SMART Marking

by Lauren Wilkinson,
Teacher of Food and KS3 Art and Technology

"Ofsted is once again trying to bust the myth that extensive marking is best for students. When will the message get through?" (The Guardian, 29 November 2016)

So why are teachers still up till 11pm most nights, marking every piece of work for each student in their class?

Not in our department!!

The department of Business, Technology and Art reviewed the marking policy and new changes have been made to cut down work load and the stress of teachers.

With the new specifications and Schemes of Work, we have created 'checkpoints', which are printed for each student and stuck to a particular piece of work we want to assess. The grading criteria is identified in different outcomes through a tick box approach. Grading from 1- 9 have been added so that the students can recognise what they have achieved and what they need to do in order for them to gain a higher result.

At the front of their books, students have stuck a tracking grid which is updated regularly with the outcome of each checkpoint and then a second grade when the piece has been re-assessed. This is where you should (hopefully) see progress made by the students.

This new policy has given us more time to be able to plan more effectively and helped us deliver more creative lessons.