A NEW Approach to Marking!

How do we reduce the marking burden for teachers?

Last week, I presented a keynote on my new book/research for the first time, sharing some key ideas with teachers and school leaders in the room.

Written Feedback

Marking remains the number one workload burden, so how do we make it better for everyone? Here’s a question to consider: Could you name three specific techniques you use in the classroom (when responding to a student’s piece of work) that provide students with feedback, up or forward?

All teachers are familiar with many marking strategies and techniques, but few know what strategies help students in a specific context. In my new research, I advocate nine new approaches to formative assessment (marking and feedback methods) in the classroom to reduce the burden, widen out approaches, and improve quality assurance.

Verbal Feedback

When asked about verbal feedback, all teachers reply with, “Of course I use verbal feedback!”

My response: What specific method are you using? Does it have a name? Can I share your technique with another teacher? Is it automated to a degree that you follow the same methodology each time to make your working life a little easier, and does it have an immediate impact?

Again, when we consider verbal feedback, what strategy are you using that specifically feeds back to a student, up or forward? Here are some simple definitions to help understand what I mean.

Non Verbal Feedback

Let’s switch to non-verbal feedback; defined as gestures and cues (body language).

Teachers provide students with 100s of gestures every single lesson to support communication, instruction, behaviour and progress. For example, nods of the head, thumbs up across the classroom or pointing to displays on the wall. All these gestures are generally provided subconsciously.

Now, how do you evaluate all of the above? How would a school leader or Ofsted inspector quality assure these methods without pushing teachers into the trap of providing an evidence trail to support observers not in the (classroom) moment?

Well, this is something I have thought about deeply over the last 7 years, publishing ideas and evidence in the Verbal Feedback Project; this blog post – which captures nine different marking methods – in some of the teacher training sessions I have been delivering over the last 3 years – now squeezed together in my new book.

I clarified to people in the room that not all schools will be ready for this new approach to traditional marking, but it is something people can start to think about for the academic year ahead.

One key difficulty will be helping school leaders develop a new approach to quality assurance, particularly for deep dives and work scrutiny, especially evaluating verbal and non-verbal classroom approaches.

If schools want to retain teachers and support their wellbeing, they should reconsider how they can take the dialogue of marking one step further towards a richer approach for quality assurance. Guide To Feedback shows you how …