Stimulating agency in preschool children using feedback (in formative assessment): An exploratory research

The research aims to analyse what feedback can promote agency in preschool children, whether given by educators or peers themselves, also assuming that giving (good) feedback to peers improves agentivity. Some authors focused on university, primary, and secondary school contexts about the effectiveness of feedback in teaching processes (Hattie, 2012), and the role of peer feedback (Nicol, 2018; Grion & Restiglian, 2019). This study aims to observe which feedback (received/given) improves the sense of agency in preschool children. Activating peer feedback practices has positive effects on learning and represents a valid alternative to the feedback given by the teacher (Tseng & Tsai, 2007). Also, for the agency, there is a considerable amount of research about teacher agency (Cong-Lem, 2021) but very little research about children's agency in the curriculum, even if the students' role as active agents in learning is strategic (Ebrahim, 2011). Starting from an educational theory of progressivism focused on improving 41 communication (Tan, 2006), exploratory qualitative research was conducted through a three-month video observation in a preschool (5-year-old children). The videos were analysed using an observation protocol supported by a research team blind review. Data were collected according to GDPR, and research intents were explained to children's families and preschool management. The research led to the definition of a framework including the main characteristics of effective feedback. Some insights into the child's self-regulation also emerged. According to the idea of educational continuity formative assessment in school, the results will support other research about children's feedback for assessment.