Why the move away from written marking?
The deputy headteacher of Barr Beacon School, David Lowbridge-Ellis, banned detailed written marking as part of a wider campaign to reduce teacher workload. He made this decision because:
- The school's 2014 Ofsted judgement found that marking was not 'consistent' across the school
- Teachers were then trying to make marking look the same in every subject, which was actually counterproductive
- One of their teachers, Michael Eszrenyi, 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 teachers were martyring themselves, but he knew that giving them time to refresh would result in better outcomes for pupils
Approach to marking in a nutshell
What are you doing well in this subject? What do you need to do to improve your work in this