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Allow Time

A feedback strategy where learners are given dedicated time to read, understand and act on written feedback straight away, turning marking into genuine learning.

Assessment for learning
Allow Time diagram

What is allow time?

  • Return marked work with one focused improvement comment per piece
  • Give learners five to ten minutes of dedicated time to read and respond
  • Learners make one specific improvement based on the feedback
  • Check improvements before moving on to the next task

How it works

Allow time is the simplest and most impactful feedback strategy you can use. When work has been marked or peer assessed, give learners dedicated time to read the feedback and make one focused improvement based on the comment.

The key principle is immediacy. Feedback that sits unread in an exercise book is not formative. It only becomes formative when the learner acts on it. Handing back books and saying "read my comments" while launching into a new topic means those comments are wasted.

Build five to ten minutes into the start of the lesson following any marked work. Learners read the comment, make their improvement, and the teacher circulates to check responses. This closes the feedback loop and makes the effort of marking worthwhile.

Keep it focused. One improvement per piece of work. If you give three targets, learners will attempt all three badly rather than one well. The improvement should relate directly to the learning objective and success criteria from the original task.

Classroom example

A Year 5 teacher in a Swansea primary school has marked literacy books over the weekend. Each book has one "closing the gap" comment: "You described what the character did. Now add a sentence explaining why they made that choice." At the start of Monday's lesson, learners spend seven minutes reading and responding. The teacher circulates, stamping responses that show genuine improvement. One learner adds: "Gethin ran because he was afraid his mam would find out." The teacher notes this is stronger than anything in the original piece.

Curriculum for Wales connection

Allow time supports the "Reflect" strand of developing thinking by helping learners evaluate and improve their own work. It builds the cross-curricular literacy skill of redrafting and is essential for making assessment for learning work in practice across all six AoLEs.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens lets you track where feedback strategies like allow time appear across your curriculum, so you can ensure learners are getting regular opportunities to act on feedback and not just receive it.

Tips

  • Build allow time into your timetable as a routine, not an afterthought. If it is not planned, it will not happen.
  • One comment per piece. If you write three improvements, learners will not know where to start.
  • Circulate and check responses. Without accountability, some learners will sit and do nothing.
  • A common pitfall: returning books at the end of a lesson. There is no time left to act, so the feedback is wasted.
  • Use a simple stamp or tick to acknowledge when a learner has responded well to feedback.

Source: Adapted from "How to develop thinking and assessment for learning in the classroom", Welsh Assembly Government, Guidance 044/2010.