Feedback literacy from education to professional practice

18 February 2021

The topic of feedback literacy is commonly discussed in education, yet the implications of these critical capacities apply in many other areas, such as in workplace development and healthcare settings. The recent Surrey International Symposium: ‘Feedback Literacy: From education to professional practice’ brought together over 250 delegates from 20 different countries to stimulate conversations across disciplinary boundaries and to forge new connections in this area.

The first day of the symposium was structured around three keynote talks, cutting across the themes of feedback literacy in education, healthcare, and the workplace. On the second day, conversations continued through 23 individual research presentations and a discussion by a panel of the three keynote speakers as well as CRADLE’S own Professors David Boud and Phill Dawson. We saw some clear themes emerging from the presentations and discussions which drew attention to the common issues that arise when exploring feedback literacy in each of these contexts.

Feedback terminology

One of these issues is the impact of the terminology used to describe feedback. In opening the panel discussion, David Boud called on those involved in feedback research to ensure that the terminology they use accurately reflects the perspective on feedback they are trying to convey. Phill Dawson drew a neat distinction between ‘feedback information’ to represent the inputs into feedback processes, and ‘feedback processes’ to represent the ongoing, more complex interactions that constitute feedback and its effects over time.

Learning conversations

Associate Professor Rola Ajjawi from CRADLE, whose keynote focused on feedback literacy in health professions, described feedback as ‘learning conversations’. She also drew attention to the importance of the ‘educational alliance’ in feedback processes, which was further reflected by Professor Almuth McDowall (Birkbeck, University of London) who referred to the ‘coaching alliance’ in the context of feedback and development in the workplace.

Design in feedback processes

A second key theme cutting across the different activities within the symposium was the importance of design in feedback processes, regardless of the context within which these processes take place. Effective feedback processes require forethought and afterthought; setting up spaces for effective feedback processes to take place and building relationships to facilitate trust are as important as ensuring that attention is paid to the effects of feedback processes. In his keynote, Professor David Carless (University of Hong Kong; CRADLE Honorary Professor) suggested that maybe such effects take time to gestate, and many presentations in the parallel sessions proposed new ways of determining whether such impacts have been realised, both in the shorter and longer term.

Linking research and practice

In discussing research into feedback literacies, many delegates called for stronger links between research and practice so that work ‘on the ground’ is aligned with current thinking and evidence. Links between researchers, and between researchers and practitioners, were something we wanted to try and forge through this symposium, by offering delegates a space for networking around the themes of research and practice. These sessions were particularly effective in providing an informal space for PhD students and early career researchers to share their current work.

A vibrant research community

Conversations and mutual exchanges of ideas were vibrant and fruitful for all concerned and we are especially thankful to established researchers in the feedback field for their generosity in sharing ideas and advice with those new to the community. As one delegate explained: ‘As a new person in the field and this being my first symposium, I loved how strong the community of feedback researchers is and how welcoming as well. It generated a lot of new ideas while making me question some of my previous thoughts and beliefs.’

This symposium demonstrated the vibrancy of the research community in feedback, and also stimulated delegates to question their assumptions about feedback and reframe some of their previous understandings. Whilst we may still be debating definitions of feedback for many years to come, it is clear that there is real appetite to move towards new ways of thinking about, researching, and enacting feedback processes not just in education, but in all domains where feedback is fundamental to learning and development.

This article was written by Dr Edd Pitt (University of Kent, UK; CRADLE Honorary Research Fellow) & Dr Naomi Winstone (University of Surrey, UK; CRADLE Honorary Associate Professor)

The event was sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Surrey and SIG 1 (Assessment and Evaluation) of the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction (EARLI).