To expect a secondary school teacher to be able to spell? Warning; Long post!

[AddictedToRadley]

Please be gentle with me. If you disagree please say so (that's why I posted here after all) but please don't be rude or nasty as I'm a sensitive soul and take it to heart! Thank you for any/all opinions, they're really appreciated.

I'm genuinely interested in whether my fellow MNetters think I'm being a bit precious or if I'm right in thinking all teachers, especially secondary school teachers, should be able to spell and use good grammar?

My DNiece, 13, showed me her school planner last week as she was proud of the great comments she'd received from her teachers. To cut a long story short she is a troubled child after witnessing some dreadful DV in her younger years (thankfully nothing in past couple of years as her mum left her dad) and has had severe behavioural issues. She is now trying hard and knuckling down but has an educational age far below her real age and needs extra help.

Anyway one of her comments read 'X has been done some Amasing work today'. This is exactly as it read in her planner (X = her name). When I mentioned it to her she didn't think there was anything wrong with the sentence. Her mum wasn't too bothered, well I suppose it's the least of her problems considering the horrors she's recovering from and still occasionally faces, but still...

If a teacher's spelling, grammar and punctuation is that bad and he can't even spell well used, straight forward words then what hope is there for the pupils? Thankfully he is a Science teacher as opposed to an English Language teacher, but I would still have assumed an A Level in English was needed to teach in schools. This is a school with an excellent reputation and pupils travel a long distance, past many other good schools to attend.

So am I being a bit anal about the fact that a science teacher has bad grammar, punctuation and cannot spell words like amazing? Or should all teachers be expected to have good if not excellent English Language skills to be able to teach?

Sorry it's turned into a long post, it was meant to be short but I tend to ramble on!! Maybe I've had too many s for my birthday!

YANBU in being shocked at basic spelling mistake from a graduate employed to educate children. But 'A' level English certainly not necessary to become a teacher. 'O' level pass or GCSE Grade C is all that is required for English and Maths, unless you are intending to become English or Maths teacher, of course. I am a teacher, I hate it when I see colleagues' spelling mistakes.

YANBU, I would expect teachers (regardless of their subject) to be able to maintain a certain level of literacy, but sadly more and more that does not seem to be the case.

YANBU. A teacher should be able to spell.

I'm rather anal about spelling too. I work in a shop and I found a work sheet from the local school. It was a list of ingredients for what I presume was home economics.

On the top of the sheet above the childs name and the list of ingredients was this statement 'IF YOU LOOSE THIS SHEET IT WILL COST YOU 20P'

I called up the school to say I'd found it and also mentioned the grammatical error and suggested the pupil shouldn't have to pay the 20p and the teacher should pay it instead for not checking worksheets

yanbu, a teacher should be able to use correct spelling and grammer.

Happy Birthday

YANBU. I'm a teacher and cringe at mistakes like that.

We had an inspection the week before half term. Our lovely Assistant Head gave us a check list for our lesson plans/planned observations. On the end, it said

"Remember: when it's all over, breath and get on with enjoying the rest of the day".

Sadly doesn't surprise me. DD's teacher marked DD's maths answer 1/3 of 12 = 6 as correct last week. DD struggles with maths so NOT helpful when teacher marks an incorrect answer as correct. Several weeks before that, a piece of homework was set asking them to use "conectives" (sic)!

Thanks for your fast replies. It wasn't even just the spelling mistake it was the use of a capital letter mid sentence and the grammar 'been done' instead of been doing or done. I was shocked and TBH appalled by it.

I honestly thought teachers needed an A level in Maths and English plus further qualifications in their chosen subject. Thanks TerryStyg for correcting me. Am very surprised by GCSE grade C and above as minimum qualification. Oh well you learn something new every day (my usual phrase is 'You learn something useless every day' but thought it may come across as condescending!! ).

Can't be arsed to read the post but YABU to be addicted to Radley!

Actually I've read it now and YANBU with regards to the OP. I corrected the grammar in a homework sheet DS (aged 8) brought home the other day.

Whatever you do DONT look at the currently active thread if you want reassurance that teachers can spell and correctly distinguish between commonly confused words!

One about primary education

i am quite shocked at how many people i know - not all teachers, who hold high level qualifications like MSc, PhD etc, but still struggle to spell. i don't think anyone should be allowed to pass beyond 'a' levels without basic spelling

Too many people are lazy and rely on spellchecker now, which wont correct grammar or flag up words like loose instead of lose.

I read a lot and even some of the most popular authors, have had their books published with typos in them.

I often feel like writing to the author to let them know that their publisher does not have a proof reader, as it is a real bug bear of mine.

Thank you for birthday wishes AuntiePickleBottom

I'm honestly appalled by it at. How are our children expected to learn when their teachers are not teaching correctly? There are quite a few grammatical errors that get on my nerves especially those surrounding public advertising/notices and teaching etc. I'm by no means an English language expert but it's the basics that really get me...grrrrrrrr

Pippibluestocking that's what I mean. How are our children expected to get good grades etc when they're being taught wrong?

Just to be clear, as an example I have GCSE grade C in Maths grade A in English and A levels in other subjects including my specialism, and a degree in my specialism. If every teacher needed an A level in Maths there wouldn't be many teachers!!!! Very very difficult A level and only for the mathematically gifted!

YANBU.

The spelling and grammar levels of some teachers these days depresses me, quite frankly.

Having said that, are you sure it was written by the teacher, and not by a TA? Not that all TAs make mistakes of this nature, I hasten to add!

SqueekyToy how I'd love to be a proof reader. Spelling mistakes tend to jump out at me when I'm reading and distracts me from the subject!

I once pulled a manager about her notices that regularly had spelling mistakes in them. Her somewhat frosty response was 'I'm sick of people always telling me my notices are wrong. I always spell-check them so know I am right and you and the others don't know what you're talking about!' When I explained that she was probably using an American spell checker as she spelt things with a Z where we'd use an S (criticize instead of criticise, organize instead of organise etc) or using 'er' ending instead of 're' (center instead of centre or liter instead of litre etc) she said she'd bought the computer in England so knew it was correct.... There's just no helping some people!

I cringe at spelling mistakes made by teachers in reports, worksheets and other documents that should be written with care.

The example, though, seems to have been written in a hurry, at the end of a lesson when perhaps several pupils needed attention. He started to write 'X has been amazing today.' and got sidetracked, didn't re-read the start of the sentence and it got in a mess.

I can't excuse the spelling mistake but some people write s and z in a similar way. The capital letter might have been a way of stressing the word. Science teachers can be a bit weird like that.

He wanted to give her encouragement, and she seems to have felt encouraged.

"I'm honestly appalled by it"

seesh. I have a PhD in physics, but would have failed A-level English. My English isn't the best, but I'm pretty good at teaching science. Would you rather a worse teacher taught the subject provided their English was 100% correct. As Cat64 said, focus on the fact the teacher seems to taking such an interest.

Providing parent explains the error then get over it.

Hey my DD1 had a math teacher last year who didn't speak english,nothing surprises me

cat64 and ilovesooty It was written by the teacher at the end of the lesson. She has an extra 15 minutes at the end of certain lessons to praise her behaviour or say where improvement's needed. I agree that it's a huge thing that something was written and am so proud of her and often tell her so. Unfortunately this teacher has the mistakes in his end of year reports too. Mind you like you said maybe he's pushed for time etc so I do get your point. Maybe I'm being a little precious and he was distracted or whatever.

I guess I'm just a little more shocked when the teachers all know her reading and writing skills are very poor (her academic age is around half her actual age) and then make mistakes that she may pick up on.