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Primary education

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Original poster

Would you correct the teacher's mistakes?

20 replies

DaisyheadMayzie · 11/12/2012 07:09

We aren't in the UK. The school year ends this week and portfolios/reports came home today. There's a page in DS's portfolio which is a timed maths test - basic facts of different levels. He has done pretty well on the test, maths is his strongest subject, but only closer inspection I have counted 4 questions that the teacher marked wrong that he has actually got right! A couple of them are obvious teacher errors (subtractions) and a couple of them are more tricky - eg write 60% as a fraction and DS has written 3/5 (she corrected this to 6/10, so maybe she wanted the working out, but his answer isn't wrong).

Would you bring this up with the teacher and be a pedantic pain in the arse? Would you ignore it as we are close to the end of the year and he'll have a different teacher next year? The same thing happened in the mid year portfolio, although it was only one question, albeit a very detailed fraction question that DS had got wrong but the teacher had corrected wrongly as well. I don't know how much this test has affected his results for the year - I'm guessing it won't change anything significantly.

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ThursdayWillBeTheDay · 11/12/2012 07:12

Yes I would!

I guess she was marking quickly against an answer sheet and hers gave just the one possibility....but marking 4 wrong IMO is a lot.

adeucalione · 11/12/2012 07:20

Yes I would say something, if only so that the teacher knows that parents are paying attention and that she needs to get it right in future if she doesn't want to look foolish.

I'm sure there will be other children with incorrectly marked papers - those parents may not have checked, or may not have noticed. Can you now have confidence that his other tests, in other subjects, that you may not have seen, have been marked correctly?

Like you, I wouldn't have said anything about the single error on the last paper - she's only human, and it wouldn't have altered your DS's mark.

learnandsay · 11/12/2012 07:25

We're not close to the end of the year, are we? Aren't we only close to the end of the term?

BeckAndCallWithBoughsOfHolly · 11/12/2012 07:32

OP is probably in Australia - therefore end of year.

Yes, I'd say something - I'd want the official records to be right

lljkk · 11/12/2012 07:34

Ah, I thought this was going to be about misplaced apostrophes.

Yes I would query them all, politely.

SavoyCabbage · 11/12/2012 07:50

I would especially as it was a portfolio task. She should have been paying special attention. In our school the portfolio tasks are used for assessment.

Original poster

DaisyheadMayzie · 11/12/2012 08:19

Thanks for all the responses, looks like that's a yes to speaking to the teacher. Now, how to do this without appearing too obnoxious...

Btw, we are in NZ, so school year finishes this week for us.

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expansivegirth · 11/12/2012 08:22

yes. i thought from the heading it was going to be another 'you' or 'you're' at the end of reception... to which i'd say, no.
but this is different.
polite, and apologetic (I'm English...) but definitely mention it.

FestiveWench · 11/12/2012 09:45

Tbh I would discuss this with someone more senior. It sounds like this teacher needs some additional support. These mistakes suggest that the teacher is not very confident with their maths. Our school has been running some training to improve basic maths skills in staff and it sounds like something similar is needed.
If this level of errors is present in 'public' work I would really worry about the level of teaching being given. This sort of thing can be really confusing for the weaker children.

auntevil · 11/12/2012 17:52

I would take it to the teacher first without making too big a deal about it. If the teacher says a genuine 'oops', then it is fair enough.
I have seen papers marked where there have been distractions and disturbances, not of the teacher's making, that could have caused temporary lapses. 4 is quite high though.
I do remember getting numeracy homework and DH saying this is not right. I spoke to the teacher about it and she quite snootily said that she was the teacher and maths was done differently nowadays. I did have a little pleasure in telling her that it was actually DH who spotted the error and he is an accountant nowadays and deals with 'maths' everyday. So tread carefully

Original poster

DaisyheadMayzie · 11/12/2012 18:04

It did make me wonder about the teacher's mathematical abilities - one of the questions was 1000-845 to which DS had written 155 and she had corrected it to 145 - how did she even make that mistake if she was marking from an answer sheet? And if she was working them out, it was a pretty easy one.

I've realised that one of DS's answers isn't quite right (write 2/3 as a percentage and he wrote 66.66666666%, rather than rounding to 66.667 at some point which I guess is what is wanted - that one isn't corrected, so it would be good to know what she wanted, would 66% have been marked wrong? Not sure if they have done recurring numbers), so that brings the errors to 3.

I suppose I could phrase it as 'does it make a difference to his level if he scored higher than you have recorded?'. Eek...

OP posts:

IndigoBelle · 11/12/2012 18:27

No way would I mention it.

Why on earth does it matter?

Enjoy your summer holiday and your warm Christmas while we're freezing over here instead.

CecilyP · 11/12/2012 18:34

Yes, I would have a word with the teacher if some of the marking is just plain wrong. You can do it in a diplomatic way, rather than being confrontational.

Unless the number of decimal places was specified, then any variation should have been acceptable. However, the final digit should always have been 7. eg, 67% or 66.666666667%.

Startail · 11/12/2012 19:08

6/10 rather than 5/3 would make me cross, you are always being told to simplify fractions.

Non of her errors are acceptable and I would certainly complain.

SoundsWrite · 11/12/2012 21:29

I know that this kind of thing gets parents all het up but I agree with Indigo. It isn't the end of the world and you, Daisy, can obviously sort out this stuff for your son. Besides, there are some teachers who resent it so much if they feel they've lost face that they don't, shall we say, respond quite as positively to the child in question in future.
I'd chill. Sorry, that's us!

FestiveWench · 11/12/2012 21:45

I have no issue with minor typos etc. But errors that suggest that the teacher doesn't have a good grasp of some basic concepts do really concern me.

vess · 13/12/2012 18:27

Yes I would, because it affects his score. Very politely.
Now, I just had a look at DS's science homework and how it has been marked. There is something about "pro's and con's". Won't complain, but it does make me angry.

cloutiedumpling · 13/12/2012 18:43

Is your DC likely to have that teacher again at the school? Do you have any other DC still to go to that school? If so, I probably wouldn't say anything. If not, I'd photocopy the maths test, correct the answers that she has got wrong and hand it in to her on the last day of term.

jeee · 13/12/2012 18:47

I rarely correct mistakes. But when DD1 brought home a spelling list including the words 'enviroment' and 'enviromental' I decided enough was enough.

In a Machiavellian masterstroke, I told a parent who was always complaining about the terrible spelling on the list. Sure enough, she trotted up to school the next day, and a corrected list was sent home.

FivesGoldNorks · 13/12/2012 18:49

I am struggling to understand why there are people on this thread who think this isn't important!

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