Should I correct a teacher?

[Sadgirlonatrain]

In my son's recent geography homework, one of the questions on the sheet referred to the decline of coal mining in the North East.

"How would this of effected the area?"

No wonder the use of 'would of' is so widespread now, never mind the incorrect use of 'effected.'

Would you say anything to the school?

it does the profession no favours at all is an odd statement in my mind. I am not responsible for the literacy levels of half a million teachers. I am not at all surprised that teachers with low literacy levels are teaching. Noone else wants to. That's why strikes have to happen. Encourage competent people back to the profession so that schools can turn down candidates with low literacy levels, instead of seeing there's an issue and having to hire as there's literally no one else.

You’ve said she’s a good geography teacher. Do you have evidence she’s making the same mistake repeatedly? It’s so easy to make a written error like that when you’re a bit tired or momentarily distracted. You can easily write what you hear in your head…

Of course it’s not ideal and we all want our kids to have good spelling and grammar. But in a geography class, what’s the priority? If you gave every teacher a SPAG test and only retained the ones with top notch skills, you’d probably lose some wonderful and inspiring teachers… and possibly keep some very dull ones.

I have a friend who teaches drama. By her own admission, she is dreadful at nitty gritty written grammar but she is a really inspiring teacher who engages and inspires. Are we saying only people with fantastic SPAG should be allowed into the profession? I’m pretty good at SPAG (hope there are no awful errors here) but I’d be a terrible teacher…

But you are very rude about supply teachers and those who choose to stay in the profession.

Also, what does 'scum of the earth' mean for you? Do you mean that you are treated like 'dirt'? Or do you think that there are people in society who are, to use the hackneyed and vile cliche, 'scum' and you don't want to be categorised with them?

What is your 'subject shortage' and how can children benefit from it? I understand what 'skill set' and 'experience' are, in relation to your valued attributes, but what is the other?

It isn't 'terrible' pay, surely? It may not equate to some salaries, but it's better than some other salaries.

I don't think it helps the cause of teachers to exaggerate all the grievances, and use lots of inflammatory terms, like 'scum of the earth' and ' absolutely hound me'. It doesn't help non-teachers to understand what you are meaning. It's obvious to most people that you must have a relatively nice quality of life, if you are not working for thirteen weeks of the year and able to spend holiday time with your own kids, to travel and to recover from the stress of working. That is a great perk. That is better than many employees experience. It's just so obvious that this is a major advantage of the employment. Any work you need doing on the house, or visits to relatives can be comfortably fitted in within school holidays. Why make out every aspect of teaching is hellish?

Behaviour in the classroom is a major problem for teachers - and money for resources. But a parent pointing out grammatical errors isn't.

If a solicitor spelt your name wrongly on a conveyancing exchange document, or sent an email to you, meant for somebody else ( common mistakes I've known to be made) then they'd apologise and reassure about confidentiality. The whole reason professionals earn a lot is that they hold themselves to standards. Standards which suggest deeper layers of expertise and understanding. It's ok for teachers to make typos and loss of concentration mistakes, but not so great to say that these don't matter and parents are embarrassing themselves by pointing them out.

TAs earn less than teachers and often do a lot of explaining the tasks to kids and managing behaviour. The distinction between teachers and assistant teachers is that the trained ones are supposed to have some greater academic training and appreciation of rights and equality discourse. Using scathing language about supply teachers and those who stay in the profession doesn't suggest an understanding of how to, and how not to, speak about people.

I've been in teaching for a while and it's becoming harder and harder to recruit good staff. It is a problem if any teacher of any subject can't spell properly. A couple of typos is different to this mistake.

Pay properly unless you want standards to keep dropping.

I thought we were meant to live in a market economy whereby if there was a shortage of something the amount one has to pay for it goes up?
Or does that only apply to ensure that the rich get richer?

I have yet to meet a teacher who has 13 weeks holiday a year. Can you point one out to me?

Teachers can make mistakes. If it was a regular thing then I’d be concerned but if it is a one off then maybe just leave it.

Is the home work written by the teacher or is it a generic worksheet type thing?? Has the child copied it down from the board/dictation ??

