Giving feedback: building self-esteem, self-confidence, self-efficacy
My four role-model teachers were also adept at giving feedback in a constructive way, offering praise for work well done as well as pointing out where improvements could be made. They were not identical in this regard of course, each having a unique balance of praise to OFI (Opportunity For Improvement) feedback, however they were fair and consistent in the way they operated and that was the important thing for me.
We need to feel good about ourselves and our ability to learn. But I have also met people who, having built a towering edifice of an ego about themselves, have crumbled when they are hit by the reality and are brought down to earth. Often it is very very hard to recover from such a situation. Feedback then, needs to have a balance of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, and needs to be aspirational but tempered by reality. One thinks of the old adage, ‘what goes up must come down.’ Learning and developing are all about ‘going up’ but this need not be a problem if the learner knows how to use their ‘wings’ (strengths) and, as part of going up, has created landings along the way or packed a parachute.
My life teacher particularly encouraged the idea of the satisfaction of a job well done and was sometimes sparing with praise, seeking on the one hand to build confidence but on the other hand to avoid the situation where the learner builds an unrealistic, inflated view of their own capabilities. Accurate knowledge of oneself, strengths and weaknesses, was an integral component of his teaching system. It is important in all areas of education I believe, a general strategy of building confidence and self-esteem in order to work on those things that can be improved. The connection between self-esteem and learning is well known, “…facilitating self-esteem is an important educational priority … omitting it is a genuine way of failing children educationally.” (Ferkany, 2008, p.130).