Caring in the school context usually refers to teachers’ caring attitudes ([38]; [49]), although the origin of the ethics of care is rooted specifically in women’s experiences and even in the mother-child relationship, integrating both intellectual judgment and emotional engagement (see [26]; [46]). The ethics of care becomes apparent in relationships with other human beings, in which emotions such as sympathy, empathy, sensitivity and responsiveness can be improved by reflection and education ([26]). Because the original idea was to respond to the needs of the children in a way that is both thoughtful and emotional (see [46]), caring affects the school climate through the quality of interactions between school personnel and students (see [15]; [19]; [50]).

Earlier research concerning teachers’ caring-related issues has focused on the teacher-student relationship ([53]), teachers’ emotional support and conduct during lessons ([3]; [5]; [24]; [40]), the school and classroom atmosphere ([48]; [49]; [50]) and student assessment ([11]; [23]; [36]; [51]). However, lower secondary students’ experiences of supportive feedback in terms of caring have been less studied.

Finland’s education system is guided by the Finnish National Agency for Education, which leads the development of the Finnish curriculum and specifies guidelines for developing school cultures. The Finnish curriculum is obligatory, although teachers are granted great autonomy in planning and conducting teaching ([34]; [44]). According to the curriculum, a school should aim to “promote learning, interaction, participation, well-being and a sustainable way of living” ([13]). Concerning assessment, the curriculum says.

Assessment plays an important role in promoting the learning of the pupils. Assessment supports learning and is an essential part of the learning process…The foremost task of assessment is to guide and encourage the pupil. Pupils are not compared to each other. Instead, pupils are guided to reflect on their own learning against the objectives. The teachers help the pupils understand the objectives and recognize their own strengths and development needs. The teachers provide opportunities for the pupils to develop their skills for self-assessment and peer assessment so that they can both give and receive constructive feedback. ([14]).

Assessment has also been reported by students to be a part of the experience of caring (see [36]; [51]). According to [11], teachers who care about students’ learning are interested in the subject, and in assessment, they evaluate students’ work, observe the learning situation, and take tasks other than tests into consideration.

This article contributes to the conversation regarding the ethics of care, students’ well-being in schools and the school atmosphere. It is based on research that describes the elements that students find meaningful regarding their teachers’ caring actions ([27]) and focuses on the students’ experiences of supportive feedback. The two research questions in this study are as follows:

RQ 1: What kind of teacher feedback has been perceived as supportive?

RQ 2: In what kinds of communication situations has the received feedback been perceived as supportive?

Caring is a central value in teachers’ professional ethics ([17]; [37]), and it means having a sense of being part of a community and entails the capability to use one’s whole capacity for the well-being of the community ([38], [39]; [47]). Students can experience caring in informal, respectful and attentive one-on-one encounters and discussions with teachers as well as in formal classroom situations in which teachers demonstrate their interest in learning and value the learning atmosphere and respectful communication ([27]). A teacher-student relationship, defined as two-dimensional, interactive interaction, affects both the student and the teacher ([31]). Moreover, caring is seen in teachers’ pedagogical reasoning, which aims for what is best for students ([17]).

The experience of being cared for is a result of warm and respectful verbal or nonverbal communication between a teacher and a student, and it can occur only in attentive interactions ([39]), whether personal and informal or part of a formal, public teaching and learning situation (see [33]). A caring teacher has good conversations with students and communicates in a respectful manner ([27]; [55]; [54]). Good quality teacher-student relationships ([42]), instructional support ([24]) and informal and out-of-classroom interaction ([56]) may also be relevant to school engagement. By establishing caring and supportive relationships with students, teachers can even prevent students dropping out of school ([53]).

Caring relationships can develop when a learning situation is attentive; that is, the teacher is concentrating on teaching and actively paying attention to the students’ learning and needs ([31]; [38], [39]; [45]). Furthermore, the importance of a single teacher in organizing daily teaching to enhance students’ engagement by creating a caring environment has been recognized (e.g. [4]).

