Heartbroken about DS's teacher

[Bluetie]

DS is a great kid. He's smart, funny, musical and sporty. He is also incredibly polite and has a caring nature. He is always winning awards at school, and is liked by all. DS attends a lovely small school with only 2 year-groups.

His previous teachers were OK but in year 3, he's had the most wonderful teacher, Mr T. Mr T is DS's first male teacher and they also share a hobby. Mr T has really helped DS develop his confidence, pushing him more in academics. DS has had a great year.

DS is now moving to year 4. Mr T is also moving to year 4. But they won't be together. All the classes have been mixed to mix abilities, sexes and SEN.

One morning this week, I went to ask Mr T if this class allocation was final. The head came to join our conversation, and he said he will only move DS for an exceptional reason. The head added that the new teacher has made the best progress in her year group across the whole school. I really want DS to stay with Mr T.

Can anyone think of something?

Yes. How can someone be a great teacher if they routinely teach children to spell wrongly?

Sorry @Buntycat I 100% agree with you.. I quoted the wrong post by mistake.

Phew!

Amazing how this thread has turned around........

Has it? I still think the OP is being UR with her original issue. I just agree that teachers should be able to spell.

Do you mean *doesn't stop them being a great teacher?

There is so much more to education than spelling, a good teacher requires many skills. Nurture & understanding to begin, to make each student feel that they can achieve their dreams, to give them confidence, to show them that getting things wrong or making mistakes is also an important part of learning - there's nothing worse than a child scared to try because of the fear of failure. A good teacher is able to make learning feel exciting, get children curious, inquisitive, gives them a voice & the drive to want to know more, to push themselves out of their comfort zone, whilst knowing when to ease off too, a teacher shows equality & is inclusive.... Without this, it could be the most educationally gifted person in the entire world teaching our children, but it would mean nothing.

Thanks, but as a primary teacher and headteacher I know all about what makes a good teacher! I agree with everything you say (it sounds like many job applications I have read). But a teacher who demonstrates all those qualities but teaches children things that are incorrect is not a "great teacher", though they may well have fantastic teaching skills.

I have had teachers with spelling difficulties in my school and have no problem with that, as long as they recognise their problem, acknowledge their difficulty to the children and model how to overcome it by double-checking, using dictionaries and word lists, etc. That is much easier with older primary children.

But teaching five-year-olds incorrect spellings? No. That is no more acceptable than teaching them incorrect arithmetic "facts" would be.

All those qualities make a good teacher yes but at the end of the day, in Y1 with the phonics screening test etc, a good teacher needs to be able to spell words like:

Chill
Finger
Dentist
Phone

All those things make them a good teacher in that they can teach the children what they know, but that's no good if they don't know what the children need to learn.