The Effects of Information and Feedback on Teachers’ Classroom Behaviour and Students’ Academic Engaged Time

Abstract

Research has shown a positive relationship between academic engaged time (AET), academic learning time (ALT) and student achievement. Previous work has reported a relatively non‐intrusive, cost‐effective method for increasing AET in the classroom involving the presentation of research information followed by feedback to teachers of students’ AET in their classes. This study aimed to replicate these findings in a primary school setting and to establish what effects the information plus feedback had on teachers’ instructional behaviours which have been found to correlate with students’ AET and ALT. In addition, we looked at the effects of more precise feedback based on students’ task difficulty measures. The results provided strong support for the utility and efficacy of information plus feedback as a method for increasing student AET and ALT and for enabling teachers to change their instructional behaviours in the direction of published research findings.