Turn Your Marking Mountain Into A Mojito Island!

End of year exams = migraines for teachers and liquor stores capitalising on business… Marking madness has reared its ugly head and it’s time to fill up those red pens and indulge in some of the best marking tips you will ever have access to. It is of the utmost importance to firstly ensure that you don’t lose the plot completely.

Fun fact: marking was identified as the single biggest contributor to teachers’ unsustainable workload in the 2014 Workload Challenge. Since then, two new reports – a Department for Education (DfE) independent workload review and an Oxford research review entitled “A Marked Improvement” – have highlighted ways to cut the marking mountain without affecting students’ progress or your sanity. So here are some of their key recommendations to buy you a bit more time in the sun these December holidays.

• Stop writing too much

There is little evidence to suggest that extensive written comments, often in different coloured pens, have a big impact on pupil progress in the next year. In fact, over-marking can take the responsibility away from students, reduce their motivation and make them less resilient. So, it’s reasonable to save your wrist and not overthink things – you weren’t the one writing the exam!

• Careless mistakes don’t need to be corrected

Teachers shouldn’t correct a student’s work where they have merely made a careless mistake, according to research – mark the error don’t worry about correcting it. Instead, research advises teachers to focus on areas where students show an underlying misunderstanding. Moral of the story – if Johnny thinks that Nelson Mandela is a character in “Stranger Things”, just let it go…

• Stop doing the “tick and flick”

There’s pretty much no evidence to suggest that acknowledgement marking (the tick-and-flick approach) has any impact. The Oxford report concludes that this form of marking “could be reduced without any negative effect on student progress”. Generic praise can also fall into this category. A quick “well done” or “good effort” might feel like it’s not time consuming, but multiplied over several sets of books this endeavour can really clock up the minutes without adding much impact because students often aren’t clear exactly which bit they have done well. The report suggests pupils can detect insincerity too, so better limit your comments when you are being genuine.

• Change the culture

It’s easy for a martyr mentality to creep into staffrooms. This holds that the more time you spend marking, the better a teacher you are. It’s a truth worth stating – publically, if you’re in leadership – that neither time, nor word count nor leaving work late equal effectiveness. Stop being a people pleaser, mark when you feel you have the energy and brain capacity to do so. The marking world is your oyster, allocate time as you see fit and smile and wave at those dirty looks when you waltz home a bit earlier to spend some time with your favourite Chardonnay.

Realise that marking is not the be all and end all! You have a life beyond exams, report comments and red ink. It’s time to do the official countdown and prepare your best move to the juicy wiggle. Holidays are upon us! Divide and conquer and enjoy every second of the holiday.