How do pupils know how well they are doing?

Do pupils really read marking, take it onboard and use it to inform their next piece of work, or are they just looking for ticks and rewards to get instant feedback?

I ask the question because at our school we have regular work scrutinies.  Previously they were carried out by the (teaching) senior leadership team, now books are scrutinised by middle managers with little or no teaching commitments and far removed from the day to day challenges - but who are these scrutinies for?  And who is the marking in exercise books for? Scrutineers check that marking is in place, in line with school policy, that reference is made to whether pupils have achieved their Learning Target or not, and that there is some element of written feedback.  But where is the evidence that marking, in itself raises pupils progress?

I understand that marking a pupil's work, in order to assess whether they have understood or attained a concept, method or skill has many benefits.  It can inform planning, it can identify pupils that need further tuition, it can provide data to measure patterns or trends; and these outcomes aid pupils progress. But at that specific point when a pupil sees their marked work and digests a teacher's comments, how does this aid their progress?

Marking takes up the majority of my non-contact time and some personal time at home as well.  Is this an effective or economical use of my time?

When I mark a piece of writing pupils will find:
 1. An indication of whether they have achieved the learning (shouldn’t they know that already?)
 2. A small narrative to say how they can improve, i.e. 'read back and where you have used 'and' , consider if  you could use punctuation instead'.

This is all good and well- but it is rare that pupils have time to respond to their note to improve. The amount of time it takes me read a piece of pupils work, decide if they have achieved the Learning Target and write a note to improve, could be used so much more effectively if that time was used to sit with the pupil and discuss their work more intricately.  The discussion around demarcating could involve pointing out examples from their work.  So much more can be said in a few minutes than can be written.  Wouldn't my time be better spent having these one-to-one mentoring sessions with the pupils?  Or better still scanning the books and getting an overview that will impact on planning for the next lesson.

I think the outcomes would be extremely interesting, and I believe the process would benefit pupils.