- Astiba Kebong’o says meaningful feedback should show learners what they have achieved and where improvement is needed.
- She argues that Competency-Based Education requires teachers to move beyond scores and routine praise.
- Teachers, she says, should use assessment feedback to guide learners towards stronger performance and greater mastery.
Kenya’s transition to Competency-Based Education (CBE) has fundamentally changed the question we should ask about assessment. The issue is no longer simply, “How many marks has the learner scored?” but rather, “What has the learner demonstrated, what remains undeveloped, and what support is needed to move to the next level?”
This shift demands a corresponding transformation in classroom feedback. In a competency-based system designed to nurture learners’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, marking cannot end with a tick, a score or a familiar “Well done.” Every assessment encounter should generate information that helps the learner recognise progress, confront gaps and take the next step towards mastery.
The marked exercise book, therefore, is not merely a record of academic performance. It is a communication channel through which the teacher can affirm achievement, diagnose learning needs and deliberately move the learner forward.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) describes Competency-Based Assessment as learner-centred and focused on what learners can do. It also emphasises formative assessment as an ongoing process through which feedback can be provided and areas requiring additional support identified.
There is nothing wrong with appreciating a learner. Indeed, encouragement is an important part of teaching. The challenge arises when the same general expressions are repeatedly used regardless of the quality or nature of the work.
Excellent work! Good job! Well done! Keep it up!
Such comments may make a learner feel good momentarily, but they may not tell the learner what was done well or how to reproduce that success.
A more purposeful approach is to describe the actual performance.
A teacher can write:
“Your argument is well organised and supported with relevant evidence.”
“Your explanation is clear and logically sequenced.”
“You have demonstrated accurate calculation and systematic working.”
“Your vocabulary is varied and appropriate to the context.”
“Your handwriting is neat, legible and consistently presented.”
These comments do more than praise. They teach.
The power of meaningful descriptors
Words such as accurate, coherent, creative, systematic, relevant, fluent, precise, organised, thoughtful, independent, consistent, resourceful, articulate, persistent and commendable can make feedback more informative.
However, a descriptor should not become another empty phrase.
Calling a learner’s work “excellent” is less useful if the teacher does not indicate what makes it excellent. The adjective becomes meaningful when it is anchored in evidence.
This principle is consistent with KNEC’s emphasis that a score or descriptor of performance should be accompanied by evidence.
Thus, instead of writing “Excellent essay,” a teacher might write:
“Excellent organisation: your introduction establishes the argument clearly, while each paragraph develops one central idea.”
That is feedback the learner can understand, remember and apply.
Feedback should identify the next step
Good assessment does not merely celebrate where a learner is. It helps the learner understand where to go next.
A learner who has written a strong composition may need to improve paragraph transitions. Another may have mastered the mathematical procedure but continue to make avoidable arithmetic errors. A learner may demonstrate good ideas but struggle to express them precisely.
The teacher’s comment should therefore move from recognition to direction:
“Your ideas are relevant and well developed. Work on linking your paragraphs more smoothly.”
“The method is correct. Recheck the final calculations to eliminate avoidable errors.”
“Your response demonstrates good understanding. Support your main point with a specific example.”
This reflects the purpose of formative feedback: identifying learning needs and providing information that helps learners improve.
Correct the work, not the learner
There is a crucial difference between criticising a learner and correcting a piece of work.
Statements such as “You are careless,” “You are weak,” or “You never concentrate” attach a negative identity to the learner. They provide little direction and may undermine confidence.
Professional feedback should instead focus on observable performance:
“Check your punctuation before submitting.”
“Your response needs further explanation.”
“Review the question carefully before selecting your answer.”
“You have understood the concept; now apply it independently to a new problem.”
The objective is correction without humiliation and encouragement without exaggeration.
Recognising competencies through feedback
Competency-Based Education requires teachers to look beyond academic scores.
