I think feedback is a vital component of learning and establishing ourselves in our chosen profession. Feedback is also an incredibly important of the classroom environment, whether that be from fellow colleagues, from pupils or pupil to pupil.

When we are tasked with giving feedback, the initial reactions tend to be negative, it is often seen that giving feedback is not a nice task to undertake. People often worry about being over critical or what sort of feedback they will receive themselves, and therefore they tend to focus on the positives of the piece of work they are critiquing. This is often done in the hope that others will follow suit and give positive feedback, therefore not receiving any harsh comments yourself or so that you don’t offend anybody by highlighting potential faults in their work.

However there comes a point when being overly positive is just not helpful. Being unable to highlight areas for improvement means that the person receiving your comment will think that their work needs no further improvement when perhaps it does. If someone is particularly looking for feedback in order to help them, being entirely positive will not assist at all. Yes, it will make the person feel happy that they have done a good job, but that will be the only result of over-positive responses.

We are all guilty of this, I can honestly say that I have done this myself, but it is vital to take a step back before you post and think to yourself: “If I received this, would it help me?”

We do not need to be harsh when giving negative feedback. As my mum often reminds me “It is not what you say, but how you say it” We should employ constructive criticism when critiquing others’ work. We shouldn’t just point out what it wrong, we should attempt to give suggestions on how to improve what has been written. However, although being aware of and identifying downfalls is important this shouldn’t be the sole focus of our responses. It is important to find a balance between praising and being critical.

In schools this is combated by the idea of “Two Stars and a Wish”. This idea aims to offer both positive and negative feedback in a way that shows children we are not being harsh, it is framed in the idea of a ‘wish’ which makes it seem more friendly and less critical. However as our lecturer mentioned in our input, there should not necessarily always be a wish, because we don’t always have to be critical. Some pieces of work may be good enough that a wish is not needed, but this does not mean that a wish should never be included.

Another important point is to praise when previous ‘wishes’ have been improved upon and not to persist on the same negatives, as this can hinder a child’s improvement as well as our own. People can become defeated if they are continually told that the same thing is not quite right.

When we give feedback it is important to remember that being nice is not always helpful and being critical is not always harsh. It is important to employ ‘constructive criticism’ and be aware that your comments should give the receiver opportunity to reflect upon their work and give it more strength. As a receiver of feedback you want to be given ways in which to improve otherwise the reply is’ ‘pointless’.

Before we send we must think to ourselves, “If I received this feedback, would I really appreciate it?” And remember as my mum would say “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”.