An extensive body of literature exists on the need for pre-service teachers to develop feedback literacy (Carless & Boud, 2018). This is a crucial factor in teaching and learning success because assessment may assume positive educational significance for both teachers and students (Popham, 2006; Stiggins, 2004; Winstone & Carless, 2019). It is essential in Italy to act as soon as possible through targeted strategies because pre-service teachers come into contact with their workplace very soon. A significant amount of internship hours are expected from the second year of the course; many of them are also already working at school with permanent or temporary contracts.
To this aim, we intend to create a specific learning path aimed at enhancing assessment and feedback skills, conceived as key competences for lifelong learning (European Commission, 2018). According to the Life Skill for Europe project’s theoretical framework, a feedback literacy path could strengthen personal and interpersonal capabilities (Life Skill for Europe, 2017). The learning path will be structured according to the European Qualification Framework model (European Commission, 2005). Participants will receive an Open Badge, which formally testifies the gain of professional and transversal skills at the European level.
According to the Student Voice (Cook-Sather, 2010) and the Students as Partners (Healey et al. 2014) approaches, for the planning of the FL path within the degree in Primary School Education at the University of Verona (Italy), we intend to involve students who in previous years have already participated in this type of training experience (53 fourth-year students in 2019, 25 first-year students in 2020). The overall structure of those first FL experiences was inspired by Winstone & Nash’s Engagement with Feedback Toolkit (2016) (Bevilacqua & Girelli, 2020).
The students’ perceptions have been gathered through a SWOT analysis used to evaluate teaching programs and identify areas for development (Dyson, 2004) and then analysed through the inductive content analysis (Elo & Kyngas, 2008). Preliminary results (2020 data analysis is ongoing) are consistent with the literature, which stresses the need to incorporate FL experiences within the curriculum (Malecka, Boud & Carless, 2020). On the other hand, students refer to the need not to exceed the study load because training experiences based on active learning, although effective, require a considerable commitment.