The Bottom Line
Geography teachers were spending entire evenings marking instead of planning creative lessons or maintaining work-life balance. Rubrical solved it with AI-powered assessment that cuts marking time by 50% whilst providing 2.5x more detailed feedback. The result? Teachers get their evenings back and students receive better support.
Less Marking Time
Hundreds of hours saved per term
More Detailed Feedback
Quality improvement for students
Teacher Satisfaction
Pilot programme success
Project Summary
Rubrical is an AI-powered assessment platform developed by OpenKit after being selected for the Department for Education's £1 million AI teacher tools funding. As one of 16 chosen organisations, we created Rubrical to help break down barriers to opportunity by giving teachers more time to focus on what matters most: teaching and supporting their students.
The platform seamlessly integrates with learning platforms and uses AI models trained on DfE's content store to generate curriculum-aligned rubrics and mark student work (including handwritten submissions) with 92% accuracy. Rubrical also provides detailed analytics on student performance and, most importantly, it keeps teachers in control whilst automating the repetitive aspects of assessment, saving at least 50% of marking time.
The Problem
The UK education system faced a critical challenge: teachers were drowning in marking. Geography teachers across the country were spending entire evenings assessing student work, leaving no time for lesson planning, professional development, or work-life balance. This wasn't just an inconvenience – it was driving teachers out of the profession.
The Department for Education recognised that over 40% of teachers were considering leaving due to excessive workload, with marking consistently ranking as the most time-consuming administrative task. The challenge was clear: find a way to maintain high-quality assessment whilst dramatically reducing the time burden on teachers.
The Critical Issues
Our Solution: AI That Enhances Teaching
Working directly with the Department for Education, we developed a comprehensive AI assessment platform that maintains the highest educational standards whilst dramatically reducing marking time. Our approach focused on augmenting teacher capabilities rather than replacing professional judgement, creating a system that teachers could trust and students could benefit from.
How We Solved It
AI-Powered Marking That Saves 50% of Time
Intelligent assessment tools that provide marking suggestions whilst keeping teachers in control of the final judgements and feedback.
Consistent, High-Quality Feedback Generation
AI trained on DfE content store generates detailed, personalised feedback that maintains quality regardless of teacher fatigue levels.
Curriculum-Aligned Assessment Tools
Automatic rubric generation and assessment criteria that align with KS4 Geography curriculum standards and assessment objectives.
Project Objectives
The Department for Education set three clear objectives for our AI teacher tools initiative:
1. Break down barriers to opportunity
Enable teachers to spend more time with students by reducing marking burden, ensuring every child gets the support they need
2. Drive high and rising standards
Deliver consistent, high-quality feedback that helps students understand and improve their geography knowledge
3. Revolutionise teacher workload
Save at least 50% of time spent on formative assessment, allowing teachers to focus on inspiring lessons
What Rubrical Does
Rubrical handles the entire assessment workflow from start to finish. Teachers upload or sync assignments, the AI generates marking criteria, students submit work (typed or handwritten), and Rubrical provides intelligent marking suggestions that teachers can review and refine. The result? High-quality, personalised feedback delivered in a fraction of the time.
For Teachers
- Cuts marking time by 50%
- Generates detailed, personalised feedback
- Creates curriculum-aligned rubrics instantly
- Tracks class and student progress
- Identifies learning gaps automatically
- Integrates with existing tools
For Students
- Receive detailed, actionable feedback faster
- Understand strengths and weaknesses
- Get personalised improvement suggestions
- Access targeted follow-up exercises
- Improve faster with consistent guidance
Seamless Integration
Works With Your Existing Tools
Rubrical integrates directly with Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, meaning teachers don't need to change their workflow. Assignments sync automatically, grades flow back seamlessly, and students access everything through familiar platforms.
Google Classroom
Import assignments, sync rosters, return grades automatically
Microsoft Teams
Full integration with Teams for Education assignments
Direct Upload
Upload assessments directly for schools using other systems
Setting up takes less than 5 minutes. Teachers authorise the connection, select their classes, and they're ready to start saving time immediately.
Smart Assessment Creation
AI-Generated Rubrics in Seconds
Simply upload your assessment question and Rubrical instantly generates a comprehensive marking rubric aligned to UK Geography KS4 standards. Teachers can customise any aspect of the rubric to match their specific requirements. The system learns from these adjustments to improve future suggestions.
The AI understands:
- Assessment objectives (AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4)
- Mark allocations and grade boundaries
- Command words and their requirements
- Topic-specific marking criteria
AI-Powered Marking
Handles Any Type of Student Work
Rubrical's advanced technology processes both typed and handwritten submissions with remarkable accuracy.
Handwriting Recognition
Our OCR technology accurately digitises handwritten responses, handling various writing styles and even messy handwriting. Teachers can review the digitised text alongside the original.
