Cycle 2 Questionnaires to year 7 - 11 students
5.1 Theme: Recognising Feedback
Within this theme, the following data has been collated: student perception of what feedback was; why teachers gave feedback; the forms feedback took, the importance of levels. This has been gained from the Year 8 survey, English/Law survey, Year 10
survey, interviews with students and the SLT focus group.
5.1.1 How students believed feedback was presented to them
The first part of the questionnaires in the Year 8 survey and the English/Law survey was to establish the form in which students believed feedback most commonly occurred.
Chart 1: Year 8 Survey: Student responses to ‘I think feedback is…’
Chart 2: English/Law Survey: Student responses to ‘I think feedback is...’
The two surveys revealed similar findings about students views of the form in which feedback was most commonly provided. Written comments in exercise books was recognised the most in both surveys, however other forms were acknowledged more by the English/Law students, such as worksheets and questions in class. There was no significant difference between the views of males and females.
0% termly report provided to parents on student performance, represented as
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A breakdown of the English/Law student responses by year group shown in Chart 3 indicated the views of students from year 7 to year 11 followed similar patterns although the teacher asking questions was lowest with year 7. Over the year groups, students showed an increasing tendency to value the Constant Monitoring report, which provided a numerical measure of performance. The Law students are offered the opportunity to undertake the subject due to high performance during KS3. They can, therefore, be considered to be a high attaining group compared with an average student cohort of students who will achieve at various attainment levels. The pattern of the views of the Law students did not show any particular difference than the other student groups for this question.
Chart 3: English/Law Survey: Responses for all students by year ‘I think feedback is...
5.1.2 The student perception of the purpose of feedback
The second question sought to establish what students believed was the purpose of feedback. Table 8 provides a comparison between the Year 8 and year 10 surveys for this question.
Table 8: A comparison of student views about why teachers give feedback
Percent of students who agreed with the statement Why teachers gave feedback Year 8
n=~152 Year 10
n=~83
To give a level/grade 15% 15%
To show my work has been looked at 16% 23%
To improve my work 46% 35%
To show what I have done well 21% 20%
Not sure 3% 6%
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Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 10 (Law) Year 11 (Law)
Exercise books Worksheets
Grade Teacher asking questions
Teacher answering questions Constant Monitoring
n=28 n=24 n=23 n=36 n=21 n=26
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Feedback was provided ‘to improve work’ was the main reason identified in both Year 8 and Year 10 surveys. However, in year 10, the students’ responses to this category reduced by 11% compared with the Year 8 survey. A higher percentage of the students in year 10 identified feedback was provided to show the teacher had looked at their work compared with Year 8. In the English/Law survey, students also identified the main purpose of feedback was to help to improve their work, but a higher proportion stated it was provided to show them what they had done well. The views followed a similar pattern across all the year groups (see Appendix 15A).
5.1.3 Student perceptions of the types of feedback they received
The second part of the questionnaire sought to establish students’ views about the type of feedback they received in the eight subjects (Year 8 survey) and in the six year groups (English/Law survey). Students were asked to give their response to each
question using a Likert scale, with categories: All of the time; Most of the Time; Some of the Time; Never.
Chart 4: Year 8 Survey: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: WWW/EBI?’
For some subjects, such as Maths, English and French more than 68% of the students reported they received feedback in the form of written WWW/EBI ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time. In Science this was reported by 44% of the students and 21% of the students for Technology. When this data was presented to SLT (Appendix 6), they noted that for most subjects surveyed, the school Marking Policy of using WWW/EBI as feedback was being followed, however they commented it did not seem to be applied within
Technology and to varying degrees in other subjects. In Year 10, the question changed to determine the value students placed on these forms of feedback. Maths, English and
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All of the time Most of the time Some of the time Never n=147 n=143 n=148 n=144 n=143 n=142 n=139 n=142
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Science were compulsory subjects in KS4, the remaining subjects were optional so there were less students answering questions about them.
Chart 5: Year 10 Survey: Student responses to ‘Written feedback makes a positive difference to my learning’
Written feedback in English, Geography and French was considered to make a positive difference to learning ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time by over 70% of the students who responded to this question. The students taking Technology did not present a similar picture, with 48% of students stating written feedback made a positive difference ‘all’ or
‘most’ of the time.
The students partaking in the English/Law survey, administered by Kirstie, showed a greater recognition of receiving written feedback through WWW/EBI than students in the Year 8 survey.
Chart 6: English/Law Survey: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: WWW/EBI?’
