Dyslexic Yr4 teacher - what do you think?

[EmEyeHi]

It is likely that DD could have some form of dyslexia as there is dyslexia in both DH and my families.

During a recent meeting with DD's teacher she indicated to us that 'between you and me I know exactly what X is going through'.

Teacher is lovely and have no issues about personality, likeability and so on, but for some time now ourselves any many other parents have been shocked at some of the things seen in DC school workbooks on parents evenings.

Teacher doesn't send any books home at the end of the year but there have been requests made because of the above and eventually they have been given to parents. The level of errors in grammar and spellings in comments made in DC books is remarkable - we are talking spellings corrected with incorrect spellings, constant simple grammatical errors (eg. must of) and workbooks with words such as 'thay' never, ever, ever corrected (there are many other examples btw).

I'm unhappy as DD has literacy issues and naturally we want to get to the bottom of these and thus boost her confidence but feel that, especially with the recent 'confession'(?!?), I am on to a loser.

The teacher is one of the nicest people you could wish to meet and seems to want to go that extra mile for you and as such I don't want to upset her because I feel sure she will take it personally. Myself and other parents have approached the head over previous months (the same teacher took DDs class in YR3) and she has promised that she will consider our requests but assures us that she is a good teacher and that there are no problems with literacy.

So while we wait for a response, what do you think?

I think it is sometimes good that children see that adults can't spell every single word without checking it in a dictionary so it can have a positive outcome.Not so good if the teacher doesn't bother to check spellings and ends up providing incorrect "corrections" to a child's work.

I find it highly amusing when parents (and people who should know better) assume that early years staff don't need to be as good at spelling/maths etc as KS2/3/4 teachers because they won't need it for working with the small children

No teacher is perfect.

I would rather my child had a dyslexic teacher who was prepared to go the extra mile, and liked children, than one who hated her/his job and did the bare minimum with the class.

DS1's Y3 teacher admitted to me she had mental health problems, which is why she had been off sick for two weeks (not "eaten salmonella" as the children had bee told) But she was a lovely person who adored the class, and devoted herself to her work.

Where do we draw the line?

I don't think the line regarding Literacy is at all ambiguous. As Msz says, a dyslexic teacher who checks her spelling scrupulously can be a good role model - a dyslexic teacher who doesn't bother, and in turn corrects his/her children's work incorrectly is a liability.

I would recommend the A.C.E spelling dictionary

Actually SaliMali1 in many ways it's easier to teach older children.

SaliMali - goodness only knows! There have been afternoons where they have been left to read all afternoon whilst teacher does something else (still in the classroom). Apparently class just deteriorates as some of the sn children do not have long enough concentration levels to read for any more than 15 mins. One misbehaves then domino effect. DD then complains after school that she could not concentrate on reading as it was too noisy.

Also, when she gets stuck on something nobody responds to her hand as they are all concentrating on the disruptive children (according to DD).

I know that the kids watched alot of DVDs in class whilst teacher did their end of year reports - and talking of reports, there was outrage last year as reports were cut and pasted between children and wait for it, childrens names were not deleted, males given to females, so many errors you would not believe. And get this - they were all signed off by the HT.

Sheeeshh. When I write it all down I cannot believe it's taken me so long to understand the gravity of what's going on here.

I really should move schools.

Lynette - DDs teacher is lovely btw. She is really kind and DD loves and respects her. She is highly disorganised but has always made time to see me and has a great way of convincing you that there is nothing to worry about and therefore feel reassured. Naturally - you trust your teacher don't you?

mrz - will definately look at ACE dictionary too. Thanks for recommending.

The ACE spelling dictionary is hard to use I never got the hang of it.

MRZ I was talking about me personally I would find juniors too hard but then I don't have the pacients with juniours but I know that teaching little ones is hard hard work and you need that special something.

Presumably the teacher in question has competent enough literacy to have been able to pass GCSEs, A Levels and 4 years at university. Therefore, you have absolutely no right to be making a complaint about the fact that your DD has a "dyslexic teacher". I'm not surprised the head is being a bit evasive - good for her - she's protecting her staff. There's a word for this - discrimination.

SaliMali1 have you ever worked with juniors? you might be surprised to find they aren't that different really especially in lower KS2

The question isn't whether she can be competent in Literacy, but whether she is being competent now, EvilTwins.

There are quite a few teachers who inexplicably scrape manage to get through their degree/teaching practice and then fail to live up to competency (ime not because of dyslexia, however - it both cases I've known it was laziness).

All teachers have to work hard - and if a teacher isn't working hard enough to ensure her spelling corrections are correct, then it doesn't matter whether she is dyslexic or not, actually.

