From fixing the work to improving the learner: An initial evaluation of a professional learning intervention using a new student-centred feedback model

Despite the longstanding recognition of the power of feedback to enhance student learning outcomes, its potential is often not realised in classroom practice. Recent research highlights the need for a student-centred perspective to enable effective feedback practices that foster student self-regulation. Based on an identified gap in the literature, a new empirically-informed student-centred feedback model (SCFM) was designed. This study, contextualised in English writing, investigated to what extent a professional learning intervention using the SCFM was perceived as effective in promoting student-centred classroom feedback practices. Focus group interview data from 49 teachers and 30 school leaders across 13 Australian primary schools were thematically analysed. Results suggest the intervention caused shifts in thinking, feedback practices, and student self-regulation, which participants perceived had enhanced student learning outcomes. This study provides initial empirical evidence regarding (1) the effectiveness of the SCFM, and (2) the professional learning intervention characteristics required to realise effective feedback practices.