Double indemnity: dualities, tensions and loss in the moral economies of feedback

ABSTRACT

Conceptually and practically, feedback typically sits within a pedagogical, rather than a philosophical, framework. Drawing on a longitudinal study with student teachers seeks, this paper seeks to critically reframe feedback beyond the pedagogical by considering the moral tensions and ethical dilemmas within feedback, thereby revealing an inherent duality in feedback as a phenomenon. Specifically, the study followed a group of student teachers through their three-year teacher education programme in order to explore their experiences and conceptions of feedback as these developed during their degree. Key to the study is the unique situation of student teachers as givers and receivers of feedback; but it also arises from their unique exposure to the neoliberal policy climate, as a consequence of the penetration of initial teacher education by high stakes regulatory mechanisms that may be at odds with the student teachers’ emerging professional judgement. As such, what we are calling the ‘double indemnity’ of feedback is partly informed by the participants’ dual and conflicted experiences as a learner and teacher but also by losses of innocence, optimism and sense of efficacy they experience as part of their development within the moral economies of feedback.

KEYWORDS:

• Assessment
• feedback
• neoliberalism
• performativity
• teacher education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-2018

2. https://rethinking-ed.org/is-everyone-ok/

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matthew Clarke

Matthew Clarke is Professor of Education at York St John University. His work, drawing on psychoanalytic, political and social theories, examines education policy and politics, particularly their implications for teachers. Recent books include Teacher Education and the Political: The power of negative thinking (Routledge 2017), Lacan and education policy: The other side of education (Bloomsbury, 2019) and Education and the fantasies of neoliberalism: Policy, politics and psychoanalysis (Routledge 2021).

Caroline Elbra-Ramsay is the Deputy of the School of Education, Language and Psychology at York St John and Associate Professor. Her research interests are focused on feedback, particularly within Initial Teacher Education. Her recently published book, Understanding Feedback: A critical exploration for teacher educators, looks at student teachers’ understanding of feedback in a pedagogical, moral and relational sense.