NO! fear will not let me I love what I do and I give all I can to the children. My Mum (a head teacher who has taught for 35+ years) said I would be fine with them but I would rather specialise in Early Years.

EvilTwins - discrimination against what?

My complaint is about competency - it is not about dyslexia.

EmEyeHi - your earlier posts all seem to focus on the fact that the teacher has "confessed" to you that she is dyslexic, and therefore should not be allowed to be SENCO or Literacy Co-ordinator - that's discrimination. Bet you wouldn't dare say anything if the PE co-ordinator had a limp, or the Music co-ordinator revealed that she was deaf in one ear.

I suspect that if a PE co-ordinator with a limp just made up the rules for every sport they taught there would be complaints.

The complaint here isn't that the teacher has dyslexia, but that the children are being taught the wrong things.

Suggesting that somebody who doesn't check their own spelling, when they know they have a problem, isn't the best role model for children is not unreasonable. And the poor grammar is a problem. The teacher is not "misspelling" when she writes things like "could of", she is simply using the wrong word. That is unsuitable in a literacy co-ordinator.

Thankyou Barbeasty - you have it in a nutshell.

EvilTwins - as I have also previously posted there is diagnosed dyslexia on both sides of our family and there is no way on this planet I would even suggest dyslexia should be discriminated against.

Just to clarify, DD teacher hinted that she too was dyslexic so she understood what DD may be going through. FYI in the interests of her confidentiality I have told no one in RL as I'm sure there are parents in her class who would pounce if they knew as they know little about the condition. She obviously felt she could trust me in disclosing this to me and that is still the case. I posted as I was interested to find out other peoples experiences as no-one in either of our families has taken up a career in teaching.

From what has been subsequently posted I am comfortable in the fact that there are many able and extremely competent dyslexic teachers/TAs around so have come to believe that my issue is absolutely to do with competency and NOT dyslexia. My complaint does NOT in any way, shape or form, mention dyslexia or the the fact that she has disclosed this information to me. As has been reinforced a number of times by other posters, basic grammar and spelling should be a pre-requisite in primary school teaching and this essential goal can be achieved, as has been illustrated, whether or not dyslexia is an issue.

The extra work and effort that is put in by some of these people in education must be applauded so hats off to you all .

Regarding the headteacher . I have no idea what the situation is there. I have no idea why she is ostensibly supporting someone given the factual evidence she has been given. Regarding SENCO and KS2 Literacy Co-ordinator position - I really have no idea about this either. Another thing I'm not sure about are DD teachers route in to education. She is not a young teacher so unless she took them as a mature student she would not have taken GCSE's. Somebody has mentioned to me in the past that degrees etc. were not necessary until relatively recently - I've no idea whether this is true or not - would be interested to find out though!

Not true! A degree have been necessary in teaching since well before I qualified 20 years ago - I wouldn't call that recent.

You haven't always necessarily needed a degree to do a PGCE. It is possible to equate other training/ experience- one of my problems with my A-level physics teacher. In fact he hadn't even done the A-level himself.

However, it is perfectly possible to pass a degree with minimal literacy skills- there aren't many essays to write in a maths degree. You can also make the effort to double check your work, or get someone to correct the broad Bristolian you write in like my friend did for her English degree.

Regardless, a teacher who is consistantly teaching children things that are wrong is not acceptable.

has. Blooming heck, I am going to stop MNing on my phone, I can't do it.

EmEyeHi GCSE exams were introduced in 1988 so they've been on the go a long time and before that we had GCE O levels which many people claim were more rigorous (could explain why private schools are adopting an O level model)
"More private schools are dumping GCSEs in favour of alternative courses modelled on the old O-level, figures show. " www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7962556/GCSE-results-private-schools-adopt-O-levels.html

It's been necessary to hold a degree and QTS to teach in maintained schools (although not in private schools) since the early 80s

My goodness - GCSE's were introduced in 1988 - time just flies doesn't it?

mrz - what is QTS?

Thanks for the info. I guess DD teacher is in her mid-forties (hate guessing ages because who determines what the benchmark looks like IYSWIM.) Suppose I was just trying to apply some justification on why her teaching is so poor. It's not the answer is it?

Qualified Teacher Status

My degree is a Bachelor of Education Hons with QTS

okey dokey - thanks for that.

And presumably eviltwins, you don't know about dyslexics getting their gcse's/degrees. It is actually quite easy for somebody that is proved to have it to get their qualifications. I know this first hand as my boyfriend started university and had always struggled with spellings. You get special privileges, don't get me wrong I'm not saying they shouldn't, they get dictaphones, laptops extra time to hand in work and also just to inform you, they don't get marked the same as people without dyslexia. Dyslexia gets taken into account and the things that people would get marked down for..they don't. So please don't 'assume' things. If it was your child I think you would react the same.