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Original poster

What do you do when a teacher is wrong?

147 replies

RequiresUpdating · 26/05/2023 20:56

Say your DC writes something that is more or less correct. And the teacher marks it wrong and corrects it with such a glaringly obvious mistake that you are a bit shocked. What do you do?

DD took it back to the teacher and asked her to look at it again and that what she had written was right, but the correction wasn't. Teacher said it was and DD's answer was also wrong (it wasn't).

How do you handle this?
Is it better to explain to DD that the teacher is wrong and people often don't like being told they're wrong which was why she refused to correct the marks? And leave it at that - that the teacher is wrong, some people refuse to apologise etc life lesson. I feel this would be a pity as DD really likes this teacher and was shocked when she was dismissive of her.

Do I call the teacher and speak with her and give her a chance to apologise to DD?

Call the teacher and ask her how she wants to handle it? If she wants to apologise or if she's sticking by her response to DD so I have to explain the above.

I don't even know if it should be raised higher, as the correction she wrote on DD's work shows such a level of incompetence about the basics of the subject she's supposed to be teaching the class, that we're wondering what else she's teaching them. I feel a bit sorry for her, she's newly qualified, DD's isn't the easiest of classes and I know other parents aren't happy with her, but I don't think many have officially complained.

OP posts:

Cocorico22 · 26/05/2023 23:22

Oh yeah, we're not disputing that the hair and the balloon attract, nor that the hairs repel each other to an extent, but the OP is wrong because the electrons go from hair to balloon, not the other way round 👍 as I said, being pedantic, I'll put my anorak away and go find another hobby now...

Cocorico22 · 26/05/2023 23:27

Ah apologies @giffgaffguff , I misread PP's post which says electrons go from balloon to head to create positive charge on head! Which is not right. "See me after class"

DaSilvaP · 26/05/2023 23:29

Porridgealert · 26/05/2023 23:20

Oh my god. Get a grip. Its not a life changing mistake. She's 11. She's not taking her physics A level next week. She's about to go through 7 years of senior school. I'm sure it'll get ironed out.
Oops, here you go...🍊🍎🍇🍐🥦🥕🥬

Show quote history

🍊🍎🍇 ??

You're alluding to "sweet lemons and sour grapes"? That would more apply to your own logic, that implies "we can't get any better teachers so these must be OK"
You know that "🍊🍎🍇" is not a language?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

General education

donquixotedelamancha · 26/05/2023 23:47

RequiresUpdating · 26/05/2023 21:34

DD wrote "When you rub a balloon on your hair, the electrons go from the balloon into your hair and all the bits of hair repel each other".
The teacher marked the electrons going from balloon to hair with a tick. However the second part she marked wrong and corrected with "the balloon and hair repel each other"

For that mistake, I would certainly make sure the teacher understands why they are wrong. I'd contact them directly but I wouldn't worry about them apologising to your child.

On the issue of direction of electron flow- I'd correct my kid on that but I don't think it's important to the basic idea.

fUNNYfACE36 · 26/05/2023 23:51

I am sure the teacher knows and us just having a ' moment' wen se saidte wrong thing.Evrryone knows positive and negative attract please don't make a big thing of it.You will sound like an obnoxious smart arse jumping on her every mistake.

UsingChangeofName · 27/05/2023 00:03

If your dd is at the end of Yr6, it would seem likely that you've had a relationship with the school for at least 7 years (possibly more if there are older siblings).
Why not have a quiet word with a senior teacher who you know to be fair and reasonable, explain the situation; explain that it isn't the initial mistake you think is an issue so much as the teacher's response and unwillingness to check, or to admit she could have made a mistake when a pupil went back to say she truly believed what she'd written was correct.
Say that you know how hard her NQT year is, and that you don't want to get her in to trouble, but that you think it might be helpful for her future years if her mentor could have a chat with her about it.
Say that you've chatted with your dd about it, and she is fine, and it isn't about the one fact, but the response.

Porridgealert · 27/05/2023 00:09

DaSilvaP · 26/05/2023 23:29

🍊🍎🍇 ??

