- Jessica To, Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre, The University of Hong Kong, jk*****@hk*.hk
Engaging students meaningfully with feedback is the mission of the teaching fraternity. However, many schoolteachers lack strategies to increase students’ engagement with feedback. This article introduces readers to feedback partnerships (a learner-centred feedback approach where students and teachers collaborate to co-create feedback) and outlines facilitation plans for pertinent professional development.
Here’s a summary and facilitation plan based on the article “Feedback partnerships: strengthening students’ proactive recipience through co-creating dialogic feedback” generated by ChatGPT, modified by Dr Jessica To. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/07294360.2024.2445570)
(1) Summary: 5 Key Learning Points
- Feedback as a Partnership
- Traditional feedback is teacher-led; feedback partnerships (FP) reconceptualize feedback as a collaborative, dialogic process between students and teachers. Students co-decide what feedback they receive, how to interpret and act on it, promoting agency and shared ownership.
2. Proactive Recipience is the Goal
- FP aims to strengthen students’ “proactive recipience” (Winstone et al., 2017)—their capacity to seek, make sense of, and use feedback meaningfully. It frames students as active agents in their learning, not passive receivers.
3. Core Conditions: Dialogue and Trust
- Productive feedback partnerships rely on student-initiated, mutually engaging dialogue. Trust is essential to enable risk-taking and honest exchange of each other’s views, perspectives, judgements and feelings.
4. Foundational Values: Respect, Reciprocity, Shared Responsibility
- These values ground the partnership approach. Teachers and students must see each other as legitimate contributors to the learning and feedback process.
5. Feedback Co-Creation Model
- The article presents a practical model where students and teachers co-design feedback content and improvement plans. It includes feedback co-creation examples in real classrooms, emphasizing joint construction of meaning and mutual learning.
(2) Suggested Facilitation Plan (30 min)
Title: “Reframing Feedback: From Giving to Co-Creating”
Objective: To introduce and explore the concept of Feedback Partnerships, encouraging colleagues to reflect on and reimagine their feedback practices.
Part 1: Hook & Provocation (5 mins)
- Prompt: “Think of a time when you gave feedback and students didn’t use it. Why do you think that happened?”
- Collect 2–3 responses.
- Link to article: “What if the issue isn’t how we give feedback, but how we share ownership of it?”
Part 2: Concept Introduction (10 mins)
- Brief overview of the 5 key learning points (use visuals or a slide).
- Emphasize the shift from teacher-as-expert to teacher-as-partner in feedback.
- Share a case example if time allows (see example from the article by Fletcher. (https://research-ebsco-com.libproxy.nie.edu.sg/c/uon73e/viewer/pdf/cczyxcf6b5?route=details)
Part 3: Peer Reflection & Dialogue (10 mins)
- Prompt 1: “In what ways do your current feedback practices invite or limit student voice?”
- Prompt 2: “Which of the 3 values—respect, reciprocity, shared responsibility—do you already embed? Which needs strengthening?”
- Participants discuss in pairs or trios, then share highlights.
Part 4: Commit to Action (5 mins)
- Invite teachers to write one small change they’ll try (e.g., co-creating success criteria, asking students how they want to receive feedback).
- Optionally, collect these on a shared board/poster for accountability.
Facilitation Plan (1 Hour): “Building Feedback Partnerships in Practice”
Objective:
To explore the principles of Feedback Partnerships (FP), reflect on current practices, and co-develop strategies to implement dialogic, co-constructed feedback in the classroom.
Session Outline (60 minutes)
- Opening Reflection: “What Feedback Feels Like” (10 mins)
- Activity: Ask colleagues to individually jot down answers to:
- “What’s the most helpful feedback you’ve ever received as a learner?”
- “What made it helpful (or unhelpful)?”
- Debrief (pair/share): What do these experiences reveal about the role of the learner in feedback?
- Core Concepts of Feedback Partnerships (10 mins)
- Present a short overview:
- Shift from feedback-giving to feedback co-creation
- Definitions of proactive recipience, dialogue & trust, and core values (respect, reciprocity, shared responsibility)
- Introduce the Feedback Co-Creation Model from the article
- Use a slide or handout for visual support
- Case Analysis: “Spot the Partnership” (15 mins)
- Activity: Present two short teacher-student feedback dialogues (1 traditional, 1 partnership-based).
- Prompt: In groups of 3–4, discuss:
- What mindset does each reflect?
- How would the student likely respond to each?
- What FP principles are (or aren’t) present?
- Share back: One insight per group.
- Practice Mapping: My Feedback Landscape (10 mins)
- Distribute a worksheet or use a large poster:
- “Where do I already see opportunities for feedback partnerships?”
- Pre-assessment (goal-setting?)
- Mid-task (dialogue?)
- Post-assessment (co-reflection?)
- Have participants mark/highlight areas they already use or could revise to be more student-inclusive.
- Planning for Action (10 mins)
- Prompt: “What is one small but significant change you can try in your next unit to foster feedback partnerships?”
- Encourage participants to:
- Identify a target class/lesson
- Draft 1–2 strategies (e.g., co-design success criteria, ask students to express feedback needs or voice their concerns, co-create improvement suggestions)
- Note anticipated benefits/challenges
- Collective Commitment & Closure (5 mins)
- Gallery Walk or Pair-Share: Invite participants to post or share their ideas for implementation.
- Optional Exit Prompt: “What support or resources would help you trial feedback partnerships?”
References
Fletcher, A. K. (2018). Help seeking: Agentic learners initiating feedback. Educational Review, 70(4), 389-408. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2017.1340871
To, J. (2025). Feedback partnerships: strengthening students’ proactive recipience through co-creating dialogic feedback. Higher Education Research and Development, 44(4), 1008-1023. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2024.2445570
Winstone, N. E., Nash, R. A., Parker, M., & Rowntree, J. (2017). Supporting learners’ agentic engagement with feedback: A systematic review and a taxonomy of recipience processes. Educational psychologist, 52(1), 17-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2016.1207538