Aibu regarding bad spelling & grammar in DD's report?

[ItWentInMyEye]

As the title suggests, my DD received her school report last week and it is littered with bad spelling and poor grammar. I'm quite annoyed as A) my daughter's teacher is capable of these things and B) that the Deputy Head has supposedly signed it off! (Implying she has read and approved it, however the signature looks printed to me) So aibu to comment on these things in a polite way on the form I have to return tomorrow? I've put it off because I'm torn between looking like an arsehole and the fact that a teacher should -in my eyes at least- be able to spell and write sentences correctly. Help!!!

I think you have to assume the op is in the UK and would naturally expect her child to be taught English spellings, Evergreen.

Given how many posts you've made this morning, you've easily had time to list all the mistakes in your child's report. I would like this discussion to be informed by the actual evidence - all of it.

I make typing mistakes here all the time. This is not a newspaper

OP is referring to her child's school report, which is different than MN you see?

I'm American so I lapse into 'color' occasionally, but if I were teaching English in the UK I'd use 'colour'. That said, I don't sense that this is the crux of the matter.

And, agreed, Mumsnet is not a newspaper and we all make typing errors here all the time. But what has that got to do with a child's school report?

Given how many posts you've made this morning, you've easily had time to list all the mistakes in your child's report. I would like this discussion to be informed by the actual evidence - all of it.

Yes.

That last example you gave made me think the teacher is dyslexic. My ds is dyslexic and colour is always a word he struggles with. But he is not a teacher. Your dc is finished with this teacher now so l wouldn't say anything. As for reading them in future ours take out all their reports and have a great laugh reading them. They would think it's hilarious now to see lots of spelling mistakes on a teachers report.

I'm all for correct spelling and grammar but l don't think drawing attention to it will help your dc teacher or you.

More typos.... that is nothing to do with spelling and grammar. I suspect it's down to editing reports - she has been changing the report lots. However, it has not been edited thoroughly by the teacher or the deputy.

Yabu to call them spelling and grammar errors.

But....we aren't in America! And the teacher isn't American! Plus, why spell is two different ways in one sentence? As I've said, my mum is a teacher of 30 odd years so I'm well aware of the workload.

I am a teacher, and would absolutely want - and expect - a comment to be made.

One way to raise it might be 'I know that all your reports are checked carefully, and [your child in another class]'s report was really accurate - I just wondered whether a draft version of DD's report was sent home by accident, as it looked as if it hadn't been proofread yet?'

I proofread mine again for the last time the night before printing them, and still picked up a couple of typos or other errors - but I do also know that in a previous year an incorrect version of the reports were printed in error, so we re-issued them all. By suggesting a 'process' error rather than a 'teacher' error, you aren't pointing a finger but you are raising an issue.

In the past, i have had to entirely re-write a colleague's reports, and they then had additional training and support to ensure it didn't happen again.

Difficult one. A report should not contain spelling mistakes, typos or variations in spellings that it true.

Humans make mistakes when typing, plenty of evidence on here, but if you're sending something out proofreading it (or even just reading it once again a short while after you've written it).

Difficulty here is whether to 'tell' or not. My inclination would be no, because how can you do it without it being massively awkward correcting what is a one off incident. If you were to be in the school discussing the report the it'd be easier.

Though then again it'd be better for the teacher if she isn't checking what she's sending out to realise she should, especially if yours isn't the only poor one.

What were the grammar mistakes? So far it could be put down to being to speedy combine with auto correct and typos.

Seems badly checked to me rather than the teacher not understanding how to use correct grammar.

I'd still be annoyed and would ask for proofing of reports to be improved. As a teacher who does proof reports as part of my job I think that's fair enough.

The 'she is likes' mistake is a common reporting error- you get so used to writing 'Matilda is a personable pupil and she is learning to...' or similar it is easy to type the 'is' on autopilot even in a sentence where it isn't warranted.

Just out of interest in your surname towards the end of the alphabet? Seems like the report was done in a rush.

All of this are reasons but not a justification though- it should have been proof read more accurately.

