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TRANSCRIPT
Tiggy Tooze - The Perse School Action Research Award 2015
The Purple Pen: How can marking and feedback in Year 7 English be made interactive and more
effective for students?
1. Definition of Terms
2. Introduction
3. A Critical Review of the Literature
4. Methodology
5. Findings and Data Analysis
4.1 Statistics and Questionnaire Feedback
4.2 Limitations to Research
6. Proposals for Future Practice
7. Conclusions and Reflection
8. Bibliography
9. Appendix
8.1 Examples of Y7 Students’ work
8.2 Student Survey Responses
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Tiggy Tooze - The Perse School Action Research Award 2015
1. Definition of terms
It is important, first of all, to discuss the way in which the terms ‘marking’, ‘feedback’ and
‘assessment’ will be used throughout this research essay. These terms will be used
synonymously to denote any process which involves reading, judging and commenting on a
piece of student work. The marking described in this essay is exclusively formative. In other
words, it does not provide a summative grade but rather explains to the student what they
need to do to make progress in English.
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2. Introduction
In October 2014, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s suggestion to introduce ‘The
Workload Challenge’ fell on deaf ears. Instead of providing solutions and a platform for
teachers to highlight the bureaucracy in many schools as intended, a range of national
newspapers and educational institutions instead began to criticise and analyse the reason why
‘full-time teachers in English secondary schools worked 48 hours a week...with just 20 hours a
week in the classroom.’ The subsequent Workload Challenge Report asked teachers to 1 2
provide their feedback on what they perceived to be ‘unnecessary and unproductive’ tasks.
Importantly, 53% of the teachers asked placed marking and feedback in this category. This is
not because these are unnecessary tasks (they are clearly essential to the successful running of
a school), however ‘the volume was such that [teachers] were unable to complete them even
when working much longer than their contracted hours.’ Within this 53%, respondents insisted 3
that the amount of marking and feedback in schools was ‘burdensome for the majority.’ 4
This report was likely not a surprise to many classroom teachers in the UK. Regardless of
subject or age group, every teacher is expected to make marking and feedback a priority,
despite time pressures. There is a whole Teaching Standard dedicated to monitoring this as,
alongside other marking-based requirements, teachers must ‘give pupils regular feedback, both
orally and through accurate marking, and encourage pupils to respond to the feedback’ . 5
Improving practice and methods in this area are therefore of ongoing interest to all schools and
teachers. What is certain is that, in reality, marking and feedback (certainly for an English
teacher) is never going to take significantly less time.
Whilst some subjects make use of marking grids or codes (a ‘P’ code might indicate a
lack or mistake in punctuation, for example), English is always going to require analysis and
1 OECD TALIS Report 2014, Section 5 2 DFE, 'Workload Challenge: Analysis Of Teacher Consultation Research', 2015 3 Ibid, p.5 4 Ibid, p.6 5 Department for Education, 'Teaching Standards', 2015, p.12
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explanation; students need comments on their work, and explanations of how to improve both
the style and content of their responses.
With this in mind, when I considered my own practice, what interested me is that the
Teaching Standards require ‘pupils to respond to the feedback’. How can you ensure that your
students are reading every comment and making a note of mistakes or advice? If we are
spending so long on marking students’ work, surely we must want to see that our time has
been used productively?
I wanted to focus my investigation on Key Stage 3 English (year 7 in particular) because
of the type of marking and feedback needed with this age group. A majority of the marking here
is concerned with basic grammar or spellings, whereas in older year groups this is generally
(though not always!) less of an issue - for example, marking here is focused on broader ideas
such as structure, argument or critical perspectives. Also, as it is the first year at senior school,
this is an opportunity to develop marking and feedback right from the start; it should be
constructive and manageable for the new year 7 students, easing the transition to this higher
level of English. To look further at this transition, I visited the Perse Prep School English
Department to see how year 6 English teachers use marking and feedback. I discovered that
their feedback is very different, often it is much more uniform than at Key Stage 3. Teachers
across all classes use the same grids or checklists, regular spelling tests and target tracking
charts in each student’s English book, as opposed to the variety of marking techniques that are
employed by the teachers in the Upper English Department. Having become adjusted to this
very routine and structured approach, I started to understand that the variety type of marking
the students receive at Key Stage 3 could be difficult for some students to adjust to. Marking
and feedback should help students to start correcting any grammar or spellings they find
difficult and also to build confidence in their writing skills.
