Topical Teaching

A ruling to prevent teachers from marking in red pen sounds extreme, but since when is protecting the emotional state of ones students extreme?

Whilst I mark in red, I also realise that splashing red across the page can be harmful to a child’s confidence. After all, the point of corrections is to help the student become aware of a mistake and help them to overcome the skill error, not to reinforce weakness or make them feel inferior.

That is why I believe in marking work in front of the child. If something they have written doesn’t make sense, get them to read it over to you and work with them in correcting the error. If there is a spelling mistake, sound out the word together and assist in respelling the word correctly. This cooperative approach to correcting work demonstrates to the student that the mistakes are easily corrected and have no bearing on the student’s ability. Instead of seeing red and feeling despondent, the student should feel empowered and become more aware with the processes for troubleshooting and self-correcting.

I don’t see the banning of the red correction pen sufficient in itself, but I certainly wouldn’t rubbish it as political correctness gone wrong:

Teachers have been told not to use red link to mark homework to avoid upsetting pupils.

The edict has been condemned as ‘absolutely political correctness gone wild’ which risks leaving students in the dark about where they have gone wrong.

Ministers have been forced to distance themselves from the bizarre policy, insisting no government rules exist on what colour pens teachers use.

The policy would appear to be at odds with the back to basics approach of Education Secretary Michael Gove who has insisted teachers must mark pupils down for poor spelling and grammar.

He has warned that in the past too little has been done to focus on core skills to ensure young people are confident in key writing skills.

Tory MP Bob Blackman revealed his anger after being told a secondary school in his Harrow East constituency had banned teachers from using red ink.

He told MailOnline: ‘A teacher contacted me and said I cannot believe I have been instructed by my head to mark children’s homework in particular colours and not to use certain colours.

‘It is all about not wanting to discourage youngsters if their work is marked wrong.

‘It sounds to me like some petty edict which is nonsense. It is absolutely political correctness gone wild.

‘My take on all this is to say children need to understand the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong.’

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