Pros and Cons to Using Pupil Tracking Software

Across the country, more and more schools are opting to use pupil tracking software. These tools can offer quick and efficient insights into pupil progress alongside school priorities. However, some education professionals have expressed concerns over whether this streamlined approach could be reductive. Therefore it is important to weigh up the pros and cons before investing in pupil tracking software.

Bespoke

Trying to shoehorn issues into a one size fits all tracking system is bound to cause mistakes, missteps and missed opportunities, as things are assigned clumsily and forced into labels that aren’t quite relevant. Fortuitously, many of the pupil tracking software options out there can be tailored to your needs. You can often customise to the framework you require, pull in content and data from multiple sources and adjust the analytical tools to present data in a way that is most useful to you and your school.

Time

No one wants to be dumped with the task of deciphering some half-baked new technology that your managers got over-excited about and didn’t vet properly. Then you have to spend forever and a day figuring it all out as it forces you to work in ways that probably don’t help you work any quicker or insightfully. That’s why it is important to scope out software properly, as the opportunity for saving time and gleaning meaningful insights with the right software is huge. Pupil tracking software when properly applied can swiftly identify holes in learning, assist with lesson planning and curriculum assessing and alleviate paperwork heavy practices.

Planning

While new tools can be fun and exciting, it’s important they are achieving a purpose and aren’t just another step or distraction. Many of the software options available pull in objectives from the National Curriculum and allow manipulation of these objectives into intuitive planning and assessment grids. This ensures comprehensive coverage of the curriculum and allows for precise tracking of gaps in learning and skill. Many software options use sophisticated data models to measure the depth of learning, allowing for a greater understanding of individual student’s progress and current capabilities at a glance.

Student reporting

Bad software reduces students to numbers and stats. Good software allows for a depth of information to be stored and understood quickly, meaning better and more efficient student stewardship. When looking into software, look out for what student descriptors are offered and how these are aligned with the objectives and assessment methodology. Also remember to look out for how many frameworks the software allows for, and if the software allows for the integration of the type of school content you require into these frameworks. Scheduled and automatic reports can be a huge time saver when it comes to tracking and reporting on students and lesson progress, so be sure to look in detail at what the reporting covers and how efficiently the data refreshes. Reporting can cover many areas, such as student ability to grasp new concepts in different areas and where the focus should be applied for certain areas and skills. Overall, pupil tracking can be a brilliant time saver and a source of valuable insight.