Marking Policy Cost Model
What a marking policy costs the whole school in staff hours and money per year — the number that changes policies when the argument in principle has failed.
A marking policy requiring one piece marked per class per week at three minutes a piece costs a typical secondary teacher around 14 hours a week and a 60-teacher school over 30,000 staff hours a year — roughly the directed time of 25 full-time staff.
Marking Policy Cost Model
Frequently asked
How long does marking one book take?
Published time-use studies and school audits put written comment marking at two to five minutes per piece for secondary work and one to three minutes for primary, before the time spent handing books out and collecting them. Tick-and-flick is under a minute; a full comment with next steps is often over five.
Does written marking improve results?
The evidence is that feedback improves outcomes and that written marking is only one delivery method for it — and one of the most expensive. Reviews of marking practice have repeatedly found no clear relationship between the quantity of written marking and pupil progress. That is an argument about method, not about whether feedback matters.
What should a school do with this number?
Put it next to the cost of the alternative before deciding. A policy that costs 30,000 hours a year should be justified as explicitly as a 30,000-hour spending line would be.
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