Google Classroom / Microsoft Teams for Education
The learning management platforms Secondary School Teachers use to share resources, set assignments, give feedback, run video lessons, and communicate with classes — the digital infrastructure of the modern classroom.
What it is
About Google Classroom / Microsoft Teams for Education
Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams for Education are the two dominant learning management platforms in UK schools, and the choice between them is almost always determined by the school's IT infrastructure decision — Google Workspace for Education or Microsoft 365 for Education — rather than by pedagogical preference. Both are free at their base tier for educational institutions, which has made them near-universal in UK secondary schools. Google Classroom is the simpler and more focused of the two: its Stream allows teachers to post announcements and resources to the class; the Classwork section organises assignments, quizzes, and materials by topic; and each assignment has a submission and feedback workflow where pupils submit work, the teacher grades and comments, and the pupil sees the feedback through the same interface. Classroom integrates directly with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms — a teacher can attach a Google Doc as an assignment and Classroom automatically creates a copy of the document for each pupil, submits it when the pupil is done, and returns it with the teacher's comments. Google Meet is integrated for video lessons. The Gradebook in Google Classroom shows every assignment with submission status and grades for the whole class in a spreadsheet-style view, allowing the teacher to see at a glance who has submitted, who is missing, and what grades have been awarded. Microsoft Teams for Education layers the classroom management function on top of Teams's broader collaboration infrastructure. A Class Team provides the same channels as a business Team — General, and any teacher-created subject channels — with the addition of the Assignments tab (where homework is set and submitted), the Grades tab (the class gradebook), and OneNote Class Notebook (a shared digital notebook where each pupil has a private section visible only to them and the teacher, alongside class content and collaboration spaces). Teams' Assignment workflow is comparable to Classroom's but benefits from tight integration with Word, PowerPoint, and Forms within Microsoft 365. For schools that use Teams for staff communication and video meetings, using Class Teams for pupils creates a coherent digital environment. Both platforms are deeply integrated with their respective authentication systems — Google Workspace accounts or Microsoft Entra ID — meaning pupils log in with the same credentials they use for all school systems.
What you can do with it
Capabilities
Set up a Google Classroom assignment with differentiated resources — creating a new assignment in the Classwork tab, attaching the standard reading extract as a Google Doc (set to "Make a copy for each student"), attaching a second simplified version of the extract for the three pupils with reading support needs (assigned only to those specific pupils using the "Assign to" filter), setting a due date, adding a rubric with the marking criteria, and posting the assignment so pupils see it immediately in their Classroom
Collect, mark, and return work through Google Classroom — opening the assignment once the due date has passed, reviewing each pupil's submitted Google Doc in the Student Work panel (which shows submissions, missing, and turned-in-late in colour-coded status), opening a submission, typing feedback comments directly in the Doc using the comment function, entering the mark in the Classroom grade field, and clicking Return so the pupil receives their marked work and grade immediately
Use Microsoft Teams Assignments to set homework with an automated quiz check — creating a new assignment in the Teams Assignments tab, attaching a Microsoft Forms quiz (automatically graded — questions on the week's vocabulary), setting the due date, assigning to the whole class, posting, and returning the following day to view the Forms analytics showing which questions the class found most difficult (automatically aggregated by Teams's Insights feature) to inform the next lesson's retrieval practice
Run a Google Meet video lesson directly from Classroom — starting a meeting from the Classroom Stream (the meeting link is automatically shared with all class members), using screen share to present a Google Slides lesson, using the breakout rooms feature (in Google Workspace for Education Plus) to send groups of pupils to separate rooms for a collaborative task, and returning all breakout rooms to the main meeting for the whole-class discussion at the end
Use Microsoft Teams OneNote Class Notebook for differentiated lesson resources — setting up sections in the Class Notebook for the Lesson Content (teacher-only write access), the Collaboration Space (all pupils can edit), and each pupil's private section (pupil writes, teacher reads), placing the lesson's worked examples and success criteria in the Lesson Content section before the lesson so pupils can view them as reference material, and checking individual pupil sections after the lesson to see their in-lesson written work without collecting physical books
How to learn it
Learning Resources
Google for Education Training Centre (edu.google.com/intl/en_uk/teacher-center/training) — free; structured learning paths for Google Classroom and Google Workspace for Education leading to the Google Certified Educator Level 1 and Level 2 certifications; the Educator Level 1 is achievable in one day and is widely recognised in UK schools
Microsoft Educator Centre (education.microsoft.com) — free; Microsoft's training platform for Teams for Education, covering class setup, Assignments, OneNote Class Notebook, and video lessons; leads to the Microsoft Certified Educator credential
TeachMeet and staff CPD sessions — in practice, Google Classroom and Teams proficiency is developed fastest through peer learning from colleagues who are already using the platforms effectively; most schools run TeachMeet-style sessions where experienced users share workflows; asking a colleague to walk through their Classroom assignment setup for 15 minutes is more efficient than any online course for specific workflow questions
Google Classroom and Teams Help Centres (support.google.com/edu/classroom; support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/microsoft-teams-5aa4431a) — comprehensive free documentation for every feature; the Help Centres are the most up-to-date reference as both platforms release updates frequently
Pro Tip
The most time-saving feature in Google Classroom that most new teachers miss is the "Reuse post" function. Once you've set up an assignment for one class, you can reuse it for your other classes in seconds — rather than rebuilding the same assignment from scratch five times. Go to the Classwork tab, click the "+" button, and select "Reuse post". You can adjust the due date, the attached pupils, and any class-specific details before posting. Across a five-class timetable this feature saves approximately 40 minutes per homework cycle.
Skills that use this tool
Roles that use this tool
Alternatives