The lack of correction of Spelling by Primary Schoolteachers

[ELIlford]

This is a real irritation, In short my children will have their school homework marked, particularly work completed by themselves with a tick from their teachers ...Oh Great work Well Done etc etc etc and there will be poor grammar and spelling mistakes, not corrected.

Other parents within their classes also agree

This state primary he goes to in London is meant to be according to Ofsted Brilliant and outstanding, however not in my books.

I know the old cliche it was better in my day but my siblings and I undertook an independent school education ( Which our parents sacrificed alot for)all at Primary and the teaching was very strict on spelling grammar and Arithmetic.

I worry seriously about their future and am thinking the private route may be the sacrifice that will warrant proper teaching, as the academic standard is poor in this so called outstanding school.

Any comments interested to hear from those in independent sector if they have found the same problem......!!!!

judging from there results and achievements

I rarely like to have a go at people on internet forums for their grammar, spelling and punctuation, but if you want to live in a glass house, you shouldn't throw stones.

I work in a state school and we mark to the learning objective. Every child is aware of their success criteria - either written/typed into their books or it is on the board/wall.
After a child has completed a task, their work is marked. We highlight successful bits of their work - grammar, spelling, 'wow' words, punctuation and of course whatever their objective is, we highlight when we see evidence. But,we ALWAYS give children a chance to respond to their marking; i.e. we write comments that allow them to correct something they should not have got wrong because it has been taught previously (more often spelling) or ask them to do something extra. Their responses are written using a green pen so we can easily see what they have done during 'Response Time'.
Obviously every parent would like every piece of work marked in detail but as a teacher it is completely and utterly unrealistic giving the time constraints to mark in depth thirty pieces of writing and then there are all other lessons throughout the day too - sometimes up to 120 pieces of marking as well as the other constraints we have as teachers (planning, resources, assessments etc). For this reason, we only 'in-depth' mark a group of children's work for every lesson. The rest get a 'light touch' mark which will include some spellings corrected - not all - as with some children , they spell phonetically correct and if you corrected EVERY mistake, they wouldn't be able to see their own writing for the corrections! Also, we know as teachers it can be damaging to a child's self esteem to correct EVERY mistake. I have had children pleased with their work and yet be down-trodden when they see all the corrections. It is saying to a child, "All of these words are not correctly spelled and you should have spelled them correctly". You need to look closely at the words they are using. Yes, correct high frequency words that they should know,particularly those taught in previous year groups (according to the child's own ability too; i.e. SEN children will need some exemptions) and also correct words that are easily spelled using simple phonetic clues but if a word is being used for the first time as a technical or 'wow' word, the emphasis should be on the child using the word to improve their vocabulary and not spelling. For example, I had some children using the words 'ordinarily' and 'exceptional' and 'especially' in a piece of writing last week (Year Two) and I did not correct the spelling (only if it was not very well spelled using phonetic clues and needed to for future reference).This will be done when the child becomes more familiar with the words and uses them more often in their writing. On this occasion with my Year Twos, these were words only introduced to them during their Big Write.

OP, I have never commented on anyone's spelling, punctuation, grammar, or writing style on here before.

Is this a wind up?

You keep talking about your wonderful private school, and the value you place on correct writing, but you seem completely unable to put a sentence together.

Does any body have a child who is interested in or indeed capable of learning from the teacher's spelling corrections? The only kind of comments which are helpful are perceptive praise, or little, perhaps humourous, comments which show that the teacher read and appreciated the effort that went into the homework. I know that teachers with large classes don't always have time for this.

I think people learn to spell by reading and writing. I think it might be helpful to point out to individual children where they struggle with common words, perhaps by writing those words out for them in a red pen at the top of a piece of corrected work and making the children copy those words out. This might take up too much time which could better be spent on something else.

I don't understand what OPs like these are hoping to achieve. What responses do you want? A whole raft of posters confirming to you (or a sceptical spouse not keen on shelling out) that school fees will be money well spent?

You can't be from some Independent Schools Marketing Board because you'd have proof read your posts

One point worth making though is that bearing in mind that even preps select in one way or another, it's not surprising that the work they allow you to see when you visit is 'on a different level'.

ELIlford - I am not a teacher, nor do I have experience of an independent education, but as a parent of children within the state sector I urge you to make that sacrifice and go private. I feel there results and achievements are more suited to your abilities.

Claraschu: This post is concerning the frustration from a parents point of view of why Primary school teachers DO NOT mark children's many spelling mistakes. The lack of descriptive writing etc..Midnite Scribbler: I cant type but I can Spell:
WillsMum79: Your Post is most insightful really helpful to me anyway.

Claraschu: Does any body have a child who is interested in or indeed capable of learning from the teacher's spelling corrections?

Really is this a wind up come on: DomesticCEO post realises there is a PROBLEM that NEEDS to be articulated and discussed.

This post is not about Private Good; State Bad as I went to both Private and state..Some Private are just awful, and a waste of money. I went to one of those also.

