Ofsted outstanding criteria require that:

Learners are making substantial and sustained progress as a result of incisive feedback.

Therefore, feedback must be impactful, resulting in positive change, as opposed to merely indicating correct and incorrect answers in the work that associates are producing.
An interesting piece of research conducted jointly by The Sutton Trust and The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), suggests that effective feedback can accelerate learning by up to 8 months. On a 12 month programme like ours, this is highly significant.

When giving feedback, tutors, assessors and mentors should also promote English, mathematics, ICT and employability skills where appropriate.

In those instances where it is possible for associates to achieve the units comprising their qualification without correct and accurate numeracy and literacy, we would be doing them a disservice by ignoring these. Even if we don’t, they will be held to account further down the line for incidences of poor spelling, grammar, punctuation and basic mathematical ability.

On the Step Forward programme, opportunities to give feedback are many and varied, including conversation, demonstration and observation.

Within our delivery team, verbal, non-verbal and written feedback are given to and received by associates, tutors, assessors, mentors and employers. The following checklist is useful for pathway training, PD training, ILP visits, assessment visits, assignments, exams and one-to-one meetings:

 

Feedback Review Checklist

  1. Do the associates understand the assessment criteria and what members of staff are looking for?
  2. Are the associates assessed regularly?
  3. Are there examples of comments that give appropriate advice?
    Do staff pose questions as part of their feedback or identify specific areas for improvement?
  4. Are associates made aware of spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and numerical errors?
  5. Do associates respond to feedback?
    Does their work and/or behaviour show progress over time?
  6. Are there areas of good practice to share?
    Are there areas of strength in the associates’ work?

 

Further Reading
Bentley-Davis, C., (2014) How to be an Amazing Middle Leader: Crown House Publishing Ltd.
Gadsby, C., (2012) Perfect Assessment for Learning: Independent Thinking Press.