Student Feedback Policy Bi-annual Policy Student Feedback Policy Bi-annual Policy Person Responsible: Mrs A Neville Reviewed by SLT: November 2016 Approved at Student & Standards: 29 November 2016 Ratified by Full Governing Body: 8 March 2017
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BACKGROUND Over the past few years, as a school we have spent significant time exploring aspects of effective marking. This has included best practice sessions, work scrutiny, staff consultation, nationally recognised strategies and, most importantly, feedback from our students. Following the release of the DfE Workload Report (March 2016), all staff were given the opportunity to join the Teaching and Learning Consultation Group to review key practices and procedures that largely stemmed from the process of providing our students with regular and appropriate marking and feedback. Following their cycle of meetings, several recommendations with specific reference to the Feedback and Marking Policy March 2014 were made. These included: Review of the expected regularity of teacher marking. Re-evaluation of the use of and credibility of peer and self-assessment. Consideration given to teaching students how to effectively mark and self-assess work. Review of the quality assurance principles surrounding feedback and marking. Increased recognition of those strategies that clearly illicit student progress and significant gains in learning. Work also focussed upon what varying key stakeholders were looking for in an appropriate feedback and marking policy. Students Parents Teachers National Accountability Expectations Meaningful Transparent Manageable Enables progress for all learners Diagnostic Frequency Not every piece Frequency Enables progress Marking and Feedback Policy Linked to formal assessment Sept 2016 Enables progress Date of review: TBC Enable progress 3
OFSTED REPORT MARCH 2015 STATEMENT It is important to note that we DO NOT MARK student work simply to placate OFSTED. We provide written feedback to our students to enhance their learning and ensure they make progress. It is, however, important that we acknowledge OFSTED s references to this aspect of student development, and the key role it should play in student progress. OFSTED MARCH 2015: THIS IS A SCHOOL THAT REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT. IT IS NOT GOOD BECAUSE Teachers marking does not consistently help students to improve their work. WHAT DOES THE SCHOOL NEED TO DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER? Improve teaching, accelerate students progress and improve their attitudes to learning by showing students through marking exactly what to do to make further progress, and checking that they respond to guidance provided THE QUALITY OF TEACHING REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT. The quality of teaching is improving, but has not been consistently good enough to help students make good progress. Their work over time reflects this. Recently, there has been a rapidly improving picture of teaching throughout the school, especially in English and mathematics. However, some weaknesses remain. Students work is sometimes too hard or too easy, which slows progress and can result in students becoming restless, and marking is not always sufficiently helpful in telling students the next steps to take. Teachers do not always make sure students respond to the guidance that is provided. TUPTON HALL SCHOOL SEPTEMBER 2016 It is essential we acknowledge how far our feedback and marking systems have developed since this time, the role that has been played by the consultation group and the enormous amount of work that has been undertaken by all staff to improve this aspect of whole school improvement. With this in mind this policy will now be referred to as the Student Feedback Policy 4
WHAT STUDENTS LIKE TO SEE IN WRITTEN FEEDBACK Following consultation it was generally agreed that students like the following, with respect to written feedback from their teacher: to see that their work is carefully considered to know that their effort is acknowledged to know clearly what they do well, where they go wrong, and, specifically, how they can improve detailed comments but not too much writing honest comments stickers and stamps time to read what a teacher has written and to ask questions progress so far based upon clear success criteria seeing examples of good work from other students. Similarly, they did not like: a bunch of ticks lots of red pen that can t be read completing a lot of work which the teacher does not see useless comments like good not really understanding why they got the level they got being rushed or not having any time to talk about their work with their teacher. Central to this process, is a planned approach to feedback which incorporates and recognises a wide range of strategies including: Written comments focused upon the principles of WWW and EBI Student self-assessment against a set of shared criteria Peer assessment against a set of shared criteria Online software that provides immediate feedback General checks that work is done / complete this is appropriate where work consists of class notes or relatively routine tasks. It should include checks on basic organisation, especially where pupils are using folders. Observation of practical skills. Formal assessment of oral work. In order to ensure such practices take place, it is essential for teachers to plan for such opportunities in their short, medium and long term plans. Similarly, for feedback to play a key role in learning and progression, opportunities must be made available for students to engage in meaningful reflection, corrections and modification of work originally produced. In most cases this will include the use of green pens to highlight changes. 5
