Embedding Formative Assessment | St Edward's School

Pedagogy Teachers are currently working on

‘The only thing that matters about feedback is what the students do with it’, says Dylan Wiliam. Teachers at St Edward’s are prioritising feedback that is purposeful. Feedback should be about moving the learning forward and should be more work for the students than the teacher!

So here are some strategies that teachers are going to be trying, and students will be experiencing.

Margin marking

Instead of marking each spelling or grammar mistake on essays, place a dot in the margin, although for some students, you might provide more structure, such as “p” for a punctuation error, “g” for a grammar mistake, and “s” for spelling. Students then find their own mistakes and correct them.

Traffic lights

Give students a RED, AMBER or GREEN mark for a piece of work. All RED and AMBER work can be redrafted in an attempt to achieve a GREEN mark. The final grade is calculated from the number of GREEN and AMBER marks.

Lessons will include time for students to act on feedback (GRAFT - Guided Reflection and Feedback Time) —whether through resubmitting work, answering follow-up questions, or comparing their work to higher-level examples. The goal is simple: feedback that drives progress, not just grades.

Mastery marking

Accept student work only when it is of a specific quality, for example by accepting work only when it is worth an A. If the work does not merit an A, give the students comments on what they would need to do to achieve an A. The overall score or grade for a marking period, such as a term, is then determined by the number of As.

Three questions

Rather than giving scores or comments, when marking a piece of work, give each student three questions to answer. Students answer the questions in the first ten minutes of the next lesson to ensure that the feedback is acted upon.

One of the biggest shifts in our feedback approach is giving students ownership of their learning. Instead of waiting for teachers to correct every mistake, students will be asked to find and fix errors themselves, compare their work to higher-level examples, and respond to targeted questions. This makes feedback active and engaging.

Find and fix your mistakes

Instead of marking answers as correct or incorrect, tell the students the number of answers that were wrong. Give them time in class to find and correct their mistakes either individually or in groups.

Match comments to work

Write comments about students’ work on strips of paper without names. Sit students in groups of four. Each group of four students gets back their four pieces of work and their four comments. The group needs to decide which comment goes with which piece of work.

Why this is helpful for students

EEF research shows that feedback is most effective when it is specific, actionable, and focused on improvement rather than judgment. Traditional marking often gives students a grade and a comment, but this can lead to a fixed mindset—students see feedback as criticism rather than a tool for growth. By reducing marking and increasing student responsibility, we make feedback a process, not a one-off event. When students find and fix their own mistakes, they engage deeply with the learning, which strengthens retention and understanding. Keeping progress records also matters because it allows teachers to spot patterns and adapt lessons to meet real needs. This approach aligns with Dylan Wiliam’s principle that feedback should cause thinking, not just provide information. It also supports growth mindset: students learn that improvement is possible and expected. Ultimately, this method helps students become independent learners who take ownership of their progress—an essential skill for success in school and beyond.

How Parents and Carers Can Support at Home

Parents play a vital role in reinforcing the feedback process. Start by asking your child what feedback they received and what steps they need to take next. Encourage them to explain their mistakes and how they plan to fix them—this builds confidence and accountability. If they have been given questions to answer or work to resubmit, provide a quiet space and time to complete these tasks. Praise effort and improvement rather than ability; for example, say “I can see you worked hard to correct those errors” instead of “You’re clever.” Use growth mindset language at home: when your child says, “I can’t do this,” respond with “yet.” (This ties up with a teacher strategy below). Remind them that everything is hard before it’s easy. You can also help by checking their progress records on school platforms and asking about what they need to do to progress. The aim is not to do the work for them but to encourage persistence and reflection. By supporting these habits, you help your child see feedback as a positive, powerful tool for learning.

The power of "yet"

While there remains some debate about the usefulness of what Carol Dweck calls a “growth mindset”, the important thing about growth mindset is that it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Children with fixed mindsets are likely to see feedback as threatening, while those with growth mindsets see feedback as a way of optimizing progress. With young children, there are two particularly powerful ways of developing a growth mindset. The first is, whenever a child says, “I can’t do it” to respond with “Yet”. The second is to remind children “Everything is hard before it’s easy”, and reminding children of the progress they have made: “Remember how hard it was to button your coat when you couldn’t do it, and how easy it is now?”

Students are encouraged to review and improve their own work before asking for help, using clear success criteria and examples of excellent work to guide them. By comparing their work to these standards, they can spot mistakes or areas for improvement and learn how to fix them. This habit helps build independence, deeper understanding, and pride in producing their best possible work. You can find a step-by-step process to support students with this in Learning Walktrhus (Students and Parents) by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioi, John Catt from Hodder Education (2024), pages 68 & 69

What Pedagogy teachers have been working on

Eliciting evidence of learning: Finding out what students are thinking

improve classroom questioning and discussion
involve all students in lessons

This might have included strategies such as, whole class vote, No hands up – except to ask a question, mini whiteboards, finger voting, exit tickets, opening up closed questions, post it notes on a continuum, waiting 3 seconds