Seemingly, not all year 7 students will make a note of improvements and corrections
unless prompted. Alongside this, it is difficult to make time within lessons to allow a discussion
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of marking and feedback with individuals. Marking ‘feels depersonalised because it happens
away from the classroom, making it difficult to maintain meaningful dialogue with students’ . 6
This idea of ‘dialogue’ is something that particularly interested me, particularly as the Teaching
Standards also state that students should ‘respond to the feedback’. Therefore, my challenge
and main aim of this action research was to discover a way of making my marking engaging, to
experiment with the idea of ‘dialogue’, ensure my year 7 students felt their opinion was heard
and, finally, be confident that they had read my marking. I decided to introduce a gimmick into
my year 7 English Classroom: a purple pen.
The Perse Upper is an academically selective, coeducational independent school in
Cambridge with approximately 1,100 pupils across years 7-13. For this study of marking and
feedback, I have researched and developed my ideas and challenges with regards to this topic
through action research, which was carried out with consideration of ethical concerns and
approval from the school.
6 Tharby, Andrew, 'How To Make Marking More Efficient: Three New Techniques For Teachers', The Guardian
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2. A Critical Review of the Literature
Currently in the UK, assessment is typically viewed not only as a means of measuring
student progress but also as a powerful tool for promoting student learning. It is also worth
considering that one aspect which informs OFSTED inspectors’ evaluation of ‘the quality of
teaching in the school’ is ‘the extent to which marking and constructive feedback from teachers
contributes to pupils’ learning’ . An even stronger statement of the importance attributed to 7
assessment in England today is provided in ‘2020 Vision: A report of the teaching and learning
in 2020 review group’ . This document provides an overview of what ‘personalised teaching 8
and learning might look like in our schools in 2020’ . Crucially, the authors of this document 9
view personalised learning as both ‘learner-centred and knowledge-centred’ - the students 10
must be the instigators of their own progress.
While it is not explicit from ‘The Framework for School Inspection (OFSTED, 2014) that
there is a specific, expected rubric for implementing this marking and feedback, ‘2020 Vision’
(DFES, 2006) refers explicitly to ‘Assessment for Learning’ as the recommended process for
formative assessment. Assessment for Learning (referred to hereafter as AFL) is a term which
was coined by the Assessment Reform Group, a group of academics from across the UK who
worked on policy issues in relation to assessment between 1989 and 2010. A key moment in
the history of assessment was the publication of the pamphlet, Inside the Black Box (Black and
Wiliam, 1998b) which was based on an extensive review of assessment literature carried out by
these same authors (Black and Wiliam, 1998a). Inside the Black Box provided empirical
evidence which ‘proved beyond a shadow of a doubt’ that ‘when carried out effectively,
informal classroom assessment with constructive feedback to the student will raise levels of
attainment’ (Assessment Reform Group, 1999, p.1). Inside the Black Box heralded a sea change
7 OFSTED, 2014, p.18 8 Department for Education and Skills [DFES], 2006 9 Ibid, p.3 10Ibid, p.6
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in the manner in which assessment was viewed in the UK by researchers, policy-makers and
practitioners: rather than viewing assessment as purely a summative evaluation of what
students have learned, assessment came to be understood as a ‘tool’ (DFES, 2006, p.17) which
has the potential to enhance teaching and learning and ultimately, student outcomes.
A focus on marking and feedback can give pupils more academic success with minimal
cost to a school. The Education Endowment Foundation Report of 2013 focus on how schools 11
can “best to use their resources to improve the attainment of pupils” , investigating different 12
areas of teaching and learning based on both their outcome and their cost. According to this
significant research, if a school were to focus on marking and feedback, students could gain up
to 8 months progress. Interestingly, The Education Endowment Foundation commissioned
further research into feedback in May 2015, with results released early next year: this continues
to be an area for academic research, alongside being a concern for teachers at a classroom
level.
