How to moderate teacher assessments: secondary

Find out how to effectively moderate teacher assessments. Develop robust processes to make sure your teachers are making accurate judgements of pupils' progress.

Last reviewed on 22 November 2022
School types: AllSchool phases: SecondaryRef: 33115
Contents
  1. Set up a moderation panel to establish your general approach
  2. How to run effective moderation exercises
  3. Use different approaches for different subjects
  4. Work with other schools where possible

We’d like to thank our associate assessment experts, Carolyn Unsted and David New, for their help with this article. Find out more about them at the bottom of this page.

Set up a moderation panel to establish your general approach

When moderating more generally, it’s a good idea to set up a panel made up of middle leaders to:

  • Ensure teachers’ approach to awarding marks is consistent 
  • Be responsible for establishing effective assessment and moderation processes and then sharing these across the school 

Who should be on it 

Make sure there's a mixture of middle leaders from a range of subjects and year groups on the panel - this will help ensure that each subject is:

  • Moderated consistently 
  • Assessed in a way that’s fit for purpose   

If some of your colleagues were moderators for exam boards in the past, draw on their experience The wider your resource base of experienced