This presentation, delivered as part of the SHED Assessment Special Interest Group (11 June 2025), shared early reflections from a student–staff partnership project exploring feedback literacy in art and design education (Pitt & Winstone, 2023; Carless & Boud, 2018). The work builds on literature positioning feedback, not as a product but as a relational, iterative practice shaped by dialogue, timing, and trust (Orr & Bloxham, 2013; Salines et al., 2022).
Drawing on internal inquiry and co-constructed methods, the presentation reflected on how feedback literacy can be developed through collaboration, not only for students but also for staff and institutions. Rather than presenting fixed conclusions, the session acted as a provocation, inviting participants to consider how feedback is enacted, recognised, and valued in their own practice.
It also raised questions about student consultants' role in academic development and how partnerships can both illuminate and complicate institutional feedback cultures. The session contributed to national discussions on assessment practice by foregrounding student voice and surfacing local, often overlooked, pedagogic encounters.

Research Question
The project asked: How can student–staff partnership inform and expand our understanding of formative assessment and feedback in art and design education?
It aimed to surface informal, everyday feedback practices and explore how feedback is recognised, enacted, and valued — particularly in creative contexts where process, conversation, and ambiguity are central.
Methods
This work is an iterative, co-authored inquiry grounded in student–staff collaboration. A student consultant was competitively recruited on a six-month contract to explore feedback literacy at GSA. Through informal interviews, shared literature reviews, reflexive discussion, and facilitation of two focus groups (with students and staff), the work has moved between research, academic development, and knowledge exchange.
Drawing on literature (e.g. Pitt & Winstone, 2023; Salines et al., 2022; Orr & Bloxham, 2013), the team examined themes such as compassionate feedback, assessment design, and the role of belonging in learning. A feedback zine, bi-directional in format, is in development to support dialogue across the institution.
Context of Contribution
This work was presented on 11 June 2025 at the SHED Assessment SIG hosted by Edinburgh Napier University. The session was part of a national conversation focused on supporting research in assessment and feedback.
Framed as an early-stage provocation, the presentation explored the potential of partnership to reposition feedback as shared responsibility. It also reflected on the tensions in moving from co-creation to evidence, and from dialogue to formal research. By foregrounding student voice and institutional specificity, the work offered practical and conceptual contributions to developing more responsive feedback cultures.