AIBU to expect my child's Year 1 teacher to spell correctly?

[PerkyShark]

DD is 5 and currently in Year 1. Every Monday, we get a new spelling list for a test on Friday, which I think is a great idea in theory. However, nearly every week there seems to be a glaring spelling mistake on the list.

A couple of weeks ago, "tarpoon" appeared instead of "harpoon." Last week, we had "Artic" instead of "Arctic." I brushed these off initially, but this week, THREE words are incorrect: "micture" (mixture), "nuture" (nature), and "murcury" (mercury).

I approached DD's class teacher politely to point this out, assuming she'd be mortified and promise to ensure it wouldn't happen again, but instead she shrugged it off, saying "human error is to be expected."

I'm also starting to worry, as these spelling lists are the only written examples I see regularly. It makes me question whether the teacher is consistently spelling things incorrectly during lessons or, even worse, not picking up on spelling mistakes my child might be making in her work.

AIBU to think that consistently misspelling words on weekly spelling lists undermines the purpose of the tests and possibly the children's learning? Or am I just being overly precious about something that doesn't really matter?

There seems to be a lot of debate on here about spell checkers but to me that’s missing the point completely. Surely no one employed as a teacher whether in the private or state sector, qualified or not, should need to use one and all the more so in the early years of primary school.
We can all make a mistake but the teacher’s comment that human error is to be expected is making light of the frequency with which they are occurring. I certainly wouldn’t be happy about that and I’d be questioning whether my money could be better spent. If a teacher is so careless about the work she’s sending home it would make me wonder how careless she is with other things

There is no legal requirement for QTS in independent schools. Might this be contributing to the problem?
Also, my nieces are early 30's and were taught to "sight read" at school. That's not great for supporting spelling skills. Is the teacher in that age group?

You don't need a QTS to be a teacher in an Academy either....

😂 My child is in secondary school. I have yet to see a homework assignment without misspellings. Also lots of, “you must use the attached booklet as a guide” with no attachment. It’s hopeless.

Unacceptable. If she’s setting it as prep for a test, then it needs to be correct. End of. Else why set a test?
I would send a gently-worded mail to the school head, explaining the issue, and the conversation.A teacher who isn’t fussed that they’re teaching children the wrong thing is a liability; it means that at some point the children will have to identify by themselves that what they were taught was wrong, and then learn the correct thing.

Is the list written by teachers or by the kids? My year 1 child has to write the list out himself and has on occasion spelt a word wrong. If the teachers are writing them in then that's clearly unacceptable. A typo in a printed sheet you could understand but not if they are handwritten.

I'm 70 and was taught to read that way rather than phonics. I don't have a problem in fact it could be trying to spell everything phonically that is leading to mistakes.

Seriously? You pay for this crap?

I was a TA in a primary lesson and watched in (hidden) horror as the teacher earnestly informed the Yr4 pupils that cavemen hunted dinosaurs for meat.

Afterwards when I quietly informed her that 'cavemen' and dinosaurs didn't co-exist by a gap of many millions of years she was openly skeptical.

It's a spelling test but she shrugs off her own misspelled examples....the mind boggles.

I taught English for 30+ years, took retirement to study and did some supply work. I’m ‘old-school’, grammar school.
I was horrified at the poor level
of SPAG of some teachers and office staff.
One example: I was given a set of worksheets containing the word ‘theirselfs’.
I refused to use it. I accessed it on the system, corrected it and printed off 30 copies.
What worries me about wrongly spelled word lists is that some parents might not recognise all the mistakes and help their children to learn the wrong spellings.
I also think, if the teacher is making such bad mistakes, what else is she doing wrong?

Wth? Maybe get that chip on your shoulder looked at?

My DC had this with their spellings years ago, also the head teacher used to write a monthly newsletter full to the brim with spelling mistakes. I told my kids I was going to mark it one day in red pen and send it back to him - I never did but was so tempted. The fact you are paying for this OP is even worse.

That's appalling. I'd be circling the teacher's spelling mistakes with a red pen, and I'd tell the head teacher how poor I think it is.

The teacher sounds thick. So thick that she can’t spell the most basic of words, and thicker still that she thinks ‘human error’ can be used as the justification for her stupidity. I wouldn’t be paying for this. In fact, I’d be asking for a refund on the grounds that she is clearly incapable of doing her job to the required standard.

This used to drive me mad when letters came home from school full of spelling mistakes.
I was often tempted to mark them in red pen and send them back with comments. Never did though!

I applied to do teacher training but was turned down as I didn't have any practical experience of working in a classroom. I was working full time in another job at the time and would have loved a change in career.

Well, I can tell you what happened at my DDs school (and for all of the gleeful anti independent school posts, it was a state school).

DD spelt the word Repeatedly, correctly.
The teacher marked it wrong and made her write it as Repeatidly, three times. (Rather ironic, given the word). I saw the evidence, in her work book, at an open evening.

The same school that insisted my DD was not dyslexic and didn’t have any issues that needed investigation (she did, her secondary school, thank goodness, tested her and declared her very much dyslexic in Year 9 when she suddenly couldn’t compensate for it any longer, poor girl), she didn’t stand a chance. At least the HT had the decency to be horrified.

This is so depressing. I am a career changer looking to start a PGCE next year and am having a confidence crisis before I've even begun. But if teachers can't even be bothered to check their spelling, the bar must be really low. If it keeps happening I'd mention it to someone more senior.

@Thatcannotberight I don't see the problem so much for TAs who get paid minimum wage and are expected to do so much. But from a teacher is shocking, just gives a 'can't be arsed' attitude!

I wouldn’t be happy about that, and it is human error but it doesn’t take much to use a spelling checker. Just like how I’m crap at maths I’ll use a calculator and double and triple check I’ve got the right answer. Especially in an educational setting!

My nieces teacher tried to insist the word don't was spelled do'nt.

I thought she was taking the piss at first but she was deadly serious. I put my head in my hands.

I work in a tough state primary, in a deprived area.

The vast majority of our parents do not read in English. A very large minority speak no English. There is almost no chance of parental complaint in this circumstance.

My head would rip strips off us if we sent home incorrect spellings to learn at home. I'd not be paying for that quality of teaching... You can get much better than that included in taxes.

In defence of TAs:

I am one. I also hold the highest English qualifications in the school. We're not stupid people - just badly paid!

That's terrible. Human error is the odd typo on a worksheet or newsletter. All words on a spelling list, designed specifically for the purpose of teaching correct spelling, should be correct.

mixture and nature are perfectly normal words for y1 and I assume they are learning the 'ture' sound.

I've taught Year 1 and every colleague I've worked with in my state school can spell those words and would be mortified at making basic spelling mistakes on a document that went to parents.

I'd be looking for a better school.