Relevant Conditions for Teachers’ Use of Student Feedback

AbstractBased on the findings from research on organizational feedback and data use in schools, this chapter systematizes relevant factors influencing the use of student feedback by teachers in three domains: (1) personal characteristics of feedback recipients (teachers), (2) characteristics of the organization (school), and (3) characteristics of feedback information (data). We identified teachers’ self-efficacy, attribution styles, goal orientations, and age or professional experience as relevant individual characteristics. In addition, teachers’ attitude toward students’ trustworthiness or competence as a feedback provider appeared to be relevant for the use of student feedback. Beyond that, findings on organizational characteristics for teachers’ successful dealing with feedback pointed to the importance of a feedback culture and organizational safety, leadership, supportive measures, and perceived function of feedback as control vs. development. Furthermore, relevant characteristics of feedback information were identified as comprehensibility, valence, and specificity. Although such findings from other fields of research have been known for some time, studies on student feedback concerning these aspects are rare. Finally, practical measures are derived for each of the three domains in order to increase the use of student feedbacks by teachers.