A learner may demonstrate excellent collaboration during group work, creativity while solving a problem, resilience after an unsuccessful attempt, leadership during a project or independence in completing a task.
These qualities deserve recognition.
A teacher might write:
“You contributed respectfully to the group and listened carefully to alternative views.”
“You demonstrated creativity by developing an original approach to the task.”
“You persisted after the first attempt did not succeed and improved your solution.”
Such feedback makes competencies visible to the learner.
KNEC explains that competency-based assessment collects information about what learners know and can do and supports the tracking of their progress through continuous assessment and feedback.
Teachers may also adopt practical feedback approaches such as WWW — What Went Well — and EBI — Even Better If.
These should not be mistaken for prescribed KICD or KNEC terminology. Rather, they can serve as simple classroom techniques for organising constructive feedback.
For instance:
What Went Well: “Your solution followed the correct procedure.”
Even Better If: “You explained why the final step produces the answer.”
The strength of such an approach lies not in the acronyms but in the thinking behind them: acknowledge achievement, identify an area for improvement and provide a clear direction.
The exercise book as a teaching tool
An exercise book should not become a graveyard of ticks and scores.
It can become a continuing conversation between teacher and learner.
A learner should be able to open an exercise book weeks later and understand:
What did I do well?
What mistake did I make?
Why was it a mistake?
What should I improve?
What should I do differently next time?
This is particularly important because assessment in a competency-based system is continuous. KNEC describes Competency-Based Assessment as taking place throughout the learning cycle, with feedback used to monitor learners’ progress and identify areas requiring additional support.
Feedback must lead to action
The most powerful comment is one that produces a response.
If a teacher identifies weak sentence construction, the learner should rewrite the sentences. If the problem is a mathematical error, the learner should correct and retry the question. If the issue is insufficient evidence in an argument, the learner should add appropriate evidence.
Correction, therefore, should not be an administrative ritual. It should become part of learning.
A comment without an opportunity to act on it risks becoming another mark in the book.
Teachers also need practical feedback systems
Meaningful feedback does not mean that teachers must write lengthy paragraphs in every exercise book. In classrooms where teachers handle many learners and multiple subjects, efficiency matters.
Short, precise comments can be powerful.
Rubrics, checklists, oral feedback, peer assessment and learner self-assessment can complement written comments. KNEC’s assessment framework recognises the use of different assessment approaches and the importance of feedback in monitoring learner progress.
The professional question should therefore be: What is the most effective feedback this learner needs at this point?
Parents, too, need to appreciate that competency-based assessment is not simply a race for marks.
Assessment information can help identify learner strengths, gaps and areas where additional support is required.
When parents encounter descriptors or qualitative comments in their children’s work, they should ask what the learner can do, what needs improvement and how they can support progress.
The conversation should gradually shift from “What did you score?” to “What have you learnt, and what do you need to improve?”
A professional responsibility
Feedback is one of the places where the teacher’s professional judgement becomes visible.
A careless comment can discourage. A vague comment can confuse. An exaggerated comment can give a false impression of achievement. But a precise, fair and constructive comment can redirect a learner’s effort.
The KICD curriculum framework places formative and criterion-referenced assessment at the heart of competency-based learning and emphasises documenting learners’ progress towards expected learning outcomes.
Teachers therefore have an opportunity to make every assessment encounter count.
The future of effective marking in Kenyan classrooms should not be about filling exercise books with more words. It should be about making those words more purposeful.
A tick tells a learner that a teacher has looked at the work.
A score tells the learner how much was attained.
But meaningful feedback goes further. It tells the learner what was achieved, why it matters, what remains to be improved and what to do next.
That is marking that moves learning forward.
Ultimately, the finest feedback is not the comment that makes a learner feel good for a moment. It is the comment that helps the learner become better the next time.
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Assessment should not merely record where a learner has been. It should illuminate the road ahead.
By Astiba Kebong’o
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