Given this wider concern with feedback, this classroom level analysis of feedback as an
educational tool should be at the forefront. With this nationwide research in mind, how can
pedagogy help a year 7 English class make use of feedback and access these 8 months of
academic progress? Anything too bold would be disruptive to the normal progress of the class
yet something must change to try and make this marking and feedback more worthwhile. One
concern is that a new marking policy would neglect the more personal nature of marking and
feedback, and there is a “need for English teachers to treat the fragile confidence of learners
with considerable care” - this is particularly important with year 7s who are new to senior 13
school. Students in year 7, as outlined in the introduction, are in danger of being concerned
about mistakes made in their English classes as they “become conscious that their own forms of
language do not match the language registers of formal education.” Therefore there is a need 14
11 The Sutton Trust, Teaching and Learning Toolkit, 2013 12 Ibid 13 Davison, Jon, and John Moss, Issues In English Teaching, p.110 14 Ibid.
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to be sensitive when giving feedback to these students, not to be overprotective necessarily,
but to make marking and feedback an undaunting, potentially enjoyable activity where they
feel that they can respond and take responsibility for their own improvement. Thinking more
holistically, marking and feedback might perhaps have the potential to “foster a child’s
confidence in the exploration of ideas and the manner of their presentation” , rather than be 15
viewed as a critique of their work.
With this outcome in mind, it is necessary to consider how a teacher’s marking can have
this effect - it must be achieved in the way in which students’ work is marked. Supported by the
data collected from my own class (see: Appendix), it is clear that “children value perceptive
comments, responses and questions on their writing” and not simply a ‘well done’ or a grade. 16
This idea of “questions” is something that I factored into my methodology, especially as the
Teaching Standards ask for students to ‘respond to feedback’; how can students respond if they
haven’t been asked anything? As outlined previously, the idea of dialogue in marking and
feedback “can play a vital part in promoting linguistic growth” ; it shouldn’t be the case that 17
students are given their marked books and that’s the end of that piece of feedback.
From an analysis of the relevant literature surrounding marking and feedback, a
consideration of the school environment and discussion with my department, I have
restructured the questions which I aim to investigate through action research.
1. Does the introduction of a more dialogical marking and feedback routine in my
class help to ensure student interaction?
2. Do the students prefer to have time in class to look over my feedback and make
corrections?
3. Can a purple pen be used as a small incentive for the students and therefore
encourage them to take a keen interest in their feedback?
15 Brindley, Susan, Masterclass In English Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning, p.177 16 Ibid 17 Brindley, Susan, Teaching English, p.102
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3. Methodology
I initially intended to conduct my research on Key Stage 3 classes. This was very quickly
modified to focus on Year 7 English because, as detailed in the Introduction, Year 7 provided a
more specific and manageable group to conduct action research within the time frame. When
marking students’ books, I included questions rather than comments where appropriate, which
enquired for more information on a topic, put hints where there were basic grammatical errors,
or asked students why they had made particular creative or presentation choices (see:
Appendix). In lessons, I gave students time at the beginning of a lesson every two weeks to
respond to my feedback and distributed the purple pens for them to do so.
I gave the students the freedom to respond to my feedback in whichever way they felt
comfortable and I suggested that, as a start, wherever they saw my comments, they must
acknowledge that they have at least been read. This routine was initiated from the very first
lesson with the class in September 2014 so that the students would become used to not only
the method of marking and feedback, but also the timing allowed in class to do so. I would then
also have sufficient time to measure the effects of this method.
After this period of trialling my more discursive marking and feedback with year 7, I surveyed all
the students in the class about their experience of marking and feedback in English this year
(See: Appendix for a breakdown of questions and responses) with a questionnaire which they
submitted anonymously. I also took some photos throughout the year to show instances of
where the ‘purple pen method’ has been successful, or has led to some interesting outcomes in
the students’ class books.
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4. Findings and Data Analysis
4.1 Statistics and Student Opinions
The surveys were written in such a way that they were able to provide me with both an
indicator of the students’ understanding of marking and feedback in English and also for them
to air their thoughts about the specific ‘purple pen method’. There was also a space for them to
inform me of their opinions or reactions to feedback they had received throughout the year in
lessons (I allowed them to use their class books to help them remember). After collating the 25
survey responses, I was able to gain an understanding of how the new system of marking and
feedback had been received. From September through to June, 88% of students believed that
between the ‘purple pen method’ was helpful to their learning and progress. Interestingly and
amusingly, some students had failed to realise the relevance of the pens being purple; as one
student remarked “I don’t know why purple?” - they had clearly forgotten the ‘Perse Purple’
branding around the school and this little link was lost on them!
