Feedback literacy in focus: What we learned from a year-long research study
Feedback is a key component of teachers’ professional development, serving as a mechanism for improving their practice and fostering reflective teaching. The feedback process is not just about hearing what went well or could be improved; it’s about truly understanding and engaging with the feedback, and using it to inform and enhance practice, a skill called “feedback literacy.” In one survey, four in ten teachers reported that they didn’t understand how to act on the feedback they received. If teachers struggle to interpret feedback, how can they act on it?
Inspired by this question, we put together a study to explore feedback literacy behaviours among teacher trainees, early career teachers (ECTs) and their mentors.
We set out to understand:
(a) How their feedback literacy evolves over the school year.
(b) The role of mentor characteristics in shaping this skill.
(c) Feedback literacy’s association with other positive outcome metrics.
Our recommendations for researchers working with teachers
Before diving into our findings, it is worth reflecting on the research process itself. Conducting a year-long study with teaching staff raised several challenges, and navigating these gave us valuable insights on conducting meaningful research in this sector. Sampling teachers each term during the school year came with predictable hurdles not unique to survey-based research – a high attrition rate, complex data, and response fatigue. These were compounded by the realities of working with teachers, time-poor professionals regularly inundated with participation requests. Faced with these constraints, we used the expertise within our research team, adapting the research process to ensure that we preserved its rigour and integrity despite these challenges.
Use shorter surveys
When we began data collection, our initial surveys took over 15 minutes to complete, leading to low response rates. To make the survey quicker without compromising its depth, we rolled out shortened surveys (~five minutes) by reducing the number of items per measure and removing attention-check questions. This led to a substantially better response rate, and we were careful to verify that these changes didn’t undermine the usefulness of the data.
Prioritise user experience and time
We designed a process that reduced friction during the data collection process for our participants. Firstly, we saved participants time by pre-filling their names into the survey. Further, our teacher-mentees responded best when time was built into their training days for engagement with the study. We also suspected that integrating surveys into learning management systems could reduce survey fatigue by creating a seamless data collection process.
Be strategic with the data collection schedule
We extended the data collection window until the end of the school year and allowed for recruitment of new participants during the second wave of the study. This amendment provided ample time for participants to engage with the survey, ensuring flexibility for those interested in taking part, maximising our participant pool.
Findings
Even with adaptations, maintaining our participation rate across the year was a major challenge. By the end of the year, we had 1064 unique teacher-mentees, and 396 unique mentors participate in the study. With this considerable dataset, we were able to turn our attention to the heart of the study: What did we learn about feedback literacy across the school year?
Our study focused on participants’ self-reported perceptions of their feedback practices, and our teacher-mentees generally rated themselves as highly ‘feedback literate’ from the outset. Yet, we still observed a small increase in their ratings over the year, which was slightly more evident among trainee teachers than ECTs. Whereas we did observe growth in feedback literacy over time, we found no clear evidence that this growth was influenced by mentor-related factors (such as their mentors’ feedback literacy; mentoring self-efficacy; mentoring experience, or mentoring style). Those teachers who reported higher levels of feedback literacy also tended to report greater confidence in their teaching and higher job satisfaction. This might suggest that feedback literacy skills form an important part of a teacher’s sense of professional wellbeing.
Our study underscores the importance of developing feedback literacy as a critical component of teachers' professional growth. Given that teachers are already time-poor, it is crucial that they are skilled in drawing meaning from the feedback they receive. By better understanding how feedback can be applied to enhance teaching practices, teacher-mentees can navigate their professional journeys with greater confidence and effectiveness. To do so, we must establish a strong evidence base and develop effective strategies for enhancing teachers’ ability to engage with feedback.