Research
Find out more about Dr. Sam Passeport’s research on relational feedback and its implications for practice.
Research Focus
Sam’s doctoral thesis entitled “Thank you for the feedback, but no!” Listening to the experiences of first-year students encountering the “power” of teacher feedback focused on students’ (dis)engagement with teacher feedback in a public higher education institution in the Netherlands.
Research Questions
RQ1 – How does the assessment culture influence engagement with feedback?
RQ2 – How do students internally process and respond to teacher feedback?
RQ3 – How does the student-teacher relationship play a role in the feedback encounter?
Methods
Narrative Frames
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Photo/Object Elicitation
Keywords
feedback, higher education, teacher feedback, feedback cultures, formative assessment, sociomateriality, relational pedagogies, power dynamics, feedback literacies, feedback talk, critical theory, phenomenology, narrative frame, mixed methods, affect, hidden curriculum.
Abstract
The study takes place in a Higher Education Institution in the Netherlands amongst first-year social science students and investigates their experiences of receiving teacher feedback. It specifically examines student feedback sense-making and responses, as well as how the surrounding contexts and the student-teacher relationship influence this engagement.
Using a mixed-methods approach (questionnaire, narrative frames, semi-structured interviews and photo/object elicitation), the study focuses on the self-reported experiences of eight students encountering teacher feedback and highlights the emotional territory of feedback encounters and its situated nature, based on students’ standpoint (Collins, 2019).
Students’ collective experiences encompass various aspects such as the entanglement of contradicting feedback cultures with a dominating view of feedback as summative, the complexity of the socio-emotional landscape influencing students’ engagement with feedback, the mediating role of a positive student-teacher relationship for (critical) feedback uptake, and the (un)supportive role of structures in enabling or hindered opportunities for students to use feedback.
While students’ lived experiences of (dis)engaging with teacher feedback were mostly monological and transactional, the presence of ‘feedback talk’ during the consultation sessions acted as dialogic micro-moments that broke through the cracks of a seemingly solid summative feedback culture, therefore opening opportunities to emphasise a praxis of relationality. The implications for future research highlight the importance of uncovering power dynamics in feedback dialogues, considering plural feedback literacies, and calling for greater examination of the unfolding of student agency within their contexts-for-action.
For Educational Leaders
Educational leaders hold the privilege of shaping many structural conditions under which teachers operate. At No Borders Learning, we work with leaders to cultivate systems that prioritise relationality, equity, and courage.
Creative Consulting
Do you have a radical dream for transforming feedback cultures in your department, school, or institution? We’ll help you bring it to life through a co-creative process that aligns your vision with actionable strategies. Together, we’ll design feedback climates and cultures that empower everyone in your community to grow within and beyond.
Relational Coaching
Our coaching services are designed to empower leaders to: build inclusive coaching programs that support their teams, model feedback practices that inspire and guide staff, and engage in courageous conversations that bring about meaningful change. Through listening and inquiry, we help leaders see, sense, and transform their systems with clarity and compassion.
Book a research workshop
Get in touch to book a research workshop to implement relational feedback in schools or higher education.