Pedagogy First. Technology Second.

Sustainable Feedback

The strategy, as published

Exactly as it appears on the card

Part of Closing the Gap in 03 Feedback, where it sits alongside its neighbouring strategies, the infographic and the thinking for the whole area.

Why you might use it

The problem it may help with

Boud's argument reaches past the next piece of work. If pupils always need you to tell them how they did, the system has failed, however good the telling; feedback should be building the learner's capacity to judge quality for themselves.

That reframes the goal of much of this strand. Criteria, self-assessment, dialogue and time to act are not only ways to improve this essay; they are an apprenticeship in judging quality, and an apprenticeship is supposed to end.

What it might look like

One version of it, in a classroom

Across a term, pupils build a portfolio in which every submitted piece carries their own prior judgement against the criteria. The teacher's response engages with the judgement as much as the work: where the pupil's assessment was sound, it says so and steps back; where it missed, that gap becomes the feedback.

Try it

A way to begin

Before your next round of marking, ask pupils to predict the feedback they will get. Your marking then confirms, refines or corrects their judgement, which is the capacity you are trying to build.

What to notice

Reading what happens

  • Whether pupils' predictions of their feedback sharpen over time.
  • Who still cannot start work without asking whether it is right, and whether that number falls.

Things to think about

Before and while you use it

  • Independence is designed in gradually, not declared. The scaffolds of criteria and structured self-review come first and fade later; how fast to fade them is a judgement about the class in front of you.

Inclusive practice

The lens this connects with

Through the inclusive practice lens, this is one of the approaches that may reduce barriers around:

The wider thinking

Where the evidence sits

Boud's case for sustainable feedback extends Sadler's conditions and Nicol and Macfarlane-Dick's self-regulation principles to their logical end: feedback that gradually makes itself unnecessary. The card’s attribution stands as published: Boud.

The fuller picture, sources included, is in further reading and evidence for Feedback.

Keep exploring

Where next?

Back to this strategy in 03 Feedback, across to what you're trying to improve, or into all 144 at once.

Want to take this further?

Support is available

Pedagogy First gives you a starting point. If you want support exploring how approaches like this can work across your school, trust or professional learning programme, that work is available.

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