ABSTRACT
An overarching goal of this edited volume is to explore the gap that exists between ‘high-performing’ and ‘low-performing’ classrooms. In this chapter, I make the case that thinking about feedback, though undertheorised in the philosophy of education literature, offers an important way into thinking about the ends of education. That is, if we are to avoid falling into the trap of equating a high-performing school with results on standardised tests, we need to appreciate the ends we are aiming for in our classrooms and schools. In this chapter, I suggest that we use Bernard Williams’s ideal of truthfulness as one way to view the ends of education, and I describe what it would mean for teachers to appreciate their feedback as promoting truthfulness and – thus – a more substantive understanding of learning and high performance. This chapter helps us see the gaps that exist in the quality of feedback students experience and the impact this has on their learning. As well, this chapter offers us an invitation to theorise feedback: its uses, its impacts and its place in the education of teachers.
