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Next Steps

A feedback strategy where the teacher provides specific, actionable comments that show learners exactly what to do to improve, rather than simply grading or praising their work.

Assessment for learning
Next Steps diagram

What is next steps?

  • Review learner work and identify the most important area for improvement
  • Write a specific next step that tells the learner exactly what to do
  • Provide dedicated time for learners to read and act on the feedback
  • Check that learners have responded to the next step before moving on

How it works

Next steps feedback shifts the focus from judgement to improvement. Instead of a grade, a tick, or a general comment like "good work," the teacher writes a specific action the learner can take to improve. The next step must be concrete enough that the learner knows exactly what to do.

A useful next step answers the question: "What is the one thing this learner should do differently next time?" It should be specific ("Add a concluding sentence that links back to your opening argument") rather than vague ("Improve your conclusion"). It should be achievable within the learner's current capability, and it should focus on the learning, not on presentation or effort.

The most critical part of next steps is providing time to act on them. If learners read their feedback and then move on to a new topic, the feedback is wasted. Dedicated improvement time, where learners respond to their next step in their books, makes the feedback loop complete. This is sometimes called "closing the gap."

Next steps work best when they become routine. When learners expect feedback that tells them what to do next, they start looking for it actively. Over time, they begin to identify their own next steps, which is the ultimate goal of formative assessment.

Classroom example

A Year 10 Expressive Arts class in a Swansea school has submitted portfolio reflections. Instead of grading them, the teacher writes a next step on each: "You have described what you did. Now add a paragraph explaining why you chose this technique over the alternatives you considered." In the next lesson, learners spend fifteen minutes responding to their next step. Several learners produce their strongest reflective writing of the year because the feedback told them precisely what was missing.

Curriculum for Wales connection

Next steps develop the "Reflect" strand of thinking skills by building learners' capacity to evaluate and improve their own work. They support the Four Purposes by developing "ambitious, capable learners" who understand what progress looks like and can take ownership of their improvement across all AoLEs.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens helps you plan where feedback strategies are embedded across your curriculum, ensuring that improvement is a continuous process, not a one-off event.

Tips

  • One next step per piece of work is enough. Multiple steps overwhelm and none get acted on.
  • Write next steps as instructions, not questions. "Add a diagram to support your explanation" is clearer than "Could you add a diagram?"
  • A common pitfall: writing next steps but not providing time to act on them. Feedback without response time is wasted effort.
  • Use next steps alongside success criteria so learners can see the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
  • Model next steps by showing your own work with a next step you have identified.

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