Understand why Matrix moved away from written marking
David Lowbridge-Ellis MBE is Director of School Improvement at Matrix Academy Trust, a trust with 7 academies across the West Midlands. When he was deputy headteacher of Barr Beacon School, one of the schools in the trust, he banned detailed written marking as part of a wider campaign to reduce teacher workload and improve pupil outcomes.
He made this decision because:
- The school's 2014 Ofsted judgement found that marking was not 'consistent' across the school
- Teachers were trying to make marking look the same in every subject, which was counterproductive
- One of the teachers represented the school on the DfE marking policy review group and fed back to the school about what 'meaningful feedback' looked like in practice
- David recognised that many teachers were working too hard to get all their marking done, and he knew that freeing up their time would result in better outcomes for pupils
