Teacher using the B - word.

[Cabanabar]

My sons Geography teacher has upset him by calling his handwriting ‘bad.’ Son is very dyslexic, has an EHCP and is in Year 7 of a mainstream boys school. Truth be told his handwriting is pretty illegible due to his difficulties with spelling and punctuation, but I feel he needs encouragement from teachers not this kind of negative language. The school has an intake of over 40% EHCP kids, if you’re wondering why I sent him there. I thought they would be more sensitive to issues surrounding dyslexia. I am thinking of making a complaint to the Head. AIBU?

I thought you meant the teacher called your child a bitch or a bastard and was defining the ‘that’s unacceptable’ side but ‘bad’ is just factual in this case surely?

This generation is a bunch of ❄️❄️

Did you suggest any help / advice from all your years of teaching experience?

Or did you just say "Improve it"?

Because that's not helpful

Also, in secondary, you don’t complain to the head unless you have exhausted other avenues first, such as the teacher themselves, their head of department or head of year. The head wouldn’t even see your email.

My son is 15 and is severely dyslexic and his writing is very hard to read (not because it's untidy but because of the errors).

He's had school reports home previously that have crushed him because of it.

I won't let school do that to him and have pulled them up on it numerous times. He can't help having special educational needs. School have improved!

Heads of year don’t line manage staff, they are usually pastoral. I would go to the head of department and ask them to clarify with the staff member what was said.

This thread is a let down

Surely the child just needs to practice? My handwriting was awful, my mum made me do some on an evening to improve. In high school kids are being taught a lot of content in not a lot of time, when can they practice?

Some children have real issues with the co-ordination, grip etc to improve their handwriting.

I have appalling handwriting. I found it hard at school. DS is the same but he has a laptop. It makes such a difference as he can get over what he wants to say without having to worry about if people can read his work.

After all, it's the content that's important.

I teach several students with terrible handwriting, for various reasons. Getting them to actually engage in handwriting sessions is incredibly hard work.
If his handwriting is illegible, it would be worth asking the SENCO about a scribe or access to a word processor.
Contacting the head about a teacher using the word "bad" to describe something bad would be daft, frankly.

God I'm glad I never qualified. Could not be arsed with this bollocks.

B-words that I'd consider to be offensive to say about someone's handwriting

Bastard
Bitch
Bollocking
Bollocks

'Bad?' Well fuck me. Let's tell everyone they're wonderful so they never have to improve.

God talk about click bait. Why on earth couldn’t you write ‘bad’ in your title? It’s no wonder your DS is over sensitive?

I too thought the B word was probably 'bastard' or 'what the buggery bloody?' (Edina said that in AbFab). Well balls to you for disappointing us, op.

You can't be cross with a teacher for telling the truth unless she made it public. She wasn't blaming your son for his poor handwriting, just stating a fact.

A laptop is the way forward I think. They are frequently used in exams, my friend's daughter had to use one for her veterinary surgeon exams because of her decorative, illegible handwriting.

I’m amazed this hasn’t got 100% YANBU. Of course a teacher shouldn’t be shaming a child about something that they can’t help. I doubt anyone would think it was fine to call a wheelchair using year 7 bad at PE, even though it may be true.
If the teacher was trying to be helpful they don’t know much about children/young people. The way to increase effort is to give them a sense you believe in them.

I came on to find out whether is the "B" word was bitch or bastard.

Didn't we all.

I was expecting 'bitch'

For some bizarre reason I thought the B word was going to be Brexit!

Wow, you’re going to complain to the Head about a teacher commenting on bad handwriting. Of all the concerns that people have about their kids education: lack of TA support in lessons, lack of specialist teachers, covid catch up lessons, whether the heating is on, whether kids have enough to eat, lack of EAL provision available your concern is certainly the most dire.

Don’t complain to the head. Maybe speak to the teacher to ask if they have any advice or resources to improve handwriting. ‘Bad’ isn’t used much any more in education from what I see, so it can be surprising to hear it. But it’s not worth complaining about.

Dyslexia is tough for kids and adults. And I would expect more support around the handwriting issue.

Do you know anything about children?

When they get to senior school they tend not to trust adults who won't be straight with them. If they don't trust the adult to tell them when their work is bad, they're never going to trust them when they say it's good either.

Now they could have used the word 'illegible' which is the one the OP personally favours, but they chose to use a different one which in this context, means exactly the same thing.

The most important thing here is that the teacher provides support and guidance to help the pupil improve, and there is absolutely no evidence from the disappearing OP, that that isn't the case.

Oh fgs. His writing is bad. I don't believe in humiliating pupils or using derogatory language to them. But banning the word 'bad'? Seriously? My ds' handwriting is pretty bad. He is well aware of this.

I had what was considered shocking, or doctor's (ho ho ho) handwriting nearly 40 years ago. But looking back at it, it's nowhere as bad as some of the writing I see now, even though my writing is worse these days. I've been teaching and examining a long time and the number of kids with properly illegible writing has shot up over the last 10 years. Used to be hardly any properly illegible writers.Yes, there have always been the kids you take longer marking, but a lot of what I see tends to be along the lines of just squiggles.

Do you practise handwriting at home? Is it big and sprawling or tiny and cramped? There's more of a chance understanding big and sprawling.I think a lot is down to kids only ever writing in school though, too.

B word-are you 7?! I thought you meant bollocks!

No wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves-they can’t say anything!