Looking at the data collected, 88% of students stated that it was helpful to have time in
the lesson to go through their books in this way. They highlighted that “you can ask the teacher
right then about any corrections” and “I have more time” for reflecting on work. A couple of
students suggested that this wasn’t beneficial to them, mainly due to the timing of the ‘purple
pen method’ and not due to the nature of the work itself, which they did see as valuable. These
students then suggested that responding to marking and making corrections should be a
homework, or that there was a discrepancy in timing as some students inevitably had more
feedback to respond to. In lessons, there was always an activity to start after students had
completed their purple pen work, so this suggests that either they didn’t try this or that these
students are perhaps very quick at correcting and responding. As this number was so small in
comparison, I am not overly concerned at this response.
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Related to this, the next question I asked the students looked at how helpful having
time in the lessons is to ensure they looked back over any feedback. This was in response to the
questions I formulated after the review of literature, which suggested that marking and
feedback was a heavy factor in a teacher’s workload. I wanted to discover if the students felt
that a teacher’s marking was worthwhile and utilised for progress. For 53% of students, having
time in class and being in a routine of receiving feedback and reflecting was a new (or perceived
to be new) aspect of English lessons. Many students had recognised the importance of
reflecting on feedback but had perhaps not considered it as being a dialogue, and therefore
how it is necessary for them to acknowledge feedback and respond. Some students suggested
that unless they were asked to respond to feedback, it is not something they would do
voluntarily, which is hardly surprising. A few students also highlighted time pressures as being a
key reason why they did not have a focus on feedback in their previous lessons, which is
understandable from a teacher's’ perspective.
Then the important question: did the students find the purple pens were helpful in
responding to, and learning from feedback? 88% of students said that the purple pens were
helpful; a considerable majority of the class had recognised their potential to help students
respond to feedback and therefore reflect on progress. Interestingly, some students had picked
up on the more dialogical nature of this marking method; comments such as “it helps me to
have a discussion with the teacher” and “we have a say in what we are doing” suggest that the
students had valued being able to answer back (politely, of course) to any marking in their
books. As shown in the Appendix, students did indeed correct my marking if I had missed
something they had included elsewhere, added in more detail where I asked for it and some
students even asked me questions back about topics we were studying. Furthermore, the very
fact that students had been responding all year in the same distinctive colour meant that, as
one student remarked, “you can look back at your book when revising and easily find common
mistakes by looking for the purple pens.” Students’ responses to this question were
overwhelmingly positive which was pleasing and showed that consistency in both method and
frequency of the ‘purple pen method’ had helped here.
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Finally, students were asked if the use of purple pens had made their marking and
feedback experience any more enjoyable. 79% of students said that being able to engage in this
way was enjoyable, which is encouraging as, from a student’s perspective, marking and
corrections in themselves are never going to be as exciting as more creative and interesting
work in English. Again, students highlighted the more dialogical marking; they not only thought
it was helpful, but also enjoyable. Some students were extremely positive, with comments such
as: “it’s like emailing/messaging except writing it in a purple pen. I can reply to say that I
understand or that I’ve made a correction or I need more help.” This type of comment, which
was not alone in its sentiment, suggests that students found the ‘purple pen method’ helpful
because they could ask for help or complete corrections in such a way that they did not feel
intimidated or embarrassed as opposed to asking verbally in lessons. As shown in the Appendix,
students could write down any concerns and I would pick these up when marking books the
next time. Even the students who did not enjoy the purple pens, they agreed that “it is still
useful.”
In summary, there seemed to be a few key themes within the student’s opinions of why
they enjoyed or disliked the purple pen method:
1. Not everybody in the class had previously had a consistent classroom routine of
marking and feedback, or their experience of doing corrections and looking over
marking had been variable.
2. Students liked having time in class to go through corrections and feedback.
3. The purple pen method is helpful, compared to any previous interventions or
ideas.
4. The students enjoyed using the purple pens to respond to feedback and engage
with their class teacher.
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4.2 Limitations to Research
The first limitation to my research is that I didn’t have space and time in this piece of
investigation to look at different structures of marking and feedback across the whole school in
different subjects with the same age group. It would have been interesting to look at
alternative approaches in science or maths compared to feedback given in more creative
subjects such as art and music - this is something I hope to look at in the future.
