• Primary Schools • Teacher Workload
Marking is one of the tasks teachers most often say takes too much of their time. This guide for primary teachers and school leaders looks at what the national evidence says about marking and feedback and how online assessment can cut marking time while giving pupils faster feedback and teachers better data.
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The Quick Answer
- Full-time teachers reported working 50.1 hours a week on average in 2025 and 38% said they spend too much time marking.
- The government’s marking review recommended that all marking should be meaningful, manageable and motivating.
- The EEF finds feedback adds about 6 months’ progress, including feedback delivered through digital technology.
- Online assessment can mark quizzes and practice papers instantly, leaving teachers more time for teaching and targeted support.
The Workload Problem
The Department for Education’s Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey asks teachers how they spend their time. In 2025:
| Finding | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Average hours worked by full-time teachers | 50.1 hours a week |
| Teachers and middle leaders spending too much time on general admin | 71% |
| Spending too much time on data recording, input and analysis | 50% |
| Spending too much time on marking pupils’ work | 38% |
Workload has eased slightly since 2022, but marking and data work are still among the tasks teachers most often say take too long.
What Good Marking Looks Like
In 2016 the government’s Marking Policy Review Group concluded that all marking should be:
- meaningful: marking varies by age group, subject and the piece of work. Teachers are trusted to adapt it
- manageable: marking is proportionate, considering the time it takes against teachers’ overall workload
- motivating: marking should help motivate pupils to progress, which sometimes means short comments or oral feedback
The group found that no government or Ofsted guidance had ever required “deep marking”, the practice of detailed written comments followed by pupil responses. Its advice to schools was clear: if your current approach is unmanageable or disproportionate, stop it.
Feedback Without the Marking Load
Feedback is one of the most effective approaches in the EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit, with an average impact of about 6 months’ additional progress. The EEF notes that feedback can be verbal, written or delivered through tests or digital technology and that it should give specific information on how to improve. Feedback from digital technology has positive effects too, although slightly lower on average than other forms.
In other words, effective feedback does not have to mean more written marking.
How Online Assessment Helps
| Task | By hand | With online assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Marking a practice paper | Marked paper by paper | Marked instantly |
| Feedback to pupils | Often days later | Straight after each question or activity |
| Finding gaps | Manual analysis of each paper | Results by pupil and activity as soon as work is completed |
| Tracking progress | Spreadsheets and data entry | Reports generated automatically |
Automatic marking works best for questions with clear right and wrong answers, such as arithmetic, many reasoning questions, spelling and grammar. It frees teacher time for the parts of teaching that need professional judgement.
How Monster Learning Reduces Marking
Monster Learning is an online platform for Key Stage 2 English and maths built to remove routine marking:
- 44 SATs-style practice papers across English and maths, marked automatically, with an optional 25% extra-time setting
- Topic Explorer with over 250 curriculum-aligned topics for practice, starters, homework and intervention
- Challenge Zone with over 55 extended reasoning and problem-solving exercises
- a Live Activity Report showing scores as pupils complete activities, with no marking and CSV or Excel export
- a Weekly Activity Report every Monday covering progress, engagement and areas for development, saved to an archive and downloadable as a PDF
Pupils get instant feedback after each attempt, teachers see who needs help straight away and leaders get regular reports without extra data entry.
What Online Assessment Cannot Replace
Some assessment still needs a teacher. KS2 writing is judged by teachers using the national framework, so pupils’ independent writing still has to be read and assessed. Online tools work best alongside teaching: they handle the routine marking so teachers can spend more time on writing, feedback conversations and planning. See our guide to assessing English writing at Key Stage 2.
Reviewing Your Marking Policy
- Ask whether each type of marking is meaningful, manageable and motivating.
- Replace routine written marking of practice tasks with instant, automatic feedback where possible.
- Use whole-class feedback for common errors rather than writing the same comment many times.
- Reduce double data entry by using reports that are generated automatically.
- Check the time saved goes back into teaching, planning or support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Ofsted require deep marking?
No. The government’s Marking Policy Review Group found that no government or Ofsted guidance had set deep marking as a requirement.
How many hours do teachers work?
Full-time teachers reported working 50.1 hours a week on average in 2025, according to the Department for Education’s Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey.
Is digital feedback as effective as teacher feedback?
The EEF finds feedback delivered by digital technology has positive effects, although slightly lower on average than other forms. It works best alongside teaching.
Can online assessment help with SATs preparation?
Yes. Onscreen practice papers give pupils experience of SATs-style questions and give teachers instant results to plan support.
Related Guides
Build confident mathematicians and readers in Years 5 and 6
Monster Learning gives schools curriculum-aligned maths and English practice, onscreen assessments and SATs-style papers, with instant feedback for pupils, no marking for teachers and live results for leaders.
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Sources: Department for Education, Working lives of teachers and leaders: wave 4 and Eliminating unnecessary workload around marking; Education Endowment Foundation, Teaching and Learning Toolkit: Feedback.