Also, some teachers are actually dyslexic. Not illiterate. Just be careful not to be rude if putting in a complaint. It could be a simple oversight/typo/autocorrect.

I wouldn’t complain I would just mention it to them, there is no need to put a complaint in.

If mentioning the error is going to affect how the teacher treats her son then they definitely shouldn't be teaching at all.

I am always baffled by the number of people who cannot tell the difference between affect and effect. It's just one of those things that some people cannot do, like switching on the correct hob plate or reverse parking. It really is no big deal.

If you're crowing victoriously about such a minor thing, this indicates a limited brain, where spelling is the pinnacle of your intellect. I suggest you continue to take advantage of the free service given to your child by degree-educated professionals and stop looking for ways to undermine your child's teacher.

So sorry to the headteacher who dared to have a break and read mn!!
As a teacher I would want this pointing out to me. I would use it with the class as a teaching point that even adults make mistakes. My year 3 class know that it is would / should/ could have even if they don't consistently apply it in their writing. (Like a pp, if my family ever got a text from me saying 'would of', they would know I've been abducted!!) By y6 they should know whether to use affect or effect.
Oh and btw, I don't work Thursdays before I get a bashing!

Grammar and spelling mistakes on mn I can cope with because of the lack of function for editing your posts.

Who is crowing victoriously? The OP is concerned that basic literacy isn't being upheld.

I'm not sure why you need to take personal pops about the OP's intellect or why her posts indicate 'a limited brain'. It's like that 'argument' whereby people say if you swear it means you have a limited vocabulary.

Weird.

If you're crowing victoriously about such a minor thing, this indicates a limited brain, where spelling is the pinnacle of your intellect.

Nothing about this comment is correct!

It's just one of those things that some people cannot do, like switching on the correct hob plate or reverse parking. It really is no big deal.
If your bank is not very good at Maths and you end up thousands of pounds overdrawn because of it, would you merrily write it off as "just one of those things"? Is it "no big deal" if the people who are supposed to be the experts in the matter don't have systems in place to ensure that they can do the basics of the job right?

Was it a printed sheet? Send an email - point out breezily that you noticed a couple of typos on the sheet. Reporting to the head teacher would be OTT unless it is a recurrent issue.

I believe the ‘private sector’ is where bad state school teachers end up 😂

I wouldn't - there were too many other things - ds had a geography teacher who was obsessed with spelling, grammar and presentation. He destroyed my child's confidence and love of geography - and in the process no improvement was made in spag. That was something to complain about.

I am a teacher and English exam marker btw. "Would of" is considered a spelling error for marking purposes. I know it's not really a typo, but phrasing it this way when pointing it out is less awkward!

Going over the teacher's head to a head of year or something would be a real dick move and cause more stress and upset for her, rather than just quickly pointing out via email to her personally. Hopefully she will then review the rules and not make the mistake again.

I would be grateful if a parent pointed out some error to me. I would be extremely upset if they didn't give me a chance to correct it myself, and reported me to a superior!

We speak a lot about growth mindset in teaching and errors being an opportunity to learn. So this will give her an opportunity to practise growth mindset herself!

We are all human. We all make mistakes and we all have gaps in our knowledge. We can all learn and be better tomorrow, given the information and opportunity.

Oh FFS, are teachers not allowed a break in their working day now? What about at lunchtime, are they allowed to stop for a short while then?

Definitely Is why we have chosen private - state schools are often rubbish

You do realise people can teach in private schools without relevant subject degrees or any teaching qualifications? (Before private school teachers jump on me yes I know most will want to maintain standards, but just wanted to counter the ridiculous statement above.)

Definitely Is why we have chosen private - state schools are often rubbish
Some private schools are rubbish

She’s not teaching a subject which involves written work and SPAG. So her own grasp of it is irrelevant.

But not harsh when aimed at their lack of proofreading when sending out a written exam. To pupils who will assume that spelling is correct and may go on to reproduce it. And not just one mistake either so I doubt it’s a one-off. This is extremely lazy and careless.

It depends what is meant by "drama". E.g. Theatre Studies at A level involves a lot of written work and essays (at a similar level to English A level, but the focus is on analysing theatrical productions and the interpretation of plays for staging).