If I had the chance to run the same investigation again under the same circumstances, I
would have tried to use more than one class of the same year group to see if this feedback
method could be utilised by other teachers in their y7 classroom. I did investigate marking and
feedback at a Key Stage 2 level by visiting the Perse Prep School and, whilst there are a
significant number of students from the Prep School in year 7, students joining year 7 arrive
from a variety of other schools so it would have been unrealistic to completely base any
research on this in my methodology or data analysis.
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5. Proposals for Future Practice
At school, I would suggest that staff always ensure they are providing students with time
in the lessons, wherever possible, to go through their corrections and feedback. Many teachers
do this already, so the student surveys and supporting literature (that suggest that going
through corrections is not only important in all subjects, but is also something the students find
valuable) will likely not be a surprise.
I would also consider the positive effect that a feedback routine can have on a class. The
students were content that they always knew which day their books were being collected and
in which lesson they would receive their books back again to use the purple pens. Again, this is
something that is likely not very revolutionary, however it is easy to leave the books to the next
lesson by accident, or hold off on feedback as you wait for another homework - the routine
helped the students but I actually found that it really helped me in structuring my week’s
marking.
A creative marking style can really help students with additional educational needs, both
at the top and lower end of the class ability level. The opportunity for students to respond to
feedback and use the purple pens as a revision tool to spot frequent errors proved beneficial to
students across the class ability range. Through the dialogical method and the purple pens, I
was able to extend students who I knew could include more detail in their answers, alongside
offering weaker students an opportunity to redraft responses.
In my own professional development, I will definitely think more about how I structure
my marking and feedback to ensure that all students are given the space to consider it and then
offer their own thoughts and reflections. I have been most influenced by the students own
survey responses, which suggested that they honestly did want to see how they could improve,
even if it was something more challenging. At the very least, I will continue to use the purple
pens in my English classroom and suggest that another colleague trials this method too.
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6. Conclusions and Reflection
The Teaching Standards call for students to ‘respond to feedback’ and I believe this
action research has shown that there is a method which provides physical evidence that for
potential inspectors and to the classroom teacher, shows that this is being completed.
Furthermore, the purple pen method shows that students are consistently and regularly
responding to feedback, or at the very least are acknowledging that it has been read and
understood.
This dialogical method also informed my lesson planning; some purple pen responses would
show a lack of understanding in certain topics or perhaps that many students were making
similar errors. The purple pens also proved helpful when giving feedback to parents on their
child’s progress. I could see clearly that a student had made a mistake and they had responded
in purple to say that it was a simple error, or that it was something that needed more support
and had occurred before. The purple pens are entirely inclusive, after a brief explanation at the
beginning of the year, very little guidance and support was needed from the teacher for
students to be able to respond and have their say on their feedback. This suggests that perhaps
if the purple pens were distributed to the same class in another subject, they would
immediately know what to do - it becomes commonplace and, as it is a small scale intervention,
is not a disruption to the classroom environment.
I highlighted that the amount of marking for an English teacher was unlikely to change
dramatically in the foreseeable future so that any marking completed should be made use of in
lessons and accessible for the students. The purple pen is a very simple idea and the research
that led to it has initiated some interesting discussions within the English Department regarding
marking and feedback. My key learning, which I will be passing on to our department, remains
that the process of responding to feedback, enabled by effective formative assessment,
comprises a useful set of cognitive and meta-cognitive processes that effective English teaching
should aim to encourage to allow students to perform better not only in English, but across the
curriculum throughout their education.
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7. Bibliography
★ Assessment Reform Group, Assessment for Learning: Beyond the black box (Cambridge:
University of Cambridge School of Education, 1999)
★ Black, Pand Wiliam, D, Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom
assessment, (London: King's College, 1998)
★ Brindley, Susan, Masterclass In English Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning, (London: Bloombury, 2014)
★ Brindley, Susan, Teaching English, (London: Routledge, 1993)
★ Davison, Jon, and John Moss, Issues In English Teaching, (London: Routledge, 2000)
★ Department For Education, 'Workload Challenge: Analysis Of Teacher Consultation
Research', 2015
<https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401
406/RR445_-_Workload_Challenge_-_Analysis_of_teacher_consultation_responses_FIN
AL.pdf> [accessed 1 June 2015]
★ Department For Education, ‘How do pupils progress during key stages 2 and 3?
