Feedback Practices in Vocational Teacher Education: Use of Response Matrix in Work with Text and Writing

Writing is useful for student teachers’ professional development. However, it might be experienced as an «unknown landscape» for vocational education and training (VET) student teachers from practical-oriented occupations. These students often have little experience with using writing as a tool for learning. Therefore, feedback from teacher educators are important in the development of their written work. This study investigated how VET student teachers in Norway experience such feedback. Based on the students’ desire for more uniform feedback, we created a feedback matrix for a written assignment. The research question is: How do VET students’ teachers experience the use of feedback matrix as a tool for developing text and writing literacy? The research data consisted of 53 written reflections on how the students experienced feedback from both teacher and fellow students, and the feedback matrix. Using qualitative content analysis and feedback theory, we found that students experienced the feedback as useful but emotionally impactful. The analysis also revealed that the students, and perhaps the teachers, were more concerned with the finished products than with writing as a learning process. Lastly, we discuss the opportunities and challenges by using a feedback matrix for written assignments and suggest how we can develop high-quality feedback practices in VET teacher education.