Give feedback and avoid marking in primary schools

Example

School details

School name: Godmanchester Community Academy

Location: Cambridgeshire

Phase: Primary

Number of pupils: 400

Contact details: Email Headteacher Tess Fielden at TFielden@orchardlearningtrust.co.uk

Impact and outcomes

Different types of feedback help motivate pupils to progress and avoid burdensome marking practices.

Background from Tess Fielden, Headteacher

The sole focus of feedback is to further a child’s learning. Feedback must empower a child to take responsibility for improving their own work. Adults should not take this responsibility away from the child by doing the hard work for them (for example, making corrections to spellings, punctuation, or grammar). If we give any written feedback, this is to help the pupil - not to satisfy external inspection.

Types of feedback

Immediate feedback

Immediate feedback:

takes place during a lesson with individuals, groups or a whole class
includes formative assessment from the teacher or teaching assistant, for example using the whiteboard, book work or verbal answers
is often given verbally to pupils for immediate action and may redirect the focus of teaching or the task
praises effort and contributions

To demonstrate how immediate feedback is helping pupils to progress, you can use evidence such as:

lesson observations
learning walks

Responsive (catch-up) feedback

Responsive feedback:

takes place after the lesson or activity with individuals or groups
addresses knowledge from the lesson or activity or missing prior knowledge
is often given verbally with time to rehearse knowledge
is usually delivered by a teaching assistant based on guidance from the teacher

An element of the child’s responses to feedback is recorded in their workbooks to show progress over time.

To demonstrate how responsive feedback is helping pupils to progress, you can use evidence such as:

catch-up observations
learning walks
feedback grids
book looks

Summary (feed-forward) feedback

Summary feedback:

involves reading or looking at the work of all pupils at the end of a lesson or unit
identifies and addresses strengths or misconceptions of the class or group
takes place during the following lesson
allocates time for editing based on feedback or knowledge rehearsal
may involve peer support or support from a teaching assistant
may be delivered by the teacher or a teaching assistant

To demonstrate how responsive feedback is helping pupils to progress, you can use evidence such as: