School Marking Guidance Update PowerPoint - This PowerPoint provides guidance for schools and teachers on marking and feedback, based on the School Inspection Update issued by Ofsted at the end of November 2016. It can be used for staff meetings or for information/training for teachers.

2. Questions to Ask About Marking
• Are you marking in too much detail or not enough?
• How frequently should you mark pupils’ work?
• Should you use different colour pens or highlighters for effective marking?
• Do you need to use stamps for feedback (e.g. verbal feedback given)?
• Is there a particular style or format of marking expected by Ofsted?

3. A new School Inspection Update was published at the end of November 2016.
New ‘School Inspection Update’
from Sean Harford (HMI National Director, Education)
November 2016 (Issue 8)
Part of this update focused on issues regarding Marking and Feedback and
how they are treated during school inspections.
A link to the full document is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/57204
The report says that: ‘recent updates have focused on ‘myth-busting’ in
response to the DfE’s Workload Challenge review groups … Marking has
proved to be one of the harder myths to bust’.
School Inspection Update

4. The new update follows up on the DfE Workload Challenge response.
What was the Workload Challenge?
More than 44,000 people responded.
Workload Challenge
In October 2014, the Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister
launched the DfE online Workload Challenge. It was a month-long
consultation about unnecessary or unproductive tasks carried out
by teachers.

5. The report concluded: ‘Marking, planning and tracking pupil progress
are not unnecessary or unproductive.’
‘It is the volume, level of duplication, bureaucracy or detail sometimes
associated with these tasks that can be unnecessary or unproductive.’
A link to the full Government response to the Workload Challenge (February
2015) is here:
https
://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/415874/Go
Workload Challenge

6. The November 2016 ‘School Inspection Update’ provides further important
guidance for inspectors regarding how marking is perceived during school
inspections.
This may have a significant impact on schools evaluating their own marking
policy and teachers’ marking habits.
These two key statements come from the document:
School Inspection Update
‘Inspectors must not give the impression that marking needs to be
undertaken in any particular format and to any particular degree of
sophistication or detail.’
It goes on to say: ‘there is remarkably little high quality, relevant
research evidence to suggest that detailed or extensive marking has
any significant impact on pupils’ learning.’

7. Furthermore, inspectors are therefore directed as follows:
Guidance for Inspectors
‘please do not report on marking practice, or make judgements on it,
other than whether it follows the school’s assessment policy’
‘please do not seek to attribute the degree of progress that pupils
have made to marking that you consider to be either effective or
ineffective’
‘please do not make recommendations for improvement that involve
marking, other than when the school’s marking/assessment policy
is not being followed by a substantial proportion of teachers’

8. Ofsted Inspections – Clarification for Schools
(This is an additional document provided to accompany the School
Inspection Handbook, first published June 2015)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil
e/463242/Ofsted_inspections_clarification_for_schools.pdf
In this document, it states:
Further Guidance for Schools
‘Ofsted recognises that marking and feedback to pupils, both
written and oral, are important aspects of assessment.’
‘However, Ofsted does not expect to see any specific frequency,
type or volume of marking and feedback; these are for the school to
decide through its assessment policy.’
‘Ofsted does not expect to see any written record of oral feedback
provided to pupils by teachers.’

9. Based on the guidance, the school’s marking policy is therefore entirely up
to the school to decide. This includes reference to:
•the frequency of marking
•the type of marking decided upon
•the amount or level of detail
•the colour of the pens used for marking
Ofsted will not judge progress or performance based on any of these factors.
Ofsted will not expect to see any particular marking format.
Schools should look at their own marking policy and evaluate the impact and
effectiveness for both teachers and pupils.
Action for Schools and Teachers
Schools are not under any obligation to produce detailed
marking policies and teachers should therefore not feel
pressured to mark in overly complicated detail.

10. • Are you marking in too much detail or not enough?
• There is no specific amount of detail required for marking and
Ofsted recognises there is little evidence to suggest that detailed
marking has any significant impact on pupils’ learning.
• How frequently should you mark pupils’ work?
• There is no specified frequency in which marking need to be carried
out.
• Should you use different colour pens or highlighters for effective marking?
• Ofsted has no expectation that marking is done in any particular
colour or any number of different colours.
Conclusions and myth-busting
about marking

11. • Do you need to use stamps for feedback (e.g. verbal feedback given)?
• Ofsted does not expect to see any written record of oral feedback
provided to pupils by teachers.
• Is there a particular style or format of marking expected by Ofsted?
• No particular style, type, volume or frequency is specified by Ofsted.
All of the above are to be determined by the school’s own marking policy.
Conclusions and myth-busting
about marking

12. Summary of Documents
New ‘School Inspection Update’ from Sean Harford (HMI National Director,
Education); (November 2016, Issue 8)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil
e/572048/School_inspection_update_November_2016.pdf
Government response to the Workload Challenge (February 2015):
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil
e/415874/Government_Response_to_the_Workload_Challenge.pdf
Ofsted Inspections – Clarification for Schools
(This is an additional document provided to accompany the School
Inspection Handbook, first published June 2015)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil
e/463242/Ofsted_inspections_clarification_for_schools.pdf