Balancing workload, assessment and feedback in the primary classroom

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) reported this year that 45 per cent of young teachers have concerns over their mental health and are considering leaving the profession, with 85 per cent citing workload as a factor (NUT, 2017). With the challenges of the new curriculum and assessment frameworks, there is a sense that the profession has come to a critical point, and needs to do things differently. At St Bernard’s RC Primary School, a voluntary academy in Cheshire, we have sought to meet these challenges and adopt a different approach. A project was carried out in two phases, initially across 23 schools looking at embedding formative assessment (phase 1) and subsequently followed by a more focused development of feedback practice with staff at St Bernard’s (phase 2). With improved outcomes for students always our focus, it was important throughout to ensure that in addressing workload for staff, quality wasn’t compromised for students. Embedding formative assessment and u