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Abstract
Providing meaningful feedback on informal mathematics assessment tasks is widely recognized as an important component of formative assessment, yet sustaining teacher-generated feedback remains challenging in many secondary school classrooms. This study examined secondary school mathematics teachers’ perceptions and reported feedback practices associated with informal mathematics assessment tasks, with particular attention to the sustainability of teacher-generated feedback, shared feedback practices, and institutional approaches that support effective formative assessment. An embedded mixed-methods design was employed, in which quantitative questionnaire data from 60 secondary school mathematics teachers in four education districts of Limpopo Province, South Africa, constituted the primary data source, while qualitative responses to an open-ended questionnaire item were used to explain and contextualize the quantitative findings. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric procedures, including Spearman’s rank-order correlation, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The integrated findings indicate that teachers valued feedback and continue to rely primarily on teacher-generated written feedback despite recognizing that large class sizes, workload demands, and limited instructional time were associated with difficulties in sustaining these practices. Although teachers reported moderate use of self- and peer-assessment, they emphasized that learner participation requires teacher guidance, explicit marking criteria, and monitoring to ensure feedback quality. Participants further identified technology-enhanced formative assessment, context-sensitive marking policies, professional learning, and additional institutional support as important enablers of sustainable feedback. The study concludes that sustainable feedback is best understood as a shared and context-dependent process that emerges through the interaction of teacher practices, learner participation, contextual conditions, and institutional support. These findings contribute to the growing literature on sustainable feedback by extending discussions beyond feedback effectiveness to include its long-term feasibility within authentic secondary mathematics classrooms.
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Article Type: Research Article
EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, Volume 22, Issue 8, August 2026, Article No: em2889
https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/19050
Publication date: 03 Aug 2026
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