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!!!

[CancellyMcChequeface]

I'd probably mention it.

I used to proofread reports at the school I worked in. Teachers that I knew had a very high standard of English still made occasional typos and other mistakes, because it happens to everyone and when you're writing that many reports it can be difficult to catch your own errors. In your situation I wouldn't be questioning the teacher's literacy but would be unhappy about the lack of proofreading. Sending home reports littered with errors is, IMO, unprofessional.

The only 'mistake' I ever got judgy about was when a girl was repeatedly referred to in her report as he/him or vice versa - evidence of very careless copy/pasting!

[AppleSetsSail]

I'm surprised at so many people here condoning typos in a school report.
At the very least it looks sloppy, the same as it would in a business letter. That is, assuming they WERE typos - if not then it's really a matter for concern.

As far as mistakes go, typos reflect (as you say) sloppiness rather than substandard English. If someone is writing hundreds of reports, they might be forgiven for the odd typo.

That said, the kinds of typos that the OP has described would be picked up by spellcheck so I'm baffled.

[WankersHacksandThieves]

I think our reports tell you fuck all anyway, they are mainly populated with a series of standard paragraphs selected from a database. Usually they have mistakes such as the wrong name or gender used. Now they are only online so you don't get any paper copy.

[Lilly948204]

I am a teacher and really struggle with spelling, always have from when I was little. I have a first class science degree but couldn't pass a spelling test to save my life. However whenever I write in pupils books, or on letters/reports home etc I always check my spelling. In secondary school we don't really write detailed reports like they do in primary, but I always make sure my spelling is correct. When I mark books I sit at the computer and use spell check for my comments. As a teacher we are always picking up pupils for their incorrect spellings so it would be hypocritical of me not to model what we want them to do.

I would point out the mistakes in the report, in a polite and non nasty way, this teacher needs to realise what she has done, it reflects badly on her and badly on the school. I would rather be told if it was me.

[Shizzlestix]

Teacher here, secondary. I had Years 7, 8 and 9 to complete to the same deadline. They open on a certain date, so no extra time available. Before printing, I proof read and spellcheck is available. Write, read through, press spell check, save. We don't use statement banks and I like to personalise reports. They are then proof read twice by senior management and errors are highlighted and reports sent back for correcting. I think it's pretty important to ensure correct reports are sent out as it does give a poor impression of the school otherwise.

I think it would be unreasonable to request a new report but not unreasonable to point it out to the management.