Freire, dialogic feedback, and power issues

Abstract

The centrality of feedback is undeniable in education. However, not all feedback effectively encourages learning or improves performance due to predicaments in feedback delivery and receptivity. Several studies suggest other ways where feedback is offered in a dialogic fashion instead of a monologic one. Nevertheless, few papers do so in the context of medical education, especially when the learning processes involve marginalized people such as disaster-affected patients. This paper draws on autoethnographic experiences of providing dialogic feedback for medical students using Paolo Freire's dialogue concepts. This feedback was given during reflective sessions in community-based medical education at post-disaster areas in Aceh, Indonesia. The findings show that Freire's dialogue concepts help assess dialogic feedback quality and offer insights into power relations between teachers and students. To achieve the aim of providing dialogic feedback --obtaining new understandings-- educators need to establish a more equal position in teacher-student relationships. In sum, the findings highlight the applicability of Freire's concept of dialogue in offering feedback for students especially when the training takes place in a context of marginalized people.