Education Standards Analysis and research Division’, 2011,
<https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/182
413/DFE-RR096.pdf> [accessed 16 June 2015]
★ “Early Childhood and Schools” TALIS, 2015,
<http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/talis.htm> [accessed 13 June 2015]
★ Ellis, Viv, Learning And Teaching in Secondary Schools (Exeter: Learning Matters, 2007)
★ Hattie, J, Timperley, H, ‘The Power of Feedback’ in The Review of Educational Research,
2007, 77 (1), 81–112.
★ Kluger, A.N, DeNisi, A, ‘The effects of feedback interventions on performance: A
historical review, a meta-analysis, and a preliminary feedback intervention theory’ in
Psychological Bulletin, 119, 254–284
★ OFSTED, The Framework for School Inspection Available from:
<http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/framework-for-school-inspection> [Accessed
May 19, 2015]
★ Shute, V, ‘Focus on formative feedback’ in Review of Educational Research, 78 (1), pp.
153-189, 2008
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★ The Teaching Standards, 2012,
<https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards> [accessed 13 June
2015]
★ The Sutton Trust (Education Endowment Foundation), ‘Teaching And Learning Toolkit’,
2013, <https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/toolkit-a-z/> [accessed
25 May 2015]
★ Tharby, Andrew, 'How To Make Marking More Efficient: Three New Techniques For
Teachers', The Guardian, 2014
<http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/apr/16/how-to-ma
rking-techniques-teacher-feedback-students> [accessed 2 June 2015]
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8. Appendix
8.1 Examples of students’ books where the ‘purple pen method’ has been
applied:
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8.2 Student Survey Responses
In each case, any particularly interesting responses from the students have been highlighted to
demonstrate a range of opinions, where appropriate.
1. Before this year, would you always go through any corrections in your English book and
read the feedback from your teacher?
Yes 11
No 6
Sometimes 7
46% of students are used to going through corrections with their teacher.
Highlighted responses:
“No - because I didn’t know how important and useful it was.”
“Yes because in order to get better you have to see your mistakes.” (x4 responses along these lines)
“No because I didn’t feel the need”
“No. My teachers would mark my work and tell us what we did wrong but we wouldn’t have to
correct ourselves.”
“I would not have because my teachers in my old school never asked us to.”
“Yes but not in much detail. I like that in Miss Tooze’s lessons we have purple pens and lots of time to
read all of the comments”
“We normally didn’t have time” (x 3 responses along these lines)
“Sometimes I would read my comments and write my initials next to it. I would do this in all my
subjects.”
2. Do you think having time in class to go through any corrections and feedback from your
teacher is helpful?
Yes 21
No 3
88% of students said that having time in class to go through corrections and feedback was helpful.
Highlighted responses:
“No because everyone has different numbers of mistakes”
“Yes because you can ask the teacher right then about any corrections”
“No, I think it is wasting lesson time and instead should be a homework”
“Yes because instead of rushing through at the end of a lesson or in a homework I have more time to
see what I did wrong”
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3. Are the purple pens used for your own feedback helpful?
Yes 21
No 2
Unsure 1
88% of students said that the use of the purple pens feedback method was helpful.
Highlighted responses:
“It is easy to identify where I have done my feedback.”
“Yes because it helps me to have a discussion with the teacher.”
“Responding to feedback is useful but having it in a different colour makes no difference.”
“I think the purple pens are useful as it gives you a reason to look through your book.”
“Yes because we have a say in what we are doing and we can see where it changed and where it was
marked.”
“I think special pens are helpful but I don’t know why purple?”
“I think they are helpful because we get some time before each lesson to go through corrections with
the purple pens and later you can look back at your book when revising and easily find common
mistakes by looking for the purple pens.”
4. Do you enjoy being able to engage with any feedback given by your teacher by using the
purple pens?
Yes 19
No 4
Unsure 1
79% of students said that being able to engage with feedback was enjoyable.
Highlighted responses:
“Yes, It’s like emailing/messaging except writing it in a purple pen. I can reply to say that I understand
or that I’ve made a correction or I need more help in a certain area.”
“Yes because it often gives me helpful hints.”
“Yes, because it helps to know what other people think about what you should improve on.”
“No. I think the teacher’s word should be final.”
“I don’t really enjoy it but it is still useful.”
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