The commission has brought students and teachers together in a way that has had a phenomenal impact on engagement in learning and shifted the dynamic in the traditional student-teacher relationship. Surveys were undertaken of a random selection of Year 8–10 girls to provide a wide sample of the school and a random selection of teachers in order to understand their beliefs about the provision of feedback, particularly as there were different approaches in different subjects. Subsequently, in preparation for the final presentation we worked alongside the Senior Leadership Team, to practise, and ironically, to gain their feedback on it!
At HAB, the Student Commission worked together to research the effect of a teacher’s feedback to students. The team put together research materials for both students and teachers in order to find out about their experiences of the process used for giving students feedback and the impact it has on students’ learning. Previously, the school
has used work scrutiny to monitor the quality of marking by teachers for students and this continues, but many students told us ways they feel feedback could be altered to support more progression in their work. As such, the team split into different research groups and used methods undertaken in international studies about feedback.
At Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley, the Student Commission have been researching the ways in which teachers deliver feedback to students on their work. This area of research was chosen because of its capacity to have a significant impact on marking and, therefore, its unique ability to positively affect the progress that every student makes.
Finally, this was a powerful experience that brought us all together. It was well led superbly by Miss Newell and it made us realise how integral feedback is for our own benefits and success within our education. We concluded that feedback is effective at HAB, although it needs to be slightly altered to ensure that all students engage with the feedback given to them.
Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, students undertook the research project over a period of weeks. By using surveys and interviews, across the various year groups, students sought to gather data that was representative of the student population. The results revealed that students feel that feedback is important and necessary; understand its value and have strong beliefs that it can impact their progress positively. Students recommended ways to ensure that teachers consistently gave feedback which was tailored to their individual needs.
Although Feedback at Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley is both summative and formative, students chose to focus on formative marking, specifically investigating the efficacy of the Academy’s formative marking method of ‘Over To You’ stickers which were designed with the intention of placing students at the centre of the dialogue between students and teachers. The students saw formative marking as more important because of its frequency and visibility in books.
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