Intelligent Mark Suggestions
The AI analyses responses against the rubric, suggesting marks with detailed reasoning. Teachers review and adjust with simple clicks or voice commands.
How AI Marking Works:
- AI analyses student response against rubric criteria
- Suggests marks for each assessment objective with reasoning
- Teacher reviews suggestions and makes adjustments
- System learns from teacher corrections for future accuracy
- Final marks and feedback are confirmed by teacher
Trained on DfE's content store, Rubrical achieves 92% marking accuracy - compared to just 67% for generic AI tools.
Personalised Feedback System
Beyond Marking: Meaningful Feedback
Rubrical generates detailed, personalised feedback for each student that goes beyond generic comments. The system identifies strengths, targets improvements, and provides actionable next steps.
Identifies Strengths
- Highlights what students did well
- References specific examples from their work
- Encourages continued excellence
- Links to curriculum objectives achieved
Targets Improvements
- Pinpoints specific areas for development
- Provides actionable next steps
- Suggests follow-up exercises
- Identifies key misconceptions for revision
Teacher Notes Integration
Teachers can add personal notes about students (e.g., "struggling with map skills", "excellent at evaluation") which the AI incorporates into future feedback, making it increasingly personalised and relevant over time.
Powerful Analytics Dashboard
The analytics dashboard provides a comprehensive view of your class's performance across all assessments. See progress over time, identify consistent strengths and weaknesses, and make data-driven decisions about where to focus your teaching.
Assessment Progress Tracking
Monitor how your class performs across multiple assessments over time. See improvement trends and identify when interventions are working.
Track progress throughout the term
Class-Wide Strengths Analysis
Instantly identify what your class excels at across all assessments. Understand which geography topics and skills are well-embedded.
Celebrate and build on success
Key Weaknesses & Focus Areas
Pinpoint specific areas where your class needs additional support. The dashboard highlights consistent gaps across assessments.
Target teaching where it matters
Student Filtering & Insights
Filter students by performance categories to provide differentiated support. See individual progress within the class context.
Personalised intervention planning
Assessment Analytics Include:
Performance Overview
- Class average progress
- Performance distribution
- Assessment comparisons
- Progress trends over time
Strengths & Weaknesses
- Topic performance analysis
- Skill area breakdowns
- Common misconceptions
- Areas of excellence
Actionable Insights
- Focus areas highlighted
- Student filtering options
- Intervention planning
- Teaching priorities
Teacher-Centric Features
Every feature in Rubrical is designed with teachers in mind, ensuring the platform enhances rather than replaces professional judgement.
Maintain Control
AI suggests, you decide. Every mark and comment can be reviewed and adjusted.
Quick Actions
Voice commands, keyboard shortcuts, and batch operations speed up workflow.
Print for Offline Use
Print feedback and rubrics for offline review or student handouts.
Secure & Compliant
GDPR compliant, ISO 27001 certified, with full data control.
The Journey
Rubrical's story began when OpenKit was selected as one of 16 organisations for the Department for Education's groundbreaking £1 million AI teacher tools programme in January 2025. This initiative, part of the government's Plan for Change, aimed to harness AI to break down barriers to opportunity and revolutionise education.
We spent months working with over 20 geography teachers to understand their assessment challenges. These conversations revealed that teachers were spending up to 15 hours per week on marking.
Development Timeline:
- Phase 1: Extensive teacher consultations and workflow analysis
- Phase 2: Prototype development with teacher advisory board
- Phase 3: AI model training using DfE's content store for 92% accuracy
- Phase 4: Pilot programme with geography departments
- Phase 5: Full launch - ready for all geography teachers
Throughout development, teachers guided every decision. Their feedback shaped features like the review interface, the analytics dashboard, and the feedback generation system. Using our KILN evaluation framework, we systematically evaluated AI models to find the best performers for OCR, rubric generation, and marking tasks.
By training our AI on the DfE's world-leading content store of curriculum guidance and anonymised pupil work, we achieved the 92% accuracy rate that makes Rubrical a trusted classroom tool.
Results and Impact
50%+
Time saved on marking
100's
Hours saved per term
95%
Teacher satisfaction
2.5x
More detailed feedback
Why This Matters for Your School
Rubrical's transformation shows what's possible when AI is designed specifically for education. We didn't just build another marking tool – we created a system that genuinely enhances the teaching profession whilst maintaining the highest standards of educational assessment.
If your school is struggling with teacher workload, wants to improve feedback quality, or needs to ensure consistent assessment standards, Rubrical could transform your approach to geography education.
Ready to give your teachers their evenings back?
Rubrical is now available for all UK geography teachers, backed by the Department for Education's AI initiative. Experience the difference that purpose-built educational AI can make.
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