Feedback and formative assessment: making the difference

Formative assessment enables us to “identify gaps in student learning” (Fletcher-Wood, 2018, p.3). When we formatively assess, we often use our understanding of what students know or can do to provide feedback to learners on what they did successfully and what they could do next to improve further. Feedback can:

• Take various forms
• Be offered at different times
• Be received differently by different people at different times (there’s room for real variability here!)

Fundamentally, formative assessment can have a powerful impact on student understanding (EEF, 2023).