Teachers’ caring actions in learning situations also affect the classroom atmosphere (see [48]; [49]; [50]) and can be seen when conducting learning activities and supporting students in their work; caring teachers are found to be warm and helpful and promote a supportive classroom atmosphere (see [3]; [5]; [48]; [49]; [50]). Encouraging students to ask questions and engage in open discussion about difficulties or misconceptions that lead them astray is important ([2]).

There is plenty of previous research concerning feedback (see, e.g. [7]). According to [7], teachers’ “high-quality, tailored, and action-oriented feedback positively affects student achievement, motivation and engagement, while negative or vague feedback can lead to demotivation and avoidance behaviors. Students prefer direct and individualized feedback, and trust in the teacher-student relationship is crucial for effective feedback uptake” (p. 1).

[23] define feedback as a consequence of action. A teacher might provide accurate information and confirm correctness, a fellow student might offer an alternative approach, or books might provide information that helps a student structure their thoughts. For feedback to be effective, the person giving it must understand its goal, examine the actions required to achieve that goal and reflect on what needs to be done next. Thus, feedback includes goal achievement at both the task and process levels. It also encompasses self-assessment and an evaluation of personal commitment to achieving a goal. According to [23], this model of providing feedback also places pressure on teachers who wish to teach effectively. Negative feedback from the teacher, as well as feedback regarding effort or ability, influences the teacher-student relationship.

[20] states that feedback teachers give their students can be affirming (e.g. when a teacher confirms that an answer is correct) or corrective (e.g. when a teacher provides a correct answer themselves). Feedback can also be constructive, such as when a teacher guides students through follow-up questions or provides hints to help them arrive at the correct answer. Teachers also give praise or negative feedback, typically in relation to the students’ attitudes towards the work, their behaviour or other aspects of their conduct ([20]).

However, in their study of Finnish 5th and 6th grade students, [2] found that although feedback often focuses on a student’s self-regulation and task-related skills, the process readily transitions from an interaction to one-sided communication from the teacher to the student. Feedback directed at self-regulation appeared to students as a conclusion drawn by the teacher—success or failure—to which the student had to adapt. Students generally perceived the feedback they received as either positive or negative and only rarely as constructive ([2]).

Assessment has also been reported by students to be a part of the experience of caring (see [36]; [51]). Teachers who care about students’ learning are found to evaluate students’ work, observe the learning situation and consider tasks other than tests when assigning marks ([11]; [27]). Regarding formative assessment and improving learning outcomes, [16] emphasize that the quality of teachers’ feedback is directly linked to whether a student knows how to utilize it. If the feedback does not include clear guidance on how the students can improve their performance, it does not lead to improved learning outcomes. Learning also requires a variety of written and oral feedback methods as well as attention directed at both individuals and the group ([9]).

[23] identified four types of teacher feedback: task, process, self-regulation and self, the last of which includes non-specific praise and comments about students’ effort, although students need feedback on their performance in their classroom activities rather than formal testing. Effective feedback requires an understanding of the goals—so that actions taken to achieve them can be examined—as well as reflection on what needs to be done next. In addition to the assessment of student performance, feedback provided by the teacher includes oral or written feedback given in specific situations ([23]). Although there can be cultural differences in attitudes towards praising students (see [10]; [23]; [20]) feedback also has positive consequences for students’ emotions and behaviour ([22]).

This study explored students’ perceptions of supportive feedback as part of previous phenomenographic research on teachers’ caring ([27]). The purpose of phenomenographic research is to describe people’s collective experiences of the world, in this case teachers’ supportive feedback from teachers, and variations in that collective experience ([1]; [21]; [43]). To answer the research questions, students were asked about their perceptions and memories of caring teachers in semi-structured interviews, from which the data for this study were collected.

