Feedback and formative assessment—looking backwards to move forward

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dc.contributor.authorMcCarthy, Noraen
dc.contributor.authorNeville, Karenen
dc.contributor.authorPope, Andrewen
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-23T11:15:01Z
dc.date.available2025-04-23T11:15:01Z
dc.date.issued2025en
dc.description.abstractThe terms ‘feedback’ and ‘formative assessment’ are ubiquitous in education, but their conceptual boundaries are ill-defined. This perspective piece explores the meaning of ‘feedback’ and ‘formative assessment’, revealing the entanglement and confusion that exists between these two terms. An argument for clarity of terms is made, to avoid ambiguity and to create a common language. A suggestion is made to re-embrace the original definition components of ‘feedback’, as all of the original parameters of this term, when well established in industry and biology, did not migrate into education. Incorporating the original definition components into the current definition of ‘feedback’ in education circles may negate the need for the term ‘formative assessment’ altogether, which carries with it the inevitable negative connotations associated with the word assessment. Words matter. Medical education, with the introduction of competency-based medical education (CBME) and entrustable professional activities offers a timely opportunity to re-visit such terms, with ‘feedback’ and ‘formative assessment’ being central to these processes. While we use medical education as an example to explore how looking backwards and incorporating all aspects of the original feedback definition can help us to move forward with clarity of terms, we mainly seek to bring new perspectives and hope to encourage necessary conversations on ‘feedback’ and ‘formative assessment’ entanglement. © The Author(s) 2025.en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid25en
dc.identifier.citationMcCarthy, N., Neville, K. and Pope, A. (2025) 'Feedback and formative assessment—looking backwards to move forward', Discover Education, 4(1), p.25. DOI: 10.1007/s44217-025-00414-9en
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s44217-025-00414-9en
dc.identifier.issn27315525en
dc.identifier.issued1
dc.identifier.journaltitleDiscover Educationen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/17303
dc.identifier.volume4
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherDiscoveren
dc.rights© 2025, the Author(s). Open Accessen
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.subjectDefinitionsen
dc.subjectEntrustable professional activitiesen
dc.subjectFeedbacken
dc.subjectFormative assessmenten
dc.subjectUndergraduate medical educationen
dc.titleFeedback and formative assessment—looking backwards to move forwarden
dc.typeArticle (peer reviewed)en
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