Double marking as a CPD opportunity

Double marking is a standard procedure when marking writing. It should not be a box ticking exercise, but taken seriously as it is yet another chance to develop and improve our markng skills in addition to standardisaton meetings. Below are some observations and reflection on the topic from my own practice as a double marker.


The buddy system
Very often a seasoned tutor on the module is paired off with a less experienced tutor to help them gain an understanding of the criteria and common issues quicker. Thus your expertise is used to teach others - but what's in there for you? It is good to vary marking pairs and sometimes pair equal skill tutors so they can exchange expertise and learn from each other. They can even enrich each others repertoirs in terms of framing feedback to students.

The timing issue
The general guidance is to do the double marking in the beginning of the marking period so each marker would then moderate their own scirpts in relation to that. In practice this is rarely the case. Due to various other work commitments and workload, more often than not one of the markers (or both!) do not stick to that and end up doing the double makring at the end just to do the job. This devoids them of the chance to self-improve and check where they are in terms of their skills as described in the section above. I sometimes have the feeling such tutors feel they first need to do their bit and then do the double marking (a nuisance they have to get rid of) failing to understand the gist and value of it at all. Or they just don't care!

Type - blind vs infomed
Blind marking (no comments or grades from the double marker) is the most effective and fair. It presents opportunities for genuine gauging of one's skills and understanding of the criteria. It takes more time and cognitive strain but also confidence and bravery - you should not be ashamed if your grades are totally different from your parner's as long as you can justify them. This verges on the out-of-comfort zone and very few tutors do it. There are those clever ones who just read your comments and grades and in less then half an hour come back to you to say they absolutely agree with your (extensive and ardusouly done) comments. I think it is insulting and uncolleagiate, let alone helpful and enriching. This is not to say that informed marking (reading comments and grades of the double marker) is not useful. It is, especially for novice markers or ones coming to the module/ institution for the first time. It should be done responsibly and respectfully towards your marking partner.

Double marking can be a valuable part of a practitioner's CPD toolkit providing a chance to learn and moderate own skills, a deeper way of looking at the criteria, and even a better understanding of the genre they are dealing with.

Mirena Nalbantova
12/09/26

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