The results are typically presented hierarchically structured in phenomenographic research (outcome space), and the categories of descriptions are organized from lower order to higher order ([43]; [1]). In this study, the units that classify the experiences of receiving supportive feedback, that are based on previous studies of students’ experiences of teachers’ caring ([27]) are re-analyzed. The categories are organized from higher to lower order. Results are presented in three categories according to the communication situation, namely communication during lessons, out-of-class communication and communication during assessment processes. The categories of descriptions are organized from lower to higher, as the category concerning assessment processes is the lowest and consequently the category of communication during lessons is the highest thus forming the outcome space of this study (see [43]; [1]). The three categories cover the results of RQ 2 (In what kinds of communication situations has the received feedback been perceived as supportive?). The results answering RQ 1 (What kind of teacher feedback has been perceived as caring?) are presented in the subgroups that reveal the nature of students’ experiences of receiving feedback in communication situations. The quotes from the students’ responses were translated from the original data.

The aim of the present study was to investigate students’ experiences of feedback from teachers that they perceived as supportive. The research questions were What kind of teacher feedback has been perceived as supportive? (RQ 1) and In what kinds of communication situations has the received feedback been perceived as supportive? (RQ 2). The results formed three categories of supportive feedback situations: during lessons, in out-of-class communication and during assessment processes. Each category included subgroups defining the nature of the supportive feedback received in the situation in question. The students also in this study, as well as in previous studies, found positive feedback to be more supportive than negative feedback (see also [22]).

Much previous research aligns with the results of this study, including studies that focus on the teacher-student relationship ([53]) and teachers’ emotional support and conduct during lessons ([3]; [5]; [40]). The value of a supportive atmosphere during lessons has also been addressed in many previous studies (see [48]; [49]; [50]). The students reported that teachers provided a supportive atmosphere in the classroom by giving instant verbal or non-verbal feedback during lessons about their behaviour and verbal feedback about the tasks of the lesson. The results of this study also indicate the importance of a good classroom atmosphere and a safe environment in which to ask questions and are thus particularly aligned with the results of [2], who also see the importance of fostering a constructive feedback culture. Students’ prerequisites for a good classroom atmosphere and supportive feedback indicate what might be needed to meet their support needs and to prevent social isolation or bullying in class, as was also reported in studies by [25] and [30].

The students also received instructive feedback outside of lessons and information about assessment. The results conformed to those of many previous studies. The students found one-to-one conversations supportive, which was also the case in a previous Finnish study ([2]). Furthermore, teachers’ support is connected to students’ behavioural engagement because students are found to work more intensively when getting instructional support from the teacher ([24]). By establishing caring and supportive relationships with students, teachers may even prevent students dropping out of school (see [53]).

[23] identified four types of teacher feedback: task, process, self-regulation and self, the last of which included non-specific praise and comments about students’ effort. In the category of assessment processes, students pictured three of the types of feedback that [23] identified: task, process and self. Regarding tasks, the students stressed opportunities for second chances or future possibilities when needed. Allowing extra possibilities to complete courses can be seen as a way to encourage students and offer them equal opportunities to apply for further studies (see [11]; [36]; [51]). A similarly student-centred approach to teaching was found in studies by [5] and [17]. The students also depicted supportive feedback when teachers had relevant conversations about assessment criteria, which gives an example of the experiences concerning processes. Relevant conversations have also been mentioned in [55]; [54]. Additionally, the students specified many forms of supportive feedback and praise: spoken, written or using tokens both during lessons and in one-to-one conversations, which gives concrete examples regarding tests, processes and self (see [23]). Praising students in one-to-one communication was also found to be supportive ([10]; [20]; [23]).

This study depicts students’ experiences of teachers’ supportive feedback, not to mention the importance of student voices that had not previously been heard with regard to the topic. The analysis was based on a complete study of students’ experiences of teachers’ caring ([27]). Categorization and grouping were data-driven in the categories that concerned received feedback. As this study revealed considerable versatility in teachers’ ways of giving feedback during lessons or in out-of-class communication in a caring manner, even during assessment processes, it is important to both teaching practice and teacher education (see [36]; [51]). However, further research is needed. In addition to student interviews, observation of teachers’ classroom behaviour and teachers’ commentary on students’ perceptions of feedback would provide teachers’ perspectives on feedback processes.