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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To expect teachers to mark homework in a timely fashion?

48 replies

Snog · 15/05/2014 18:26

AIBU to expect that secondary school teachers should mark essays within a 2 weeks timeframe? What is the teacher point of view on this one?

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · 15/05/2014 18:30

Yes, usually that's a department policy. In my dh's school it's the next lesson.

Not when mocks marking has to be done though as it's much more important to get it back to them. And definitely not when there's controlled assessments that have to return or go to examining body. The only other time it might not happen is if the work is put forward for moderation - as it's sent away and it takes ages for the kids to get it back.

CortanaFights · 15/05/2014 18:31

Good luck, dude.

To expect teachers to mark homework in a timely fashion?
Yoruba · 15/05/2014 18:33

In my college department policy is to return work within in week if it is handed in on time. If it was handed in by the deadline set and there no exceptional circumstances then no YANBU.

BoneyBackJefferson · 15/05/2014 18:33

Easier said than done.

fairylightsintheloft · 15/05/2014 18:33

ordinarily yes, but just occasionally a Y8 essay may come in just as some other year group had coursework or internal exams or 4 year groups have reports due. I would rarely have work for that long but if its a one off I wouldnt be kicking up a fuss. If its regular, then more of an issue.

nobodysbabynow · 15/05/2014 18:33

That's the policy where I work, and the turnaround is almost always much quicker.

FourEyesGood · 15/05/2014 18:33

It depends, to be honest. If it's a Year 11 exam practice essay, then YANBU. But right now, other classes take a back seat. I've just taken two weeks to mark a set of Year 7 assessments because I'm doing so much stuff for my (four) Year 11 groups. Key stage 3 classes will get much more of my attention when the Year 11s have finished.

LeBearPolar · 15/05/2014 18:34

Definitely anything that has been done for formative assessment. If I am snowed under with other marking, sometimes I have not marked coursework for summative assessment within that time frame - but then I have already looked at the first draft of that and provided formative feedback anyway.

stillenacht1 · 15/05/2014 18:36

We have to mark every six lessons. I teach 11 different classes a week. It equates to about 7 hours marking a week. I do always prioritise exam classes (Key Stage 4 and 5).

Original poster
Snog · 15/05/2014 19:01

It's a Y9 English essay for assessment that hasnt been marked over 3 weeks later. Is this poor or are my expectations unreasonable?

OP posts:
Dragonlette · 15/05/2014 19:05

I would say that's not good, but then again dd1 (also year 9) did her summer exams just before Easter and she only had some of those results today, that's 5 weeks to mark those exams.

I teach maths and our department policy is to mark exercise books every 2 weeks as a minimum, but most of us mark all our classes books every week with 2 weeks as an occassional blip when we are snowed under with other things.

WooWooOwl · 15/05/2014 19:08

YANBU.

It's not just secondary teachers, primary teachers should do it too.

I'm a big supporter of teachers and am usually one if the posters sticking up for teachers ferociously when they get a bashing on here, but late marking of homework (or not marking it at all as sometimes happened at my dcs primary) is something I think is really out of order.

It's demoralising for students and leads to them losing respect for their teachers if it happens a lot. Which is exactly what a good teacher should pull out all the stops to avoid.

MsTwankeyToYou · 15/05/2014 19:10

At this time of year, I think your expectations are a bit high. The teachers are probably having to allocate a lot more time than usual to Y10 and Y11 classes in order to get them ready for their exams. It's a give-and-take situation - your DD will benefit from more and better feedback in her exam year(s), while the lower year students are wondered where the heck their essays have got to... Wink

Roseformeplease · 15/05/2014 19:10

If it is for external assessment, could it be that it has been marked and is being moderated / cross marked, therefore taking longer?

But, my policy is usually 2-3 days at most, next lesson at best.

littlesupersparks · 15/05/2014 19:16

YANBU and feel free to get in touch with the teacher. However, bear in mind they had probably been prioritising exam classes and your child will be in that position in two years time desperate to get their practise exams marked.

