My job share teacher has poor spelling

[Frustratedteacher1]

I'm a part time KS1 primary who has been working with a different partner for a few months. I've noticed that her spelling is not good... Some examples...

'defiantly' instead of 'definitely'
'scalf' for 'scarf'
'breath' for 'breathe'
'hibinate' for 'hibernate'
'to' when it should be 'too'

And then just general lack of apostrophes and commas.

I'm certainly not perfect but I feel these are pretty basic spellings for a primary school teacher and it's making me frustrated that children are being shown incorrect spellings.

Am I being picky? Would you be bothered if your child's teacher was making these mistakes?

That's literally her job. I think you have to escalate to management.

I'd be bothered. I know there are people who will say huffily that 'I'm dyslexic!' (and I've worked with some of them) - but if you are dyslexic and can't spell basic words then use a dictionary or spell checker.

I fail to see how you can teach primary if you are this poor at spelling.

It's fine to be a teacher with poor spelling if you know you are and make sure you have a list of required words or check, or get a student to check, but it's not ok to guess.

I'd just say to your HOD that you're worried people might think it was you and can she be gently told she's a rubbish speller who needs a strategy.

That's very poor indeed. How can she teach literacy if her own is so bad? I'm all for not being toooo picky about perfect spelling in, say, a secondary school physics teacher, but primary school teachers need to be good at this stuff. My dc's primary school teachers made spelling mistakes, but none as woeful as those.

Those are awful. She could at least use spell check.

I'd be very bothered. I find that my DS is often marked down for his work and has his work "corrected" when he is in fact correct in the first place. Drives me mad. Children have to be shown the correct spelling repeatedly so they can learn it correctly. Even hearing actors/presenters saying "me and them ..." pisses me off. Spelling and grammar is generally quite straightforward once you know the rules.

I had this with a colleague! We weren't partners but she was teaching a couple of years below. I did raise with the Head, who had already picked up on it. All correspondence sent home via the secretary had to be rewritten/ proofed. Nothing actually came of it as we were and remain short staffed. Argh.

Okay, these replies are a relief! Honestly, I'm NOT perfect at all, but these mistakes just seem sooooo basic to me.

Also these mistakes are ones I've spotted on displays she has done, or on the board when it hasn't been wiped off, and the 'defiantly' one was on a school report that I luckily checked!

A problem is that she has taught at the school longer than me and is much-loved. How do I say anything without sounding like an utter arse?!

I'd find this so difficult!
Many years ago I was a ta and I worked with a teacher whose spelling and grammar was appalling.
She even regularly wrote 'your a star' when marking work 😳
I tried to (very delicately) tackle it once but she wasn't the sort of teacher who ever treated me as an equal so it didn't go well....

I agree with the others that this is bad. It’s one thing not to know how to spell these words but surely looking at some of them you should know they’re incorrect.

I've seen examples of poor teaching practice over the years (as I'm sure I'd have seen poor practice in any profession) and not once have I been so unable to form a professional opinion that I've felt the need to consult Mumsnet.

@sanityisamyth of course “me and them” can be right.

For example, said actor saying: “The stunt team worked so hard on the set of ‘The Fall Guy’ that it was totally fair the Academy gave the award to me and them”.

In answer to the original OP, I’d be fucking appalled if my kid’s teacher displayed this kind of spelling. I’m zero tolerance on even the use of “practice” when it’s the verb and so should be “practise”.

I am a SPAG nightmare parent.

I’d get out the ol’ red pen and start marking and handing it all back to her.
You could always say “If you weren’t aware…”
There is absolutely no excuse for a teacher to make such easy misspellings.
Maybe she’s careless. Maybe she’s NO — there’s no excuse.
She should be shocked into performance.
Or she should be sitting in a desk facing you, and honestly OP, I don’t care who she is or how long she’s worked there. That she’s been there for so long makes it a thousand times worse.

My apologies for ranting - you’ve hit on my biggest pet peeve.
When famous people on tv say “Joe and I” instead of “Joe and me” it makes me want to SCREAM.
lol

This is basic subject knowledge. I'm amazed SLT haven't picked up on it during observations. Perhaps have a chat with the Literacy co-ordinator?

If you know you are rubbish at spelling a) read more, given that this is what you tell the kids and b) check your work! It makes the clever kids, who can spell, think you're a bit dim.

DD1 had a student teacher last year who couldn't spell. Combined with the fact she was sexist and unable to pronounce words correctly (probably linked to the bad spelling) we were all very relieved to see the back of her. Sorry if she's teaching your kid this year.

Yes. Talk to the Head with examples.

It should be 'them and me' in that case. The other person goes first.

Them and me ...

Why don't you share your superior abilities with the OP so that she and others who've said it's a dilemma can learn from you?

@CaptainMyCaptain

Which person of two conjoined people is mentioned first is a political/etiquette question, not a grammar one.

Does she have dyslexia or similar? I think the key for me is does she know and put in place strategies for important things. You’re right I’d expect teachers to spell those words but they’re also relatively uncommon in the line of work and so wouldn’t necessarily fall under her strategies. Definitely worth a quick chat with HOD or line manager to enquire about it if you feel you can’t raise it with her directly

I once went to cover another teacher's class while she had a meeting. It was a primary 7 class and the teacher had left work to do. After I set them off to do their task I went round to check how they were getting wrong and every single child in the class was using apostrophes when writing writing plurals (e.g. Jack has six ball's). I stopped them all and explained to the whole class that this was incorrect. The children told me that the teacher had taught them to write using them that way, I wasn't sure whether or not to believe them and asked if they were sure. One girl said yes, they literally did a lesson on it the day before and pulled down the whiteboard to show the lesson from the previous day where the teacher had written out numerous examples of how to use apostrophes, all wrong! She was a very young newly qualified teacher so I quietly told her when she was back and she took it on board.

I'm an English teacher (secondary) and honestly I despair of the standard of literacy amongst both primary and secondary teachers these days. The academic standard of entrants to the profession has been declining for years as no one wants to become a teacher anymore, so courses require lower grades than they used to when I trained.

I've taught alongside English teachers who can't spell and say it's fine because the kids can relate to them because they've got dyslexia, too. No, I'm sorry - if your job requires you to be able to spell and punctuate accurately, as well as correct other people's errors with language, and you can't do that, then you need to pursue another career. It's our job to teach children the right way of doing things - if we can't do or understand something to the required level, then we shouldn't be teaching it.

I would take this to the Headteacher or whoever is in charge of teaching quality in your school. I certainly wouldn't let it go. The fact that you even feel you have to ask shows the absolute state our education system is in these days!

Ooh hark at you!

Call me naive but how are people who can’t spell able to become teachers of literacy?

Well, she has four choices doesn't she?

Raise it with their phase leader; ignore it; raise it with the teacher concerned; correct it herself.

What other options are there?

What else can anyone else here say?