Color is not a legitimate spelling of colour in this country. It's on my six year old's spelling list this week and he'd get it marked wrong if he spelt it color. It's probably a spellcheck issue but these reports should have been checked properly

at those saying you got the gist so what does it matter. It's a written report - accuracy and presentation matter. That's what the teachers are supposed to be teaching our children. If I got a CV in like that it would be straight on the reject pile.

Me writing a sentence or two is different to typing out a 5 section A4 piece of writing!

Oh and agree with 'was this a draft report?' approach. I used this last year when DS's report referred to the excellent progress Thomas had made when his name is not anything close to Thomas.

Yes you could ask if it's a draft. Just remember that it doesn't reflect on the teacher's spelling and grammar, but it does on their editing skills (unless it really is a draft!)

" at those saying you got the gist so what does it matter. "

I agree!

She is one of the last on the register, yes.

Thanks all, I've not mentioned it as I don't want to end a good year on a bad note. I know teachers have a million and one things to do/think about at any given time, I don't want to add to the stress. Especially given that I didn't want a replacement report. I suppose without seeing reports for the other kids in DD's class I wouldn't know if this is a one off, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The report is accurate and truthful, and maybe I've built it up in my mind to be a bigger deal than it is.

I think if its that bad then perhaps go with the suggestion made earlier about mentioning that the spell checker doesn't appear to have been working and although you have no problem with what is written, you don't want to embarrass the teacher by passing it around family members who will also notice the mistakes.

I don't think it reflects the way that your DD has been taught, probably quite the opposite. If the teacher has been sloppy with the reports its because she's been putting her efforts into the other things that she does for the class. I honestly wouldn't worry about that at all!

I'm a teacher, I think that morale is very, very low at the moment and the reason I suggested not saying anything wasn't because I think that errors are ok - they're absolutely not - but with all things considered, it would only serve to make the teacher feel a bit crap. Not great at the end of the year when they're all already feeling crap. However, if you do it nicely and face to face then I'm sure the teacher would be more than happy to correct the errors and give you a fixed version.

Yes you should comment on it; it is not acceptable for teachers to use poor grammar and spelling. The grammar may be the result of trying to combine individual pre-written statements, (more trouble than they are worth), coherently, but the spelling is entirely the teacher's responsibility.
So,for the benefit of the teacher who said she would like to know: sentence, not sentance .

Of course you should comment on it. It is up to the teacher to ensure that their computer has the right spellcheck on it. Color is incorrect in UK English, therefore it is incorrect! I would have though teachers teach their pupils to proofread their own work, therefore I'd expect them to do it themselves. In fact, I'd expect any professional to proofread a report before sending it out. Writing reports is part of the job, it's not something teachers are asked to do as a favour.

Just say that it could have done with a more thorough proofread.

I do think that the teacher should know - if it was a genuine mistake and the report hadn't been proof-read, then she will want to correct it.

If it has been a result of sloppy process within the school, e.g. not enough time for proofreading by the senior member of staff, that needs to be revised for next year.

And if the teacher genuinely finds extended written English difficult, then more training / coaching / support can be given (the year I had to re-write a colleague's reports was not their first year in teaching, but the problem had simply never been addressed. That colleague has since gone on to a job in which creating professional written reports is a very key part of the role, which could never have happened without the extra training)

How would you word it without sounding like an arse though? I don't want it to override us being pleased with the report as a whole.

I also think that if this has genuinely been a really good year with this teacher, having a report that raises doubts about the teacher is actually a worse way to end the year (with lingering suspicion) that pointing out that there are errors and then receiving a correct report would be IYSWIM?

A bit like one's opinion of a company or service is formed much more by how they manage when something goes wrong rather than how they perform when everything is toddling on nicely.

'X has had a really great year in you class....[add more positive things here]... but I wonder whether her report missed the proof-reading process?'

Sorry, croos-post:

'We were really pleased with X's report, and feel that you know her very well. i did just wonder whether we had been sent a draft copy or whether it missed the proof-reading process, though - would it be possible for us to have a corrected copy? [Add more complimentary things about the class teacher here]'

Cross-post, obviously. Proofreading.....