to think English teachers should be able to spell?

[teenyweenytadpole]

DD is yr 7 so just started new school, just as background she is excellent at English, put forward for level 6 SATs (got a high 5 in the end which she was delighted with). Anyway I was looking through her school books and noticed her English teacher had commented "I liked how each sentence had some good descripsion" and then added "check to see theres no missing words". So poor spelling, poor grammar and poor punctuation! I am not very impressed but feel if I comment to the school it seems kind of petty. I just think it's a shame, English is DD's best subject and I would hope that she would be taught by teachers with a more impressive command of the language than this.

[confusedpixie]

YANBU. I'd give a bit of slack to a teacher in a different subject, but poor spelling and grammar in English is not good. This is the teacher that the children are supposed to emulate in the way of their written communications and if the teacher cannot get these correct then there will be problems!

I had a GCSE English teacher who was German, she spelt flawlessly and her grammar was perfect, but because her accent was so strong she sometimes struggled to pronounce the longer words that one would typically learn through hearing an educated person say, which has made life interesting over the years
Cannot think of any examples right now though!

[LRDtheFeministDragon]

kickass is right it could be an unfortunate one-off slip.

But if it continues, it is an issue, because your DD will be reading the comments and probably isn't solid on the spelling/grammar herself yet.

[YokoUhOh]

Over 20 years ago, when I was at primary school, I corrected my Headteacher, who had written 'seperate' on the board. He came back with, 'you can spell it either way'. So it's not just the younger generation of teachers failing to be able to spell.

[SchmancyPants]

I am an English teacher and am horrified at this. I would be writing to the head of English, enclosing a photocopy of the page.

[sassytheFIRST]

As an English teacher myself, this appears to be appalling. BUT, before you take any action do just check that it is the teacher's comment - it is possible that this work has been peer assessed and these errors are those of a child.

[talkingnonsense]

Have you checked it was the teacher and not peer marking/ a TA/ cover from another teacher? Just to be sure!

[AViewfromtheFridge]

Peer assessment could be a good shout actually - the comments do sound a bit child-like.

[talkingnonsense]

Have you checked it was the teacher and not peer marking/ a TA/ cover from another teacher? Just to be sure!

[AuntieStella]

Maybe the way to ask is to inquire if the piece was peer marked, because of the spelling and grammar errors, and how those markings will be corrected as that is required both for the pupil making the error and for your own DC who should see accuracy in markings (in case she misattributes mistakes to the teacher, which could be retrograde for her learning of accurate and effective use of English).

[Bonsoir]

It is ridiculous to suggest that parents should have to meet teachers' professional standards themselves before being allowed to complain.

[Brycie]

It's not ageism, it just the standard of education. If teachers were at primary when it was faddy to not oppress chidren with spelling and punctuation, and leave it to the parents, then they won't be able to spell or use punctuation unless they had parents to teach them. That's elitism in practice!

[quirrelquarrel]

The PhD student teaching us 1st years French spelled a few words wrong on the board....it's her flipping first language!

[Brycie]

Yoko, perhaps it's been going on for a lto longer then, since look and say. The emphasis is still now on creativity over accuracy and not wanting to upset children with too much red pen. The results were predictable then and hosuldn't be surprising now.

[Brycie]

and yes yes about my typing

[Thewidewideworld]

To me, as an English teacher, that sounds very like it could be a piece of peer marking by another pupil. Have you asked your DD about this? I don't know a single English teacher whose standard of spelling, grammar and punctuation is as poor as that, although I agree that if this was written by the teacher it should be picked up on.

[anewyear]

I agree with Bonsoir,
Im crap at spelling and maths , when it needs to reasonably legible I use a dictionary/spell check or calculator to do my maths.
How hard is that?

[Thewidewideworld]

I am willing to bet any money that the teacher didn't write that comment. But carry on teacher-bashing everyone why don't you?

[echt]

Of course it could have been peer marking, but how is insisting on perfect spelling and grammar for English teachers teacher bashing?

[Brycie]

Wide world, what is the point of peer marking then if that is the standard. The teacher should be doing it. So either the teahcer is getting it wrong or she has that kind of standards in her class and is not picking up on it and allowing it to be passed around. Peer marking is pointless if that is what is going on.

[Brycie]

If standards are that low at age 11 the teacher should know and should be doing the marking herself.

[Brycie]

Also it's not necessarily teacherbashing, more bashing the basic education standards that allow this to happen. If they werent taught, and corrected and told it's importnat, that's what they'll teach to children.

[mollymole]

It is not acceptable from an English teacher and I would check with them who exactly had written these comments. If it is the teacher then the school needs to have a word with them.

It is not teacher bashing, it is some one who may/may not be carrying out their job to an acceptable standard.

[Bonsoir]

Indeed, much parental anger at incompetent schools/teachers/educational establishment is conveniently labelled "teacher bashing" when it is nothing of the sort.

We are all quite justified in feeling intense frustration and anger at having to put up with state suppliers which do a less than adequate job.

[TheGOLDCunnyFunt]

My secondary school english teacher for yrs9, 10 and 11 was dyslexic, I don't think she ever made any glaring mistakes!

[Diamondsareagirls]

I would keep an eye on it to see if this is a one off or not. It may have been a long day when she marked that and we are all human! If you spot the mistakes happening again you should contact the Head of Department.