notes.husk.org/likes images.

Teachers and parents criticise ‘robotic’ software-generated school reports | Education | The Guardian

Alex Ogg, who until recently worked as an English teacher in a number of secondary schools, despaired of the software-generated reports he was forced to write. He has used the Sims report writing program, which is one of a number available on the market.

It was introduced as an attempt to ease teacher workload, but according to Ogg it often frustrated as none of the options would quite capture what he wanted to say about a child and the end product was never satisfactory.

“You can tell from the robotic script, the human voice is lost, but I also found it a very time-consuming and ultimately fruitless task.

“I find it dishonest. Parents are reading this and think these are the teacher’s thoughts. Instead it’s a process of box-ticking on a computer program, in order to select the most suitable comment,” said Ogg.

“I’ve seen teachers in the staff room go through and do reports for an entire class in an hour. It’s a more important document than that.”

Software image from Capita SIMS Assessment and Reporting Suite
for secondary schools and academies:

School inspectors want proof that you’re helping to close the gap between the performance of different groups of students and they’ll need to know that you’re spending your Pupil Premium budget effectively. SIMS Assessment & Reporting Suite enables you to carry out student perfomance analysis and compare your students’ progress and other key performance measures, against other groups to ensure you’re closing the gap.

With SIMS assessment software, you can be sure that every student’s progress is tracked, so every child’s needs are understood, helping you to raise attainment across your school.