Students need feedback instead of grades
You can perhaps imagine that I am one of those parents who are very pleased that, as part of Curriculum 21, numerical grades are being dispensed with in many places, at least in the first years of school.
In teacher training courses, I have long realised that many teachers would like to see a change here, at least for primary school. They want to accompany their pupils on their individual learning path, pick up children with learning difficulties and high achievers where they stand and create a learning programme from which all children can benefit without being over- or underchallenged.
The obligation to set and mark examinations is always a problem.
Many teachers manage this surprisingly well despite the high demands such as inclusion and heterogeneous classes. However, the obligation to set and mark examinations is a recurring problem. Suddenly, all pupils have to be able to do the same thing at the same time. This creates internal tension for teachers: the teacher reports back to a pupil with a spelling weakness on Monday that he has improved significantly thanks to his efforts and is delighted with his progress in upper and lower case spelling.
On Thursday, she has to have him write a dictation and report back that his performance is unsatisfactory again. The pupil is confused: «One minute she was saying that I was trying hard and doing well, and now I'm so bad again.»
The teacher is in need of an explanation. The motivation that she carefully built up on Monday is back at rock bottom a week later with the poor grade. The pupil may even have lost some of their trust in the teacher and think the next time they receive positive feedback: «She's only saying that to get me to join in. I know for a fact that I can't do it.»
Why grades and individual support are not compatible...
In discussions with teachers, the same conflict becomes clear time and again: today, teachers learn in their training that they should allow diversity and support children individually.
However, grading and examinations date back to a time when the aim was for everyone to march in step. The individual teacher must now resolve this contradiction in everyday life. For example, by writing an encouraging comment under a bad grade, sticking a «Bravo sticker» on it, adjusting the learning objectives after clarification or trying to accommodate the child in the exam by compensating for disadvantages. All of this takes up time and resources that would probably be better invested elsewhere.
«But without grades, students don't even know where they stand!»
A grade does very little: it categorises pupils as good, average or poor. It provides little information about what someone is already good at, what they are not yet good at and what they can do to close the next gap. Weak pupils usually interpret unsatisfactory grades as proof that they «can't do it anyway» and cease their efforts. The strong students usually get their good grades without much effort. They can do a lot, but they learn very little.
Many teachers try to solve this problem by making very detailed corrections. But what do students care about when they get the exam back? The grade. The rest is hardly ever looked at and almost never seen as an opportunity to work through a gap or misunderstanding on their own.
In order for learners to really know where they stand, they need what educational researcher John Hattie understands as formative feedback: students and teachers work together to find out what the goal is, what progress has already been made, what the next step is and how to get there.
Feedback shows students that their efforts are paying off and that progress is possible.
Only in this way does it make sense for all learners to make an effort. Only in this way can they experience that their efforts pay off and that progress is possible. It is precisely this experience that forms the basis for self-efficacy.
«You didn't get it - and now we're moving on!»
We have to decide whether we want a school that is primarily about learning or about organising.
If we want students to learn as much as possible, feedback should primarily be aimed at identifying opportunities for improvement. However, examinations are usually scheduled at the end of a topic in order to make a final assessment. The student with the unsatisfactory grade is effectively told: «You didn't understand the topic - and now we're moving on.» If it is a topic such as «the Romans», there is simply a gap in general knowledge. If he has not understood «the basics of algebra», it can be predicted that he will also do badly in the next maths exams.
«But we also have to prepare children for real life!»
Individual feedback is not - as many people think - automatically cuddly pedagogy. Rather, it makes each individual learner responsible. Everyone is expected to commit to a learning goal and take steps to get closer to this goal. But everyone can experience that they can learn and that obstacles can be overcome. Anyone who - to stay with the example - has not mastered the basics of algebra can practise again instead of getting stuck. And anyone who masters it effortlessly can try their hand at a bigger challenge.
When it comes to grades, I often hear parents say that children need to learn how to deal with competition and that school should prepare them for real life.
Studies show that children learn more in co-operative forms of learning than in competitive ones.
I agree with the last part. School should prepare children for the world of work. Nowadays, teamwork, flexibility, colourful skills profiles, creativity and independent thinking are required, not competition and status jockeying. The idea that grades create a competitive climate that fosters learning cannot be upheld. Studies show that children learn more in co-operative forms of learning than in competitive ones. Not only in terms of their social skills, but also in terms of performance and knowledge growth.
Besides, who else is graded in professional life? If our boss gave us a grade sheet once a year and then sent us back to work, we'd look funny at best. Instead, we expect a good boss to do exactly what so many teachers would like to do today: That he takes the time to give us clear, personalised feedback, telling us where our strengths lie, how we have developed recently, how we have contributed to the team and where our development opportunities lie. I came away from the first parent-teacher conference with precisely this information about my son.
About the author:
Fabian Grolimund is a psychologist and author («Learning with children», «From procrastinator to learning pro»). Together with Stefanie Rietzler, he runs the Academy for Learning Coaching in Zurich. The 40-year-old is married and father to a son, 7, and a daughter, 5. He lives with his family in Fribourg. You can find the best of these columns in the new book «Geborgen, mutig, frei - wie Kinder zu innerer Stärke finden».
www.mit-kindern-lernen.ch, www.biber-blog.com
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