Correcting Teaching Assistant's grammar and spelling

[UpSheGoesJosephine]

If you were a TA in a primary school, would you be comfortable correcting a fellow TA if they spelt something incorrectly or used bad grammar. Such as, 'I done this' or pacific instead of specific.

I’d want to but not sure how.

I'd struggle
not to

Does anyone really say or write pacific for specific? Really?

I once told a teacher she had made a mistake on the spelling list for the test.

If it was in front of the children or written on something they would see, then yes.

Does anyone really say or write pacific for specific? Really?

It's a really common error.

One of our SLT says ‘pacifically” instead of “specifically” 🙈 and she was head of English before she was SLT 🙈

I would not correct someone’s speech but if it’s written down on something a pupil is going to see or work from then yes I would.

Thank you, that's helpful.

I wouldn't. TAs are badly educated and badly paid. A lot of teachers can't spell or write anyway.

‘Badly educated.’ Bit harsh. My TA has a master’s degree in History. Poorly paid yes but don’t assume they are not educated.

I would. "Did you mean ...?" every time.

These are little kids who learn from every interaction.

Why wouldn't you correct someone who is so obviously incorrect.

“Argh Sorry I didn’t hear you, did you say ‘pacifically’ as in ‘in a calm way’ or ‘specifically’ as in ‘in a clear detailed way’ ?”

It depends how it’s done. I work with a TA who thinks nothing of pulling someone up on the smallest error in front of a whole class which I think is wrong. A quiet word after when no children are around is fine though as long as done in a helpful rather than “I’m better than you” way.

Something like pacifically I would discreetly mention. Something like 'I done' will be so ingrained they won't be able to undo it at this stage.

None were in my childrens' school.

If I had a master I wouldn't work for a TA's pay.

Do you live in Essex by any chance?

Many teachers have atrocious standards of spelling and grammar. When my daughter was in Year 2, her teacher marked her English work, and crossed out part if a sentence where she had written ‘I would have’. She changed it to ‘I would of’.

About 3 quarters of the TAs in my school have degrees and are doing a TA role as it works well for them personally. Money isn’t everything and people are often happier with a less stressful life.

You could try phrasing it as preventing her being criticized by a picky visitor.
At my last school, I was appointed resident pedant, briefed to patrol before Open Days etc., checking labels and captions before beady-eyed visitors spotted any solecisms.
I was responsible for Music, and also cast an eye over the reports submitted by the peripatetic instrumental teachers. The percussion teacher was very upfront about being dyslexic, (a first-rate percussionist nonetheless) and all reports were rigorously double-checked by the Head before going home.
And yet I still asked a good friend to check my reports over before submission; when you've typed something, you know what you meant, and your eye can skim over typos when you read through. Perhaps you could ask your colleague to check this work in this spirit, offering to check theirs in a spirit of mutual support?
@TheSunIsAlwaysThere ; I once, as a mere pupil, argued the odds with a teacher who marked one of my spellings as wrong; the word in question was "fuchsia" and I brought the gardening dictionary into school to support my case. She took it well, but I wince when I remember it now......

Erm because it’s rude, arrogant and probably doesn’t account for regional dialect and accent. Like I said if it’s something related to children’s work I would point it out but children will interact with many people in life who don’t speak with correct grammar or mistake one word for another.

I fortunately do not have our regional accent (it’s awful) my kids went to school where most people had a local accent but they speak the same way I do. So no I don’t think hearing a TA with poor grammatical speech will impact them as much as their own family will.

You really shouldn't wince. My daughter queried an answer being marked wrong. Teacher asked her to show why she thought hers was right. She was. Book was wrong. All those kids potentially marked wrong when it was right.

Jobs with school hours - but without all the responsibilities and baggage of being a teacher- are always like gold dust. In my affluent SE commuter village the TAs, I’m cringing to say, are better educated than many of these people teachers in our local school.

it suits some people at a certain point in their lives to do these jobs because it makes parenting so much easier. Money isn’t everything!

I know some TAs and they are mostly women, who had careers, who then had kids, who now want to work but need term time school hours and like children enough to want to do the job.
I don't think the speech would be an issue, people have all sorts of dialects and speech flaws that are not related to their education level, but surely anything written that the children might read should be correct.

Sorry for that rather mangled post. Autocorrect is being a bastard today!

I’d tell the head. It’s not acceptable to speak incorrectly if you are educating dc. Or if it’s written English too. Just not good enough from anyone in an educational position.