Teacher professional learning through the provision of feedback on student work: a practitioner’s inquiry

This study explores the way effective feedback can be provided to students to enhance their learning. It aims to identify and explore how feedback can be given in relation to Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) which are part of the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Desired Outcomes of Education. The study uses Hattie and Timperley’s (2007) framework in providing and understanding the feedback the practitioner provides to students. The study took place at a junior college (JC) which is a pre-university institution and adopted a qualitative approach. Data included semi-structured interviews, artefact analysis and reflective journals kept by the practitioner. Twelve students taking Higher 1 and Higher 2 Geography, who were students of the practitioner, were interviewed. The written assignments which consisted of data-response questions and essays, written by students who were interviewed and those who were not part of the interviews, were analysed to show the way feedback was being given by the researcher over a period of 9 months. The study shows how certain types of feedback given do not always contribute to learning as believed by the practitioner at the beginning of the study. It also displays how the feedback provided by the practitioner changed over time in the course of this study, especially when the practitioner becomes conscious of the way she provides feedback. The research also demonstrated how the feedback given by the practitioner may be perceived differently by the students and therefore there is a need for students to take the initiative in clarifying feedback that is being provided. The practitioner also reveals how verbal feedback also contributes to learning. In the discussion it can be seen also how factors like regularity of feedback, assessment and student-teacher relationships value adds to feedback that is provided to students by the practitioner.