The better the grounding in spelling reading and writing from year 1 leads to strong foundations for children. In essence an entrance to a good senior school, no matter what your passion whether it be Science, Art, Business etc..AND a Russell Group University...which an Employer will look to first...

Unfortunately Midnite(Midnight-red pen moment) Scribbler there are many out there who are deluding themselves about the Education system being good & great, the opportunities for children are set before they even start...Ok at 11 you are going down the local comp and will end up in Tesco's stacking shelves at 16...While another child will end up a Producer at the BBC as he went to the right school....

RG? Bingo!

Ooooh, OP, I was almost with you there (ignoring typing errors) until you came out with the local comp = stacking shelves at Tesco and private school = BBC producer argument.
Our two large local comps and the sixth form they feed into have been sending pupils to Oxbridge and other Russell Group unis for a long time and get pupils into good careers.
It irks me when the local comp = stacking shelves argument is wheeled out. It is what insecure private school people do to justify the money spent on education.

So for that reason, I'm out.

By the way, my sister is a BBC producer. I know which school she went to, you may wish to re-think your argument!

the word 'other' should be 'various' RG etc etc

My son had a teacher who constantly pointed out every mistake on his home/school work at a very young age, there was no positive comments at all. In fact he didn't even get a comment full stop just scribblings all over with red pen. This did not give him the drive to take the corrections into account. TBH it bothered me more that my son had taken the time to produce work and his efforts went unnoticed, just the mistakes.

OK BehindLockNumberNine the ones I met were Oxbridge Indy school in BBC News. Yes understand what your saying cousins and friends kids attend some in Barnet excellent state comps with strong Oxbridge links.
Albeit an extreme example there is not a level playing field ....

BehindLockNumberNine as an anecdote parents leaving our children's school was in their terms due to the lack of academic rigour and not leaving their 11+ entry to chance....Crazèelaydee isn't your point more about that individual teacher!!! I wouldn't be happy about that teacher....

Your posts make very little sense ELI. Did you struggle with English at school?

At our school, parents are encouraged to help children with homework. We are told to help children review their own spelling, go through their written work and try to help them spot their own mistakes. It makes a lot of sense to me but not all parents are prepared to spend some time with their children to help with homework.

Children learn to spell using phonics and if a child uses a 'correct' phonetic spelling for a tricky word the teacher doesn't say it's wrong - indeed the child has not learned a specific rule so it's not corrected. If they forget to put a capital letter, or spell a simple word wrong (such as 'cat', or 'them' for example) then it will be highlighted in red. But if a year 1 child writes 'maby' instead of 'maybe', then it's not marked in red. Simple, but a bit of an effort. And yes, a bit of an effort for the parents but that's our job, isn't it? We are there to support learning at home and work together with the school, not pass on all responsibilities to the school...

Hmmm I am between the two camps here. On one hand, I agree that in reception we must not discourage children and we ought to support phonics effort and gradually introduce correct spellings. I also agree that is/must be hard for teachers to correct 30+ assignments accurately as in the posts above.

HOWEVER - our school for example gives no homework at all. This gives the false impression that all is being covered at school and even for a supportive parent like myself (who isn't even English), is very difficult to know this: what they are supposed to be learning, which weaknesses my individual children have in any given subject, and what should I be focussing on, along with what is normal/ahead/behind.

We only have one parents' evening in the whole year and we do find it hard to know what to support at any given time.

I feel like I am constantly chasing my tail, especially with my first child, (as I am doing all the finding out what she should be doing!) and it has bred to a sense of distrust of the school. My children are doing well but they still need support and I feel that by not communicating effectively with us the support we can give is patchy, unless of course you send to a tutor or you are a parent who is a teacher or devotes their whole time to this subject.

BehindLockNumberNine as an anecdote parents leaving our children's school was in their terms due to the lack of academic rigour and not leaving their 11+ entry to chance....Crazèelaydee isn't your point more about that individual teacher!!! I wouldn't be happy about that teacher....

Good lord OP.

Your fantastic and expensive education has left you unable to write a coherent post. You are not making your own case well at all.

Or is this an elaborate joke?

They certainly don't seem to have taught OP how to use a comma.

Being confidently told I am wrong by someone who knows absolutely naff all about how to teach children is getting to be quite a refrain in my life atm. I am not even teaching any more. Phonics seems to be the worst topic for ignorant ranting ime, closely followed by the fact that we don't teach times tables any more (we do).

I don't know why I engage.

I still think it's a joke too Humphrey.

Oh it's absolute tosh.

I wish I knew what the motivation is for these threads though

To fill the private schools with new applicants?

In that case, OP is not a very good advertisement.

HumphreyCobbler your statement is cobblers I smell a rat .I certainly understand that times table are taught very well in most schools. I didn't have an expensive education:

Its a simple ask why don't Primary school teachers correct mispellings? The posts from nohalfmeasures, DomesticCeo and others....are making valid concerns...
JenaiMorris: Are you a Primary school teacher? Your defensive statements give me that impression. Why oh why do some members of the public sector brigade get upset!!! This is a valid point to discuss....

It's not really when no one can take you seriously.