The color of ink that teachers use to mark papers occasionally stirs up a fuss in the UK as some schools move away from red pens. The idea is that red ink leaves a negative impression on students and alienates them from their teachers. There’s some research to support that idea.
But with school starting up again, I’ve been doing some more reading about ink colors and marking. And it seems that maybe red pens have a place in the classroom, after all. Teachers using red ink pens to comment helps to clearly differentiate from the original work, but it is essential that the red ink is not used in a negative way.
