Posted on: 15/05/2023
On the 12th May, as SATs week came to an end, many schools across England will have received notification from their local authority whether they will receive an external writing moderation visit for Year 2 and/or Year 6 in the second half of Summer term. The build-up to this visit can be a nerve-racking time for many teachers so we wanted to note down a few suggestions to help teachers best prepare and feel ready. Here are our six top tips which we hope will help to calm the nerves in the lead-up to an external moderation visit.
This first one might seem obvious but, before moderators arrive at the school, make sure a quiet(ish) room has been designated for this meeting where interruptions will be at a minimum, ideally with a spacious table to sit around and spread-out books. Remember that it is best to bring along all children’s writing books (not just the most recent) and you may want to – although this is not mandatory – take along books from different curriculum areas which show evidence of certain statements in the Teacher Assessment Framework (TAF). This means that, potentially, there will be a lot of books in the room and you certainly will need the space – feeling cluttered will probably not help the stress levels.
The next suggestion is to make sure you have a hard copy of the TAF printed out that you can refer to. This is the document that outlines the standards, and that you and the moderators will be referring to in order to verify judgements. The TAF is the watermark so know it well and have it ready to refer to.
A printed class list may be useful during the meeting also. You may want to have children grouped and teacher judgements on the list along with any other relevant information you think would provide the moderators with context, this could be attendance data or any information that pertains to a particular weakness.
If possible, before the meeting, have different pieces of writing earmarked that you would like to draw the moderator’s attention to for each child. Be ready to talk about how these pieces are independent and which ‘I can’ statements each piece shows evidence of. Each piece does not have to show examples of every statement on the list, but all statements need to be evidenced through the collection of writing as a whole in order for children’s writing to achieve a standard. It is important that these pieces are written for a range of purposes and audiences, particularly for those children’s writing presented as EXS and GDS.
To assess what children are capable of in their writing, we need to see what they can do by themselves. This means that writing presented at the moderation meeting must be independently written and edited. The STA guidance states that success criteria should not be too ‘specific’ and marking not overly directive.
This does not mean that there can’t be any input from teachers at all or that the writing must be on a random topic. As the STA guidance states, writing can ‘emerge from a text, topic, visit or curriculum experience in which pupils have had opportunities to discuss and rehearse what is to be written about.’ Children can also use peer or group evaluation to edit their own work. Independent editing is still evidence, and this may be essential for some children when checking for accurate punctuation. We would always recommend giving children opportunities to reread the same piece of work through different lenses, whether it be for punctation, spelling corrections and overall composition.
As class teachers, we are all too aware of the gaps in children’s writing and what they need to do to improve. In daily lessons, this awareness helps us address these gaps quickly however in a moderator meeting it is important to talk about what the children can do and why you believe they are at that standard. You can always end the discussion by talking about what children may still be struggling with, but to start, talk about what they can do.
Another way to feel ready for the visit is to arrange a meeting with school colleagues (SLT, English subject leads) to have a run through of a moderation meeting. This can often give teachers a chance to practise talking about the children’s writing in relation to the TAF. It can be a great way to flag up any gaps that might need to be addressed quickly. If possible, plan to have a meeting with teachers in another school and act as a ‘critical friend’ when discussing writing. Even if you are not scheduled this year for a visit, this is good practice to ensure robustness of data.
Remember, as well as reading children’s writing, that at the heart of this meeting is a discussion with the class teacher. Moderators are trained to facilitate discussion and prompt with questions. ‘Can you tell us about this child? Why do you think they are writing at this standard? Why not the preceding or following standard?’ tend to be questions that moderators ask. Moderators don't know the children so it's great for them to hear about how a child loved certain aspects of your teaching this year and maybe what they have found a struggle but have now conquered. This helps to immediately build a picture of the child. Of course, whilst a round of tea and biscuits is optional, it still doesn’t hurt! The experience is often less daunting for teachers if it can feel like a chat over a cup of tea.
