The Power of Peer Feedback

Exploring How Training Teachers Improve Their Assessment Techniques

Abstract

Teacher training involves the acquisition of not only disciplinary knowledge but also pedagogical and evaluative knowledge. In this context, providing feedback is crucial for trainee teachers to interpret the information that they receive from their teacher, and apply best practices in their future teaching. This study examines peer feedback among student teachers in primary education at a Chilean university. Eighteen students were given feedback after submitting an initial writing task and then were trained in three types of feedback: knowledge of results, knowledge of the correct response, and elaborated feedback. Finally, they provided feedback to their peers based on these categories. The results indicate that most of the feedback received and given by the students was of the KR type and that the training was effective, as the students provided feedback that helped their peers improve their grades. This underlines the importance of feedback training for future teachers and emphasises the need for several feedback strategies in teacher education.