Marking & Feedback Workload 2015/16
There is a need for the consideration of teacher workload and how this has an impact in staff well-being, performance in the classroom and therefore student progress and attainment. There is also a need for a robust but appreciative system that provides teachers with appropriate time to produce high quality feedback whilst taking in to consideration the variance in timetable allocation for specific subjects.
Currently, there is a minimum expectation that all teachers, in all key stages, assess and feedback via the expected process at least once every 3 weeks. This fits into our current assessment schedule and calendar so that there is at least 2 pieces of assessment between assessment points and staff can utilise the homework timetable at Key Stage 3 if they wish to use homework as a source of assessment.
This process however, does not take into consideration 2 things:
- The 2015/16 Assessment Schedule which has fewer assessment points
- New proposals regarding assessment & curriculum
- The variance in timetabling, which sees some members of staff teach a group once a week and other members of staff teach a group multiple times a week
This potentially produces a scenario where some teachers could be marking 250 sets of work per key stage in comparison to 150 in other subjects.
Marking & Feedback Expectations:
Key Stage 31 lesson a week / High quality marking/feedback evident every 4 weeks / Self & Peer assessment is encouraged as good practice / Verbal feedback is prevalent within lessons to provide students with directed & immediate feedback
2 lessons a week / High quality marking/feedback evident every 3 weeks
2+ lessons a week / High quality marking/feedback evident every 3 weeks / Additional self-check or self & peer assessment evident
Key Stage 4 & 5
2+ lessons a week / High quality marking/feedback evident every 3 weeks / Additional self-check or self & peer assessment evident / Verbal feedback is prevalent within lessons to provide students with directed & immediate feedback
In order to fit the new ratios of marking workload – the KS3 homework timetable will be adapted to the following:
Week 1 / English / Science / Geography / Technology / German / ArtWeek 2 / Maths / History / RE / French / Music / Computing
Week 3 / English / Science / Geography / Technology / German / Art
Week 4 / The timetable would continue to rotate on a 2 week basis
*There would be no ‘core skills’ homework in English & Maths
**Not every piece of homework would necessarily be marked or used as assessment
***There would still be a need for the setting of challenging extended homework focussed on ‘learning’ & ‘engagement’ (approximate guide would still be 1 hour and students would still get 5-7 days to complete)
Key Stage 4 Homework Recommendation:
Students should expect to receive a single piece of challenging homework per week per subject alongside 30 minutes of dedicated independent study per subject which may be directed by the teacher in relation to its format and specificity.
B.Pearce (June 2015)Page 1