← Part of our AI marking platform
AI marking in schools and colleges
Cut workload without handing grades to a black box. Feedback Flows follows your mark schemes, respects UK data expectations, and keeps final grades with qualified educators.
- GCSE, A-Level & vocational
- ICO registered
- Teacher-in-control review
- DPA-ready for schools
Feedback Flows is a UK AI marking platform for schools, colleges and training providers. Upload a cohort, apply your own mark scheme from any exam board, and AI drafts criterion-level feedback while you do other work. Teachers review, override and release every mark. ICO registered, UK GDPR, teacher-in-control.
What does AI marking in schools look like day to day?
In a typical department, a teacher uploads a Year 10 mock set or a coursework draft pack, selects the shared rubric, and lets AI draft criterion-level comments and suggested bands while they teach the next lesson or prepare resources. They then skim borderline scripts, edit tone where needed, and release feedback when ready—often the same day instead of the following weekend. Students still receive comments written against the school’s descriptors, not generic praise from a chat window.
For teachers focused on reclaiming evenings, see AI marking for teachers and AI feedback for teachers. For the product-wide overview, start with the AI marking platform guide. Comparing vendors? See AI marking software compared (UK).
Why do UK schools look for AI marking?
Department for Education workload guidance consistently puts marking and feedback among the top time sinks for teachers. Generic AI chat tools are not built for assessment: they ignore your rubric, produce vague praise, and create moderation risk. UK schools need AI marking that aligns to GCSE, A-Level, BTEC, and vocational criteria—not a one-size-fits-all paragraph generator.
Feedback Flows applies your descriptors, supports batch cohort marking, and exports evidence for internal QA—whether you are a single department pilot or a MAT rolling out consistent practice trust-wide. Compare approaches in our article AI marking vs manual marking.
Does it work with AQA, Edexcel, OCR and WJEC?
Yes—by bringing your mark scheme, not locking you into a fixed board library. Paste or upload the descriptors you already use for AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC/Eduqas, or an internal KS3 framework. The same workflow covers BTEC, T-Level and EPA-style evidence that many GCSE-only tools cannot handle.
That bring-your-own model is deliberate: when boards update criteria mid-year, you update the scheme you upload. See how we compare to board-locked tools on our AI marking software comparison.
Can AI mark handwritten and scanned scripts?
Yes. Feedback Flows uses Vision OCR on photographed and scanned pages, ink drawn in Word, and image-heavy PDFs so scripts are not skipped as “no readable text” when the answers are still on the page. When a learner folder has more than one file—for example a PDF plus a Word draft—unread Office, PDF and image files are OCR’d and merged.
That matches how most UK classrooms still submit work: phone photos of physical papers, scanned mocks, and mixed typed/handwritten packs.
How much time does AI marking actually save?
Customer-reported outcomes from UK training providers and institutions (named clients under NDA).
Average time saved per person per day, as reported by organisations using Feedback Flows for marking.
The first pass is asynchronous: teachers keep teaching or prep while AI drafts marks and feedback in the background.
Marked through Feedback Flows to date, across apprenticeship providers and training institutions.
Where do GCSE, A-Level and vocational teams use it?
Secondary English, humanities, sixth form, FE and ITP teams use the same teacher-in-control workflow.
Mock and exam seasons
Batch-mark extended responses against the same rubric across a year group.
Coursework and NEA drafts
Formative feedback before final submission, with teacher review on every script.
Vocational & EPA-ready evidence
Structured comments that support internal QA and external sampling.
Cross-department consistency
Shared rubric libraries for MATs and federations.
Learner packs and follow-up
Targeted worksheets from rubric gaps, not generic revision lists.
Integrity alongside marking
Optional style comparison and reference checks in the same platform.
How do you handle privacy, ICO registration and school DPAs?
This is the canonical home for Feedback Flows’ UK school data and governance detail.
UK schools must scrutinise how pupil data is processed. Feedback Flows Ltd is ICO registered ((ZC132812). Student submissions are handled over encrypted connections; we do not sell data or use your content to train public AI models. Schools (or training providers) remain the controller of student data; we process it on your instructions under our Data Processing Agreement.
Enterprise marking governance adds policy acknowledgement, human-review sign-off before export or student-profile release, attestation on approve, and an audit trail for mark overrides and feedback edits—so trusts can show who signed what, when.
Read our Privacy Policy, legal hub, and governance articles on AI in schools: best practices and safe and responsible AI in classrooms before rollout. For regulated exams, Ofqual expects AI not to determine awarding outcomes alone—our teacher-in-control model is designed around that expectation for classroom and mock use.
Teacher-in-control marking
AI drafts suggested marks and feedback; you edit, moderate, and publish. That model fits departmental sampling, trust QA calendars, and awarding-organisation expectations that AI must not determine outcomes alone.
AI marking for MATs → For ITPs → Compare UK AI marking tools →How should a department pilot AI marking?
Pick one assignment type and one rubric your team already trusts.
Compare AI drafts to a human-marked sample—band fit and comment usefulness.
Agree moderation rules with your department or phase lead.
Brief staff and, where policy requires, inform students or parents.
Scale to batch marking, then widen to other year groups or subjects.
Choosing a vendor? Read how to choose AI marking software in the UK or open the named comparison table.
Frequently asked questions
Try AI marking in your school
Free welcome credits for individual educators; custom pricing for schools and trusts.