PAI Educational Assessment Conference
8 to 9 April 2027
Singapore
Professor David Carless
Professor, Faculty of Education
University of Hong Kong
David Carless works as a Professor at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. He has worked in the education sector in Hong Kong for nearly 40 years as a school teacher, a teacher educator and then a researcher. He is one of the pioneers of feedback literacy research and is listed as a top 0.1% cited researcher in the Stanford top 2% list for social sciences. His books include Designing effective feedback processes in higher education: A learning-focused approach, by Winstone and Carless, 2019 published by Routledge. He was the winner of a University Outstanding Teaching Award in 2016.
Developing Feedback Literacy for Schools
in Singapore
Feedback is a potentially powerful signal for improvement, albeit a communication process of considerable complexity. This heralds a need for feedback literacy: competencies in the generating, receiving and using of feedback information. Students need feedback literacy to process and act upon feedback information. Teachers need feedback literacy to design curriculum sequences whereby students have opportunities to generate, process and use feedback productively.
In this talk, I develop some thoughts about feedback and feedback literacy to start a conversation to inform feedback developments for the school sector in Singapore. I draw on MOE guidelines, published assessment for learning literature related to schooling in Chinese settings, experiences as a long-term educator in Hong Kong, and my own conceptual thinking. I place emphasis on generating feedback information through feedback seeking, including from Generative AI. From this line of thinking, I propose that a crucial 21st and 22nd century competency lies in the ability to ask insightful questions, and continue dialogue as necessary.
A facilitating, or confounding factor, lies in institutional cultures for the giving and receiving of feedback information. To what extent do school leaders welcome constructive feedback and suggestions? To what extent are school climates rich in feedback conversations? Institutional feedback literacy is needed to provide an environment for feedback exchanges to flourish.
Relevance to Curriculum, Pedagogy & Assessment: This session explores how schools can embed feedback literacy across curriculum, teaching, and assessment. It considers how teachers can design learning and assessment sequences that enable students to seek, interpret, discuss, and use feedback—including feedback generated through AI—to improve learning, develop sound judgement, and take purposeful action.