AIM OF EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK Marking should show that that we value work and encourage children to do the same. Feedback should be linked to a clear lesson outcomes, which takes into account prior learning. There should be shared success criteria, which will be used to assess against the learning objective. Comments will focus on only one or two areas for improvement at one time. Feedback should be a positive experience with a clear indication of achievements made by the child. Feedback should boost self-esteem and aspirations. Feedback should involve the students. Errors that are made by many children should be addressed in planning. Teachers should aim to promote children s self-assessment by linking marking and feedback into a wider process of engaging the child in his or her learning. The child must be able to read and respond to the comments made, and be given time to do so. Where the child is not able to read the comments, oral feedback should be given. Feedback should provide on-going assessment that should inform future planning. The principles of effective feedback should be shared with students. Visual aids promoting the Marking Code should be visible in all classrooms and student planners. 6
FREQUENCY & NATURE OF TEACHER WRITTEN FEEDBACK Pupils should receive regular written and verbal feedback from their teacher about their work and progress. This should normally be every two weeks, or every 5 lessons depending upon the regularity of lessons within the timetable, however the frequency of which will ultimately be determined by the Head of Faculty. Pupils should receive written and/or verbal feedback that allows them to make progress. This should be evident in key assessments appropriate to Key stage and subject. There is an expectation that, between identifiable teacher feedback comments, work is periodically punctuated with self and peer assessed work. This therefore enables the student to make ongoing progress against a set of shared criteria. Work must be returned promptly to pupils, ideally during the next lesson, but the Head of Faculty is best placed to share clear expectations with their colleagues surrounding turnaround for feedback. A school wide Marking Code has been developed to assist the process of marking and provision of meaningful feedback to our students. This has been shared with staff, students and parents for at least 2- years. It will also be displayed visually in and around the school and incorporated into all student exercise books. The role of the marking code is to not only improve the quality and standardisation of marking and literacy across the school, but to direct students to key areas of improvement. For this reason it is essential that, wherever possible, the code is adhered to and used consistently. Sp /\ //? WWW EBI PR ATL You have made a spelling mistake. Can you improve, using the correct spelling? You have some text missing. Can you check what you have written and add the words needed for it to make sense? You needed to start a new paragraph here. Can you make sure that when you change to a new topic, you begin a new paragraph? You have made a punctuation / capital letter mistake Can you check the punctuation / capital letters you have used? This does not make sense. Can you review your work and check it all makes sense? What worked well...an opportunity for your teacher to identify areas of your work that showed a real understanding of the subject area. Even better if...an opportunity for your teacher to give you a specific target to improve upon in your next piece of work. Your work is not presented as neatly as it could be. Can you write in black/blue pen, put the full date and a title at the top of your work and use a ruler for straight lines? Your attitude to learning for this piece of marked work. 7
Not all work produced by a pupil needs to be marked in the same way. A number of strategies can be adopted, and make best use of the school marking code: Formal marking by the teacher with helpful comments and grades Self-marking pupils mark own work with mark scheme/guidance provided by the teacher. Peer review pupils mark the work of another pupil in the class using mark scheme provided. General checks that work is done / complete this is appropriate where work consists of class notes or relatively routine tasks. It should include checks on basic organisation, especially where pupils are using folders. Observation of practical skills. Formal assessment of oral work. Where methods other than formal marking are used, the teacher still has the responsibility to ensure that pupils are doing the work and that it is properly marked. Where different strategies for marking are used (as listed above), it may be advisable to make pupils do this work in different parts of their exercise books so that the system is clear to pupils and parents e.g. formally assessed work at the front of their book, pupils notes at the back (for example). Practical and project-based subjects need to have regular assessment/checking, even if a whole project may extend over a lengthy period of time, to avoid problems being stored up and only coming to light at the point of final submission. For pupils following examination courses it is important that, wherever possible, marking is directly related to the exam marking criteria/mark schemes. Providing mark schemes for discussion and self/peer feedback is to be encouraged. Late or copied up work should be clearly labelled as such by the pupil or teacher, and recorded as late in the teachers mark book. Missing work must be chased and every attempt made to ensure that pupils complete all assignments. In the case of prolonged absence, teachers will use their judgement about what may be copied or photocopied rather than done as original work. To support the feedback process, all staff have been issued with two green ink stamps. These should help somewhat in reducing the time taken to provide feedback to each student in line with school expectations. Whilst staff do not necessarily have to use the stamps for the purpose of feedback, they are expected to use the terminology of the stamps (WWW / EBI / Progress / ATL). 8