Show quote history

For goodness sake. She made a mistake. Teachers on here will say they never make a mistake but in reality all teachers do. You know why? Because they're human. The only people who never make mistakes are the people who never do anything. If you told me that she'd be given a load of lectures that meant she'd failed her physics exam which stopped her becoming a doctor, fair enough. You've got a point. But she's 11. It's not going to screw up her life or her career or her relationship with her parents or affect her future interactions with the opposite sex or... anything else. She's 11.
How about just getting the whole thing into proportion instead of making snobby comments like: even you might realise the cost of lack of knowledge. Like you're part of some ultra intelligentsia. 🙄

fUNNYfACE36 · 27/05/2023 00:14

Op have you never made a mistake and said the wrong word?

ItsReallyOnlyMe · 27/05/2023 00:15

This reminds me when my DD was learning about the order calculations are done in maths.

It was homework so I had helped her, only for the following day for DD to tell me that the teacher said it was wrong and made my DD do it again the incorrect way. I had no choice but to correct the teacher via a note.

So for example the teacher was advocating -

10 - 2 x 3 to be 24 rather than the correct answer of 4 (as the multiple is done first).

It wasn't just one question - it was all of them.

I thought it important that the teacher who was teaching the whole class the method, should actually know the correct way.

Whenwilliberich · 27/05/2023 07:24

Cocorico22 · 26/05/2023 23:27

Ah apologies @giffgaffguff , I misread PP's post which says electrons go from balloon to head to create positive charge on head! Which is not right. "See me after class"

I think this was me that said that not the teacher………….

I got it wrong…………..

I don’t think this is a big deal - the teacher is teaching everything and it’s not her strong suit.

if I’m honest I think it’s just a point of improvement and if I was her line manager I couldn’t take this complaint as seriously as everybody is taking it.

do people realise the level of recruitment in science??? there’s a chance I will have science on my timetable next year.

I’d say the teacher just needs to be honest and say - I don’t know! That’s what I will do when I’m forced to have a science lesson next year because there are no science teachers! I will read as much as I can - and hopefully get it right. I’ll do more reading than I did to respond to this thread tho……….!!!!!

Notellinganyone · 27/05/2023 09:08

I’m a teacher and would happy accept if I’d made a mistake. This would bother me and I’d email the teacher directly to clarify.

TeenDivided · 27/05/2023 09:21

redskylight · 26/05/2023 21:49

I think it depends whether it's a one off or something more serious.

DS's Year 5 teacher taught the whole class BODMAS incorrectly. I didn't think something so fundamental could be allowed to pass so I did write a note in (I couched it in "I think DS may be confused ... he says he's been told it works like this, rather than the correct way like this" terms). The next day DS came home and said they'd been "retaught it" the correct way and the teacher admitted to getting it wrong. I had visions of the teacher frantically looking it up after getting my note.

Small mistakes in passing, I'd let go.

I would, and have, used a similar approach.

I used to tell my DC that their primary teachers were very knowlegable, but I knew maths better. So if they said teacher said something that I said was wrong then they must have either misunderstood or teacher made a mistake. (Mainly they had just misunderstood.)

In this situation OP, I'd copy the page and send a note in to the teacher, suggesting maybe because she was rushing she has 'misread' the work because of course the hair strands all being negatively charged will repel each other whilst en masse being attracted to the positively charged balloon.

HelloIsItYouImLookingFor · 27/05/2023 09:23

WhereMyRosemaryGoes · 26/05/2023 23:11

My daughter's yr 6 teacher does not understand BEDMAS. She thinks you have to divide before multiplying and add before subtract.
So,
9 - 3 + 10 = ?
She has taught the children first to add the 3 + 10 = 13, and then TAKE AWAY THE 9!!!! According to her:

9 - 3 + 10 = 4

Well if BODMAS was used in this instance then you would divide before multiplying and add before subtracting. Just sounds like she got mixed up that it wasn't to be used for this sum

Original poster

RequiresUpdating · 27/05/2023 09:29

the teacher is teaching everything and it’s not her strong suit.
This baffles me! Yes, she's teaching everything but it's what's she is trained to do. It's what she is employed to do. So is it wrong to expect a basic level of knowledge of the subjects she is teaching? Or it's ok and it doesn't matter as they're only primary children and at some point in their school career they'll hear the correct answer? Does that also count for secondary school? I mean, if they go to uni, they'll surely hear the right answer there...

