Introduction

Learners need information and guidance in order to plan the next steps in their learning. A supportive classroom ethos is essential so that pupils feel safe to take risks, for example by giving speculative responses to challenging questions. Once teaching routinely provides good oral feedback allied to aural feedback (possibly supplemented with visual feedback, for example when showing hand positions on a keyboard), then it is possible to provide more informative and selective written feedback.

The main purposes of using different types of feedback are to:

• acknowledge what pupils have learned and encourage them to reflect on and extend their learning still further;
• recognise that pupils need time to reflect on their learning;
• encourage pupils to pose further questions to clarify or further develop their own or each other’s thinking;
• encourage pupils to identify and make the next steps.

In music, three distinct types of feedback can be used: oral, aural and written. The other tabs in this section explore the characteristics of each in turn before identifying ways by which they can be effectively used in sequence.

Oral

Oral feedback is an effective method for moving pupils on and will be the most regular and interactive form of feedback. It is both direct (targeted to individuals or groups), and indirect (others listen and reflect on what has been said). Oral feedback is implicit in all lessons and this section aims to make spontaneous oral feedback more effective and help teachers plan for oral feedback more explicitly.

Oral feedback is:

• immediate and context-specific – able to deal with problems as they occur and in the context of the specific learning: ‘Is F right when playing this melody? What does the key signature tell you about F s and Fs?’;
• dynamic and adaptable – it allows for exchange of ideas: ‘Can you explain to me why you have changed the tempo for the second section…?’;
• episodic – a lesson can be punctuated with plenary moments that help to structure learning by returning to the learning objectives and reinforcing the learning outcomes throughout the lesson: this provides opportunities to pull together the whole class to explain the most important features of the next task;
• stimulating – oral feedback can encourage, enthuse and stimulate: ‘Great accompaniment: I liked the way you used the riff – how about now…’;
• versatile – questioning, modelling and explaining can all be used as means of providing feedback.

It is important to harness the productive energies of pupils and refocus targets accordingly to ensure engagement at the appropriate level of challenge. Teachers’ comments should therefore always be both positive – recognising pupils’ efforts and achievements to date – and developmental – offering specific details of ways forward.

See Activity Resource 3a to explore how to make oral feedback positive and specific.

You could then:

• develop your exploration of how oral feedback can be used in music by reading more;
• look at the other tabs within this section of the unit (recommended);
• continue with this unit by considering common challenges in feedback.

Aural

In music lessons teachers will often enter into dialogue with pupils about the qualities of their work. They will provide oral feedback, usually through dialogue and questioning, to ascertain the thoughts of a pupil and then offer some advice and guidance that will motivate and lay down further challenge. This approach might be adequate to stir and engage some pupils, but others may require further stimulus.

Depending on the nature of the task, there are various aural feedback opportunities that will help to enhance pupils’ understanding and move their learning forward. Pupils benefit greatly by hearing (and sometimes seeing) the next steps in their learning being demonstrated by others. This can support various aspects of the music curriculum, for example by:

• engaging pupils by joining in with performing (singing or playing) to demonstrate the techniques required, or by using examples of audio or MIDI recordings prepared in advance;
• making explicit the musical devices used for composing by demonstrating how they could be developed in the piece;
• aurally analysing stylistic elements of the music being studied;
• playing back to pupils the music that they have just been composing or performing enabling them to step back from the demands of performance techniques and listen carefully to their work.

Use Activity Resource 3b to consider how a range of oral and aural feedback opportunities can be built into a unit of work that you will be teaching soon.

You could then:

• develop your exploration of aural feedback by reading more;
• look at the other tabs within this section of the unit (recommended);
• continue with this unit by considering common challenges in feedback.

Written

Regularly marked work should be used constructively to inform future teaching, identify areas where pupils have been successful and include guidance on where and how they could improve. Teachers need to provide pupils with written feedback so that they recognise their next steps in learning and how to take them. For written feedback to be constructive pupils need to be clear about what is expected of them. The learning objectives and learning outcomes therefore need to be the reference point for a teacher’s written feedback and need to be shared and made clear to pupils in advance of their attempting a task.

Written feedback can be considered in a variety of ways within the teaching of music. It could be comment marking of listening and reviewing and evaluating tasks, extension to notation made on manuscript paper (added graphics, annotation of a notated score), or written feedback on how to improve performance work. As with oral and aural feedback there are opportunities for this feedback to be planned in order to set future targets that redirect pupils’ learning. Pupils will require time to reflect upon the feedback offered by the teacher and time to implement any changes or improvements to their work. Therefore, it is important to identify where the written feedback opportunities will occur within a unit of work.

Pupils should be given written feedback that provides clear evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses, prompts further thought and reasoning, and identifies the next step in their learning. Extended comment marking, as in the example below, will be reserved only for giving feedback on the key learning milestones within a unit of study, where it has been identified that very particular aspects of musical understanding, skills and concept attainment are crucial to future learning.

Use Activity Resource 3c to analyse the ways that you currently use written feedback.

You could then:

• develop your exploration of written feedback by reading more;
• look at the other tabs within this section of the unit (recommended);
• continue with this unit by considering common challenges in feedback.

Sequence

Teachers will need to decide which form of feedback will provide pupils with the best form of support to enable further progress at a particular point in time. Feedback strategies will include the use of musical exemplification, the spoken and written word, various forms of musical notation and a variety of non-verbal kinds of communication (such as body language, facial expressions, physical gestures).

In terms of oral, aural and written feedback this grid shows ways of providing feedback that encourages pupils to develop and move on in their thinking and learning. It highlights the use of feedback for different purposes.

Remember, too, that research evidence indicates the need for pupils to have time to reflect on what they have learned and understood, and to identify where they still have difficulties.

They also require time to act upon the feedback given and this needs to be planned into the lesson sequence. Informative written feedback will optimise the long-term gains by allowing pupils to reflect upon the stages of their learning and to fit current learning into the big picture.

Use Activity Resource 3d to introduce planned sequences of feedback into a unit of work.

You could then:

• develop your exploration of sequencing feedback by reading more;
• look at the other tabs within this section of the unit (recommended);
• continue with this unit by considering common challenges in feedback.