Page 9 - Making Book Scrutiny More Meaningful

What should we be considering?

When carrying out any book scrutiny
consider the following:

Focus • Decide your focus.
Sample
• Keep the focus tight and don’t try to look at too many
things at once.

• Decide which sample of pupils’ work you are looking at.
Consider carefully which work will give you the best
evidence base to deal with your chosen issue.

• Consider which groups of pupils need to be represented in
the scrutiny, e.g. random, gender specific, under-
performing, SEN, least able, more able, most able, EAL
learners, ethnic groups etc.

Time limit • Decide how long you are allocating to complete the
scrutiny and stick to it. On the whole a work scrutiny for a
single issue shouldn’t take much longer than one hour. If it
does, your focus may be too broad.

© Focus Education 2015 9