School abolishes marking pupils’ work in favour of a 15-minute chat
going to spend more time with the children which is the most important thing rather than sitting marking books.” Students have claimed conferencing is less confusing. One Year Five pupil said: “When we had marking, you didn’t really have to do as much, whereas conferencing you can really express yourself.” Teacher Nick Coles said the move had been a “real benefit” to both pupils and staff. “It was a very positive change personally for me,” he said.
“Children were much more open and honest and much more ready to think in quite a critical way about their own work.
“When we changed from marking to conferencing, workload reduced dramatically. We were no longer taking those books home that we were previously. We were spending more time with the children.”
However, Priya Dutta, a spokeswoman for the Campaign For Real Education, warned that “marking is crucial to the development of young children”.
She said: “I’m up in arms about this. I totally understand that the weight of marking is one of the reasons most teachers leave the profession and we need to do something about it – but this clearly isn’t the solution, especially at primary level.”
Ms Dutta, a formed deputy head teacher of a primary school in London, added: “Children respond positively to written feedback.
“Marking is onerous – it take hours – but it’s a necessary part of ensuring we get feedback to the children. Having that record of their improvement is really important.”
Child psychologist Emma Kenny said that while the word “conference” might be “a little bit scary” for children, abolishing marking is a step forward for educators.
She said: “I am really against the education system because one of the biggest problems currently is how we still use teachings from the Victorian times.
“When you remove that and you move it more about children, they are able to learn more – they will feel a little bit more equipped.
“The marking system we have right now is quite damaging – children are divergent thinkers and that is not how the education system works.”