It may be that the essay was a reading assessment and this term's assessment is a writing assessment - in which case the target won't have a huge bearing on this term's grade.

Next term exam classes will be gone and then I would expect assessments marked in a week.

Curioushorse · 15/05/2014 19:18

Is it now? Because the teacher may have lots of exam classes. They'll be prioritising. Workload, particularly for English teachers is horrific at the moment.

  1. Year 12, 13 and 11 have probably just gone off on exam leave. They'll still be handing in work and expecting it back immediately. First A-level English exam was this week and first English GCSE next week.
  2. Coursework deadline and moderation was last week. That will have been a horrendous time. Several hours each night.
  3. The A-levek sample is usually called this week and GCSE next week. The admin takes hours. Up to an hour per child, from memory.
Aciderwouldbenice · 15/05/2014 19:28

I agree with some of the above posters, if this has been normal all year then yes there may be a problem. However if just this this essay then I would expect the teacher is just so bogged down, English marking is terrible at this time of year (and I say that as a teacher who is normally a very fast marker), especially if teacher has years 12 and 13 as well as year 11.
I must admit I am marking so many essays that when a yr13 student asked me when I had set that particular question I had no idea! It is just a conveyor belt of essays! Attention goes back to being equal to the younger years after half term.
I know it is annoying but hold on a week and hopefully the essay will be back.

AElfgifu · 15/05/2014 19:35

It depends on the situation. At this time of year it is not unusual to be marking Btec work right through the night several nights a week, so work from lower down the school would get left.

Whathaveiforgottentoday · 15/05/2014 19:44

I would say normally YANBU but as others have said, the GCSE and A level coursework went off last week so they may have been prioritising that. I usually apologise to the class if I'm late with their h/w for this reason and point out that when in year 11 they will benefit from their turn to be the priority class.
If its still not marked by the return after half term, It would definitely be unreasonable.

ravenAK · 15/05/2014 19:45

Two weeks is our school policy (I'm a secondary English teacher).

It becomes well nigh impossible to keep up with KS3 in the run up to mocks or GCSEs, though.

Oh & Controlled Assessments are marked, passed to HOD, then she chooses 10 from the group for moderation, which are passed to teacher of parallel group & re-marked, then we have a meeting to discuss any anomalies the process has thrown up & get a third opinion if our differences are outside tolerance, then passed back to original teacher to adjust the marks for the non-moderated pieces, then feedback sheets typed up for students...all that takes a minimum of 3 weeks assuming nothing else urgent delays it!

So anyway - I'd regard a 3 week turn around on year 9 essays as less than ideal, but understandable at this time of year.

ravenAK · 15/05/2014 19:47

Oh & I've got 12 GCSE Controlled Assessment folders to process for the external invigilator this week - about an hour each - so nothing else is getting done until the weekend.

lecce · 15/05/2014 19:49

As others have said, English teachers (and others, but marking, for English in particular, is horrific) will be prioritising exam marking at this time of year. If the feedback the student is waiting for is not relevant to the topic they are now studying, then I don't think it is a huge issue. With KS3, I prioritise book-marking in the lead-up to the assessment, as that allows me to ensure that students are ready for the assessment in the first place. In our department, it is always the case that the next assessment has a completely different focus, so I'm afraid that pupils often wait a good 3-4 weeks for their work back.

As for the added complication that the task was set for homework, I can see why students would feel disgruntled about not having marked. Personally, I only set homework at KS3 because I have to, partly for this reason. How much of the essay was done at home - was it just finished there?

soverylucky · 15/05/2014 19:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Springheeled · 15/05/2014 19:52

As others have said, at any other time of year, yes yanbu but in end of April/ early May then coursework samples, GCSE and A levels are top priority. Many schools have end of key stage exams too and I've marked these for year 9 before I marked their most recent homework.

stillenacht1 · 15/05/2014 19:53

Yup GCSE and A level coursework went off last week (actually GCSE was yesterday for us). My yr 9s handed in hwk 3 weeks ago which is as yet unmarked ( job for this weekend) but I have just spent 3 hours marking their end of year exams.