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ABSTRACT. High rates of failure in secondary level science classes are a problem worldwide. Effective teaching and efficient management of schools requires information as to the causes of failure. One approach to acquiring this information is to improve our understanding of what the students themselves perceive as the causes and antecedents of school failure. In this article, we analyze the perceptions of the factors of academic failure among grade-ten, science-tracked students. Students from eight schools in southern Portugal (N=346) participated in the study. The major factors of failure in 10th grade science courses, according to students, are quality of teaching and previous student preparation. One third of the students did not think that secondary science education prepared them for life in a scientific-technological society. A culture of high expectancy on the part of teachers, parents and administrators may be key to influencing rates of success.

One frequently overlooked approach to improving academic success is the simple technique of listening to the students. Students are uniquely positioned to understand the nature of school problems, and their perceptions can be useful in forming solutions to problems of academic failure and school leaving. In this study, science-tracked secondary school students in Portugal (N=346) responded to open-response questions regarding what schools and teachers can do to improve success in the 10th grade in general, and specifically in Mathematics and Physics/Chemistry. Content analysis revealed specific dimensions of student recommendations including (a) teacher strategies, (b) teacher affect and (c) curriculum. Student recommendations emphasized diversifying teaching methods, permitting greater student input, making clear connections between class material and reallife applications. Students indicated the importance of developing a positive classroom environment and urged more time for the learning of complex concepts. While their implementation may not be appropriate in all cases, student suggestions can be useful in identifying problem areas, and in some instances may offer sound advice to teachers and educational leaders. We discuss these suggestions, including just what it means to teach with a "real-life" orientation. We propose a distinction between authentic events that are learning relevant and those that are goal relevant.

Feedback can promote teacher-student relations and student academic involvement, performance and self-regulation. However, some research indicates that teachers do not always employ feedback effectively. There is a need to promote teachers' appropriate use of feedback in the classroom. We describe a long-term workshop designed to enhance teachers' knowledge and skills in the use of feedback strategies, and appreciation of the importance of feedback. Twelve teachers participated in the workshop. Observations as well as teacher reports indicate that participation in the sessions and the follow-up classroom application enhanced teacher involvement, knowledge, competencies and positive feelings in the use of feedback strategies. A workshop for teachers that has specific objectives on feedback strategies, is presented along a school year, and involves reflective sessions intertwined with classroom application work, can effectively promote participants' involvement, knowledge and competencies in the use of feedback, as well as their outlook toward the importance of these strategies.Teacher feedback about a student's performance and understanding may constitute the most important practical aspect of the relationship between teachers and students (Black & Wiliam, 1998;Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam, 2002). In addition to influencing student understanding and performance (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996, 1998Ponte, Paek, Braun & Powers, 2009;Salema, 2005;Valente, 1997; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001, teacher feedback plays a key role in student engagement with the school (Carvalho, Freire, Conboy, Baptista, Freire, Azevedo, & Oliveira, 2011;Conboy & Fonseca, 2009;Fonseca, Valente, & Conboy, 2011;Fonseca & Conboy, 2006;Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004;Schussler, 2009;Veiga, 2009;Verkuyten & Thijs, 2009). It also impacts the construction of student identity and academic trajectories (Cornelius & Herrenkohl, 2004; Solomon, in press component of the quality of the relationship that teachers develop with their students, feedback − along with the types of tasks and activities teachers propose − will affect the contexts of participation and can act to reify perceptions of identity (Carvalho & Solomon, 2012;Freire, Carvalho, Freire, Azevedo, & Oliveira, 2009. In spite of its importance, some evidence points to a possibly widespread teacher misapplication of feedback in the classroom (Tong & Adamson, 2015;Valente, Conboy, & Carvalho, 2009), and a consequent need for specific teacher education in this area.Effective Feedback: Evidence, Structure, ConsequencesFeedback occurs after a fact, and consists of the information we receive about how we are doing in the effort made to reach a certain goal (Wiggins, 2012). Feedback is always a consequence of how we perform and its instructional purpose is to provide information related to a task or learning process, in order to improve performance in a particular task and/or understanding of a particular subject (Sadler, 1989). According to Hattie (2009), feedback aims at the reductio...