OP posts:

sashh · 27/05/2023 09:41

RequiresUpdating · 26/05/2023 21:34

But the electrons go from the hair to the balloon. The hair doesn't repel each other it becomes positively charged so the balloon and hair have opposite charges and attract each other.

TeenDivided · 27/05/2023 09:51

sashh · 27/05/2023 09:41

But the electrons go from the hair to the balloon. The hair doesn't repel each other it becomes positively charged so the balloon and hair have opposite charges and attract each other.

Show quote history

Electrons are negatively charged.
If they go onto the hair, the hair strands each individually become negatively charged.
As such the individual hairs repel each other, which is why they spread out from each other.
The hair and the balloon attract which is why the balloon can stick to the hair.

Malbecfan · 27/05/2023 09:53

Teacher here. I would have a quiet word with the teacher without the DC present.

Happened to us with DD2 in y6. An arrogant but inexperienced teacher marked something wrong in DD's homework. What he didn't know was that DH used to lecture in that subject at a RG university. Parents' Evening the next week was fun as DH produced the data sheets for the subject and proved that DD was correct. The teacher never apologised to DD, but the Head of T&L who shared the class thanked me the next day for DH's quiet professional way of dealing with it.

TeenDivided · 27/05/2023 09:54

HelloIsItYouImLookingFor · 27/05/2023 09:23

Well if BODMAS was used in this instance then you would divide before multiplying and add before subtracting. Just sounds like she got mixed up that it wasn't to be used for this sum

Show quote history

You always use BODMAS, but
9 - 3 + 10 is like positive 9, add negative 3 add positive 10.
A maths teacher can explain it better.
With BODMAS you can do D&M in either order, also A&S.

SammyScrounge · 27/05/2023 10:10

lilyboleyn · 26/05/2023 21:04

This reminds me of when I got my class to copy down their weekly spellings into their spelling book. All done and correct… except one came back with mum having corrected definitely into ‘definately’… 😁

My daughter came home in tears because she had failed a class test on apostrophes - she only scored 3 out of 20. I was surprised because I had taught her myself.and she could do them.
Had a look at her paper. Her correct answers were marked wrong and vice versa. The teacher must have been teaching the whole class the wrong way. This teacher was marvellous with my cripplingly shy daughter and a very interesting

SammyScrounge · 27/05/2023 10:12

I went to see her on the quiet and it turned out it was the TA who had corrected the papers. She was mortified.

TripleDaisySummer · 27/05/2023 10:14

But as I said, the main issue is how she was dismissive of DD who went to her, and for DD, that took a fair bit of guts.

Usually we just let it go reassured DC and found sources - tv programs books that backed them up.

However did write in on for child in similar because change in date with maths question made a simple question into really a complicated difficult one - confused our child who spotted the issue but then needed help to do the maths- is the kind of thing that might crop up later - for our children and the teacher.

Took two attempts to point out what what the teacher had missed - turns out they'd modified date and just though they could ignore leap year over huge swath of time.

Despite fact it gave a hugely different answer and a few kids had noticed the problem I think she only took it on board because a colleague explained the problem to her.

I think for another child we might have let it go but confidence in maths was a big thing and that child has a hard time letting things go -which has improved with age- and rarely raised hand in class which was always complained about so being dismissed when they did was more an issue.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 27/05/2023 10:27

I wish I could say I’m shocked that a pp who evidently is, or has been, a teacher, has written, ‘I wouldn’t of said…’
But I’m not.

IMO there should be a fairly rigorous English test for anyone embarking on teacher training, with remedial work for anyone who makes basic mistakes.

TeenDivided · 27/05/2023 10:29

I would always raise anything that shows a misunderstanding of basic concepts like electrostatics or maths because that can impact the class for years to come if not corrected.

LIZS · 27/05/2023 10:30

"More or less" may not meet the mark scheme criteria

HelloIsItYouImLookingFor · 27/05/2023 10:30

TeenDivided · 27/05/2023 09:54

You always use BODMAS, but
9 - 3 + 10 is like positive 9, add negative 3 add positive 10.
A maths teacher can explain it better.
With BODMAS you can do D&M in either order, also A&S.

Show quote history

Sorry that's what I meant. I know technically you always use BODMAS unless there are equations but I don't see it as BODMAS if it's only subtraction and addition in the sum as obviously subtraction comes first. Not explaining myself very well. But the teacher should know this without a doubt

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