I abolished grades for all of my classes – here’s how, why and the difference it made

In 2016, I was teaching in an international school in Paris. We had more than 60 nationalities and a high turnover, with students usually only staying for two or three years on average. The effect of home and geographical cultures, as well as the ‘third culture kid’ phenomenon experienced by students, cannot be underestimated. My group, to whom I taught English, was mixed ability, and virtually all of them spoke English as an additional language (EAL). I found that when I gave back marked work, students would look at their grade and compare it with friends' marks. It is dismaying as a teacher, when you have spent a great deal of time providing detailed written feedback designed to help students improve, only to find that they are only interested in the grade, not the comments. This detracted from the purpose of having work marked – realising your own strengths and weaknesses, and knowing how to improve and make progress – but it also developed unnecessary pressure and com