Marking school work

[Floatyboat]

So apparently the teaching unions think marking should not take place due to "health and safety". Surely this is straying into the territory of unhelpful disruption rather than constructive engagement with the government's wish to help kids.

There are so many work arounds to do it safely. Wait 48hrs to mark, wear gloves, wash hands etc

Given they are arguing this I can't help but think the unions are simply being unreasonable and not actually taking a balanced view.

Floatyboat-the link is below.
But nowhere have I seen anyone write on this thread, ‘to not mark based on guidance’. Everyone has mentioned not marking books and has mentioned other resources such as toys etc.
It really worries me that you misinterpret so badly, what is plain English. It shows you have a specific agenda, clear as day though.

Reduce the use of shared resources:

by limiting the amount of shared resources that are taken home and limit exchange of take-home resources between children, young people and staff

by seeking to prevent the sharing of stationery and other equipment where possible

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

@DBML are you primary or secondary. I’m surprised how few students had submitted work

@ChloeDecker

Sorry, scanning that, I honestly can't see how that government advice says things cant be marked.

Teachers marking books is a bunch of useless OFSTED appeasing nonsense in a lot of subjects.

In maths, I will set the work. I will walk round checking it as it is being done, writing comments and assisting work there and then. I will give answers. I will go through incorrect answers and question students to make sure they know how to do corrections. They will do corrections or extension work. This too will be marked and errors explained and corrected. I will make them write a self assessment of what they can do and what they need to improve on. So far, so good and useful.

Aaaaand then, I will take the books home and write all that on them all over again, just so OFSTED know I actually did it. And no child ever reads anything I write, because we already worked through it in class. And it will be a total waste of my time.

Books are stationery. hth.

We've not had anything marked, or any feedback at all since March 20th. I had actually completely forgotten about marking as a concept until this post!

@sunshineanddaffodils

Secondary. We have about 30% engagement, but not all is subject based. Some pupils just engage in the fun activities and leave the actual work. So it’s probably lower than 30%.

As you can see, I’m uploading loads of work and assignments. each one supported by a video and PowerPoint.

I’m also calling all the learners who aren’t engaging.

I believe this is fairly standard for secondary.

Sorry, scanning that, I honestly can't see how that government advice says things cant be marked.

Yes, as Piggy reminded you, exercise books are stationery and also equipment. Did you use the vague word ‘things’ on purpose?
Electronic documents can be ‘marked’ and verbal feedback can still be given. Just like everyone has said since the beginning of this thread.

My feedback to you would be to slowly read back through your own thread.

Learners will still get feedback. We’re doing feedback now, we will continue to give feedback via numerous safe means.
No marking doesn’t mean no feedback.

If you want to mark your kids book so they have a green tick on the page, google the answers and knock yourself out. Oh but the GOVERNMENT GUIDELINES say you shouldn’t take books home.

So if you can’t take it home and I’m spending break and lunch supervising my bubble of kids, then after school cleaning, when do we furnish the books with their precious ticks? Because I can’t take books home either.

And if I could take them home and waited 48 hours to touch them, then another 48 hours to return them then each bubble will end up with only one piece of work with a lovely green tick per week. I will have progressed on to the next stage of learning, so the ticks will not be relevant anymore.

Ahh but teachers and their Unions are just lazy pieces of shit. Fuck them, fuck the risk to their health, fuck the risk to their families.

@floatyboat

You're not understanding what people are saying. You are interpreting the union position in a very obtuse way. I think you are conflating marking (writing stuff in kids' books) and feedback (giving comments that recognise achievement and move learning on)

My academy trust have included on their risk assessment that books are not to be marked and are kept on the child's desk with their stationary. Or we can write on paper. They don't mind.

We are not allowed to mark the books. I am happy about this. So we are not marking.

I will, clearly, be giving feedback on all of the work that the children do. The children might self mark based on a checklist or an answer sheet; or I might ask them to read their writing out loud and then comment on it. If I don't give feedback, the learning will be severely limited.

I sympathise with you. Teachers are obviously working their socks off to try to make this happen despite believing it to be unsafe.

You only have to use a tiny bit of logic to realise smaller classes, extra cleaning of classrooms, bathrooms and eating areas, dealing with very young kids adapting to new settings and offering support in these new ways, setting work for the children/year groups at home, Cleaning toys, adapting the curriculum to suit guidelines... all that equals a lot more time and effort.

Are we really going to have a go at them for not marking books under government guidelines.

I mean they’ll obviously be giving feedback but in a new way.

I think not marking is probably totally reasonable. I just don't get why the union needs to make blanket statements on the issue. Why not just let schools and teachers decide what's best.

Floaty seems to continue missing the point that unions concern themselves with the health and safety of their members at work.

How schools design their feedback and marking during non pandemic times is a pedagogical decicion.

Gaining consensus regarding risks to staff during a pandemic is a health as safety decision.

But it's so sweeping. Why not just say, "only mark if you think it would be useful and low risk". Ruling it out entirely just seems over the top. It makes them seem like fire brands and people might automatically ignore there more grounded concerns.

Of course it would be useful. It won't be low risk though.
Why not just throw out any health and safety guidelines or risk assessments and just let each individual make up their own minds? Or can you see flaws with that system?

@mist

There is lots of evidence marking is not useful a lot of the time (I am told)

Seriously? Out of my post that is what you pick? You are just clutching at straws aren't you

Really what it comes down to is the OP doesn't like unions standing up for health and safety in the workplace.
We all know if it was a free for all then people could end up being pressured into risking their own health, and then we'd have yet another reason for more 'why doesn't my child's school do X when another school does?' threads.

Some people really have an issue with workers standing collectively. It causes real issues for the divide and rule approach to politics, just now instead of dividing and ruling with individual schools the right wing press can get a hard on whipping up 'meanie unions' stories.

Think how many times on mumsnet someone posts about a workplace dilemma and a few arseholes turn up and say 'roll over and get over it because other people get their pay docked for sneezing'. It's a rush to the bottom that only a small section of society benefit from.

Floaty what does marking mean to you?

Checking work to see how the kids are doing and giving feedback. Either to assess them or help them develop. Or both.

That can be done and is done without any need for books or actually putting pen on paper.

What you keep linking to says "marking BOOKS". A lot of schools won't even be using books. That does not mean that no feedback will be given at all. The work won't all be binned at the end of the day with no one looking at it and no further guidance or feedback given.

Has anyone on this thread ever seen a Yr 10 boy’s book?

If they had they’d know that they are a bio hazard at the best of times.

All my students have iPads. They can e-mail it to me.

@PrincessConsueIaBananaHammock
@bellesausage

That sounds great. Just no idea why the union can't be so open minded about what's possible!

Our secondary school never marks anything anyway. I thought that was normal.