EXPECTED STANDARDS There are whole school expectations that include our Strive for 5 approach and work focussed upon the bespoke exercise books. This is shared around the school on classroom walls, on PC screens and more recently on all exercise book covers. This area of work is periodically supported through a whole school focus including assemblies, staff CPD and student work scrutinies. The following guidance should help to ensure that staff are all working to a common purpose: Pupils should be encouraged to take a pride in the presentation of their work. Pupils are expected to complete and submit their work on or before the required deadline. Each piece of written work must carry the date, a title (underlined) and a reference (e.g. textbook exercise number) if relevant. Formal work should be in blue or black ink. Exercise books and notes must not contain scribbles and doodles. Files containing notes should be well organised and clearly divided into sections. It is good practice for them to include a contents page. Formal essay-style answers should be written in an appropriate way. No slang expressions should be used and words such as therefore must not be replaced by their mathematical symbols or by expressions used in texting. Essay and descriptive work should not consist of whole chunks copied directly from text books or the internet but should, as far as possible, be the pupils own sentences. All quotations should be clearly acknowledged. 9
EXAM FEEDBACK AND GRADING For GCSE and AS/A Level pupils, exams should be marked and graded according to the relevant marking criteria/mark schemes as published by the examination boards. Departments should utilise published mark schemes and examiners reports in their feedback to pupils so that they are fully aware of what examiners are looking for. Heads of Faculty have particular responsibility for organising the marking, internal moderation and timely submission of marks and scripts for GCSE and AS/A Level coursework. All examination board regulations must be carefully complied with. Any problems must be reported to the Examinations Officer as soon as possible. It is good practice to hold exemplars of exam and coursework for colleagues to consult to ensure standards are consistent. Heads of Faculty and other colleagues are strongly encouraged to attend the post exam INSET provided by the boards and to cascade information and advice to others in the department. DIAGNOSTIC FEEDBACK IN A WORLD WITHOUT LEVELS As always, teacher feedback should include considered comments and not just ticks. Written comments are often needed, even when verbal feedback is given as work is returned although use can also be made of printed feedback sheets / sticky labels. Staff are encouraged to help progression by using written comments. Evidence suggests that this has the strongest impact on pupil learning and progression and supports the underlying principles of a life without levels. Pupils should be encouraged to write their own criticisms/corrections/notes on their work to record verbal feedback from the teacher. It is a good idea if they do this in a different colour (green pen) and they should be encouraged to see this as part of an important stage of any piece of work, self-reflection and evaluation. Written comments need to be encouraging, not merely congratulatory. It is particularly important that comments tell pupils how to improve their work. Where appropriate staff should use the EBI method. (Even better if ), differentiated to the needs and ability of the student. Errors should be corrected or highlighted. There may well be a case for not identifying every error, for example if this might discourage a pupil. However, important and significant errors should not be left uncorrected. Sharing examples of pupils work for positive criticism should be encouraged. 10
STRATEGY FOR SPELLING AND GRAMMAR As spelling and grammar are whole school issues, it is important that all subject teachers: Teach subject-specific spellings. Correct poor expression or faulty grammar especially where it causes any significant hindrance to clear communication of content, ideas or explanation. Follow up such teaching and correction as a matter of routine. ACADEMIC WORD LIST Inclusion of the academic word list and those specific to English, Maths and Science in the bespoke exercise book covers may go some way in helping students develop a wider vocabulary. Teachers are encouraged to develop learning activities that may require active use of this resource. Similarly, teachers are also encouraged to develop other learning activities that require active use of varying literacy skills. Some suggestions: Set aside some homework time for the learning of correct spelling of key words and subject specific terminology. Such learning should be tested formally in class. Students will be able to gain Literacy Award vivos, if they take the time to correct the errors highlighted by their teachers using the marking code. Where a student s spelling is frequently and/or seriously inaccurate, it is far more helpful to isolate a few of the most useful, frequently used words for correction than to cause demoralising confusion by drawing attention to all errors. It is far more helpful to write out words for consideration at the bottom of a piece of work than it is just to indicate where errors have happened. However, the student should then be asked to write out the corrected spelling in a dedicated section of his/her exercise books. To help students to understand the symbols, teachers are asked to use the marking code marginal notation for the indication of significant errors in written English. However, such notation should never dominate the marking and assessment of subject-specific written work. If there are multiple errors, then pick out a few particular mistakes for the student s attention, and comment on the general inaccuracy as part of the overall, summative verdict and advice. 11
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