Student well-being does not always show up in grades or obvious changes in behaviour. A student can continue performing well academically while feeling overwhelmed, disengaged or disconnected from others. For teachers, understanding well-being therefore starts with looking beyond what is immediately visible. Assistant Professor Amelia Yeo from the Psychology and Child & Human Development Department at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore explores how classroom assessment, feedback and teacher–student interactions can support both learning and well-being.

A Human-Centred Approach in Assessment

Assessment plays an important role in shaping students’ learning experiences. How teachers design assessments, give feedback and interact with students can influence whether students see learning as an opportunity to grow or as a source of threat.

A human-centred approach brings these considerations together by keeping the student, rather than simply the performance outcome, at the centre of teaching and assessment. When teachers notice a change in a student, it can be tempting to immediately look for a reason. However, a single behaviour rarely tells the whole story. Instead, teachers can look for patterns and changes over time. A student may participate less, appear less confident, interact differently with peers or become less willing to ask for help. Even the way students talk about their learning can offer useful clues.

Importantly, these observations are not necessarily explanations. A teacher might assume that a drop in grades has a particular cause, but making presumptions can sometimes damage an existing teacher–student relationship.

“Most importantly, teachers should create opportunities for students to communicate how they are doing rather than assuming that observable behaviour tells the whole story,” Amelia, whose interests also include translating findings from cognition research to useful educational practices for the promotion of learning and well-being, shares.

This means giving students different ways to communicate. If a student is uncomfortable talking, writing or drawing can provide another avenue for expressing how they are feeling.

Make Assessment a Meaningful Exercise 

Assessment can be rigorous without becoming threatening. A human-centred approach focuses on making assessment authentic, engaging and meaningful to the learner.

Students need to understand what they are being asked to demonstrate and how the task connects to the knowledge or skills they are developing. Transparency matters too. Students should not feel that an assessment is designed to trick them or that success depends on guessing the answer the teacher expects.

Instead, meaningful assessment gives students opportunities to apply what they know, explain their thinking and demonstrate their learning in context.

This also helps shift assessment away from being simply about producing a correct answer. When students understand the purpose of a task, they are better positioned to see it as part of their learning rather than merely as a judgement of their performance.

Keep the Rigour, Reduce the Threat 

“Rigour and threat are not the same thing,” Amelia affirms. “High expectations and student well-being do not have to be opposing goals.” Teachers can maintain academic standards while making expectations clear, providing appropriate preparation and ensuring that assessments measure the intended learning. Clear criteria and opportunities to practise can make a challenging assessment feel fair and manageable.

Mistakes also have a place in this process. When students understand that mistakes are part of learning, assessment can challenge them intellectually without creating unnecessary uncertainty or fear about how they will be judged.

“Importantly, students must be reminded that their self-worth is not tied to a single assessment or how they perform relative to others,” Amelia explains. Separating the quality of a student’s work from their value as an individual can help create a healthier relationship with achievement.

Give Feedback With a Clear Direction 

Feedback is another point where learning and well-being intersect. Personal judgements about a student can make performance feel like a judgement of who they are. Feedback that focuses on the work, strategy or specific behaviours, however, gives students something they can act on.

Amelia suggests teachers to consider the difference between saying, “You are careless,” and saying, “Your explanation needs more evidence to support this conclusion.”

The second response identifies something specific that the student can improve. Effective feedback tells students what they have done well, what needs improvement and what they can try next.

“This gives students a clearer path forward and helps them see performance as something that can change,” she explains.

Pay Attention to What Is Not Said 

Words are not the only source of information in the classroom. Gestures and other nonverbal cues can provide teachers with additional insight into students’ thinking and understanding.

“A student may say that they understand something while their gestures suggest uncertainty or reveal a different conception,” Amelia highlights. “Gestures can also communicate aspects of thinking that students find difficult to express verbally.”

Rather than treating these cues as definitive evidence of what a student is thinking or feeling, teachers can use them as prompts to ask another question or invite the student to explain their thinking.

This creates another opportunity for students to make their thinking visible.

Start With One Small Question 

Supporting well-being does not always require a major change to classroom practice. One small shift can begin at the end of a lesson or assessment activity: ask students about their learning experience, rather than simply whether they got the answer right.

Questions such as “What was the most difficult part of this task, and why?” or “How did you feel completing this task?” can reveal more than a correct or incorrect response.

They can surface misconceptions, frustration and confidence, while also showing teachers where students may need support. At the same time, the questions send a message to students: their experience of learning matters.

Ultimately, looking after student well-being and supporting learning are not separate tasks. When teachers pay attention to how students experience learning, they gain another source of information about what students understand, where they struggle and what support they need.

It is a small shift in focus: from asking only whether students have the right answer to asking what it is like for them to get there.