Feedback to Children by Teacher

[PlantedGarden]

I have always been told/been of the understanding (but I am not a teacher or even in the same area) that you should not praise children in terms of how clever they are but should praise children in terms of effort e.g. I can see you worked hard on that etc.

I have just been looking at my DC's books at a recent school event and noticed that my DC's teacher (KS1) sometimes comments e.g. Clever Boy/Girl on their work.

Is this still seen as something people should not do, or has the research moved on/I am mistaken?

You're mistaken

People can be allowed to be clever too. It’s not something to be ashamed of.

The problem is when feedback is not balanced. It’s all one thing or the other.

I am referring to research such as: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01443410.2019.1625306#abstract
https://connectuprogram.com/the-power-of-praise-in-secondary-education-why-we-should-praise-effort-not-intelligence/#:~:text=Praise%20your%20students%20wisely%20%E2%80%93%20Do,adult%20world%20beyond%20high%20school.

And I believe research by Carol Dweck

That is a good point @ComfortandHappiness and something to think about. I am not planning to complain to the school or anything. This was more about how I support my children more than anything.

Carol Dweck's theories about Growth Mindset are somewhat shonky, scientifically. Her methods of 'research' have been mostly debunked.

It's not the law or an official guideline or anything! The Teacher Regulation Agency doesn't issue instructions to teachers on what feedback they can or can't give to pupils. It's just a theory and a recommendation by people with a particular view of children and parenting/education.

You'll find that some schools use a version of time out as a sanction. Some schools have a rule that teachers can't mark using a red pen as it's 'aggressive'. Some schools will have a system of 'Star of the Week', others will give attendance award certificates, others will ban mobile phones or have all pupils use teachers' first names to promote equality. It's all just basically a system of vibes-based policies based on the people in charge of that school.

It's actually better to acknowledge what children can specifically do well and show them exactly how to improve, rather then praise effort or praise generally.

Please please please do not bring this up with the teacher. Teachers are really struggling and whilst this might not be perfect feedback, it's such a minor issue.

I don’t understand this at all. I mean, I’m a big hairy middle-aged adult in quite a senior post at work, and I love being told, “you’re so good at X!” Much better than, “Well done! You tried so hard!”

That's secondary, not primary, for a start.
In KS1 with limited reading skills I'd imagine very short and simple comments that the child can actually read are better.

Secondly, the piece of research itself (in its abstract, the most basic part of a piece of academic work) says this: "This study shows that even when the original procedure used in Mueller and Dweck’s experiments was followed, vocational education students were not influenced by the type of praise (i.e. mindset) to which they were exposed."

were not influenced by the type of praise

That means it says the opposite of the point you're trying to support.

This is why you shouldn't just look at the title of something on Google scholar and assume it supports the point you're making because it's about the same topic.

Sorry but honestly you’d making a mistake to give “feedback” to the teacher on this.

this kind of nonsense and piss poor pay is half the reason they are leaving in droves and there is no one to educate our children.

edit

It wouldn’t be used at my school. It’s not helpful to label children ‘clever’ or effectively ‘not clever’. Much better to say what they did well, so they know to keep doing it and their effort is acknowledged. For example, ‘great descriptions’ or ‘neat handwriting, staying within the lines’. Others can try to do the same. How can a child who didn’t get a ‘clever girl’ try to be clever next time?

Identifying strengths and areas to improve are important.
Maybe the teacher had over heard DC commenting that they weren't clever / couldn't do the task and needed to be uplifted?

Praising the same individual Infront of others repeatedly for those things isn't great as others compare themselves to the one that always gets the praise but doing so personally in their book is fine.

I am impressed at the level of defensiveness of some respondents. At no point in my OP did I mention I would give this as feedback to the teacher or school and in my later post I explicitly said that this is about how I deal with my children and praise/not praise. Being called an arsehole (albeit edited away) is a new low for me on Mumsnet.

Thank you to those who gave thoughtful answers. They have really given me something to think about and consider, especially around the importance of balance and the relevance of secondary vs primary children.

It's not a.comment I would write in a book. Marking takes time and I prefer my comments to be more formative and give the child something to develop their work. Having said that, in more informal chat with the children I may say clever girl/boy. I would.normally use this comment for a child who has done something particularly well for their level of ability. It wouldn't necessarily be an actual indicator of academic ability. I generally try to be more specific e.g. you did some amazing punctuation in that sentence...well done! Feedback in various forms is valuable. It depends on the nature of the task, purpose of feedback and character of child. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this particular incident. Of course, if you have other more meaningful concerns, it is always best to approach the teacher.

If you called a student in high school a clever boy:girl they would probably point out they were not a dog!

I've never used it in secondary but I sometimes write something and think I sound like a twat! Normally when I am trying to find something positive

Maybe your child has been feeling they weren’t clever for some reason and the teacher was trying to boost their self confidence.

I am a TA who was worked with many different teachers and I have never ever seen a teacher write that kind of feedback in a book.