The key issues to be aware of at Key Stage 4 relate mainly to the way students are involved in marking their own work. No longer a secret garden of knowledge held by the examiner alone and begrudgingly shared with teachers, the assessment criteria and how they are applied is now in the public domain. Students can see the way past students’ work has been marked and the grades awarded. They can practise marking each others’ answers and can also work out what they might need to do to improve. This should be the prime focus. The more time students can spend adding value to answers the better. The more precise their targets the better. Look carefully at the section on target setting for a range of different approaches to this key aspect.