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Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 10 (Law) Year 11 (Law) All Most Some Never
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n=80 n=80 n=74 n=42 n=34 n=35 n=40 n=35
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When examining student views in the Year 8 survey about the frequency of receiving verbal feedback, the responses showed varied patterns both across and within the subjects.
Chart 7: Year 8 Survey: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: Verbal Feedback?’
For Art, 16% of students stated they received verbal feedback ‘all’ of the time, whilst 19% claimed they ‘never’ received it. A similar pattern was seen in Maths, Geography and French. There was a wide range of views about verbal feedback, indicating student views about this form of feedback varied more than they did about the written form.
In the focus group (Appendix 6), SLT noted students appeared to prefer written feedback more than verbal feedback. The group discussed whether verbal feedback should also be recorded. During the second interview with Katie, she referred to a suggestion made by the Head Teacher after a lesson observation which involved creating a system for
students to record verbal feedback she gave them during the lesson. Katie explained this did not work, the students did not like doing it and it affected the flow of the lesson (Appendix 13).
The Year 10 data indicates a variation in perception about the difference verbal feedback made to student learning.
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All of the time Most of the time Some of the time Never n=139 n=144 n=145 n=142 n=138 n=143 n=142 n=143
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Chart 8: Year 10 Survey: Student responses to ‘Verbal feedback makes a positive difference to my learning’
A comparison between Charts 5 and 8, indicates when students were in Year 10, they believed written feedback made a more positive difference to their learning than verbal feedback.
Chart 9: English/Law Survey: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: Verbal?’
The Year 11 Law students showed a higher recognition of verbal feedback than the other groups with 77% of students stating they received this ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time.
In the interview with the Art and English students (Appendices 9 and 11), mixed
responses were given with regards to a preference between verbal or written feedback.
The students were able to distinguish between the two forms, explaining verbal feedback was helpful because it was instant, they could take immediate action and it could clarify any confusion. Written, on the other hand, was a permanent record, which students said they could go back to later. The Art students (Appendix 9) referred to feedback from
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Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 10 (Law) Year 11 (Law) All Most Some Never
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another Art teacher who they claimed gave more verbal and less written feedback. They said this was less useful than written feedback from Katie because it was hard to
remember from one lesson to another. These students went on to explain that in other subjects they also found verbal feedback difficult to remember.
Student views about peer feedback showed little variation between the subjects in years 8 and 10. Although the question asked in year 8: ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: Peer feedback’ is different from that asked in year 10: ‘Peer feedback makes a positive difference to my learning’, the two can be used to gain a picture of student views about peer feedback as they progressed in their education.
Percent of students who said ‘all’ or ‘most’ of the time
Subject Year 8 n = ~152 Year 10 n= ~83
Maths 31% 20%
English 38% 44%
Science 23% 24%
Geography 34% 36%
History 30% 25%
French 34% 29%
Technology 21% 30%
Art 39% 25%
Table 9: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: Peer feedback’ (Year 8) and ’Peer feedback makes a positive difference to my learning’ (Year 10)
The Year 8 question did not differentiate between useful and not useful peer feedback.
Students may have answered ‘never’ if they did get peer feedback but did not find it helpful as they may have regarded unhelpful peer feedback as no feedback.
In the first Art student interview, it was suggested by one of the students that they should undertake an evaluation in the form of EBI on each other’s work. After some discussion, the students concluded this was not a good idea, one of them explaining ‘you should see the feedback I got from someone else, there was hardly anything there, it was really vague and empty’. Other students shared other examples when peer feedback had not been helpful (Appendix 8). In the second interview (Appendix 9), the students agreed that when giving feedback to someone else, it made them think more about their own work but emphasised the feedback they got from a peer was not useful.
A comparison of the responses in the English/Law survey indicates students’ views did not differ considerably across the year groups indicating the views of peer feedback did not change as students got older.
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Chart 10: English/Law Survey: Student responses to ‘What types of feedback do you get on your learning: Peer feedback?’
In the interview with Kirstie (Appendix 12), she explained the data in Chart 10
suggested she needed to do more work with the students on peer and self-assessment as they were important skills to master in English.
The Year 10 responses are summarised in the chart below.
Chart 11: Year 10 Survey: Student responses to ‘Feedback makes a positive difference to my learning’
Chart 11 represents the total responses for all of the subjects.
Male and female views in response to this question followed a similar pattern (Appendix 15D).
In this theme, it has been established that written feedback in the form of WWW/EBI in exercise books was recognised the most by students and they believed it made a more positive difference to their learning than verbal feedback. Peer feedback was recognised the least and was generally not considered to make a positive difference to learning.
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