ANDREW Selous has criticised a Dunstable school for not correcting spelling mistakes in order to protect children’s self esteem.
Speaking on BBC Three Counties radio last Thursday (May 10), the MP for South West Beds would not name the institution, but gave assurance that he would “take it up directly with the school”.
Mr Selous said the policy of the school was as follows: “Teaching staff are to highlight no more than three incorrect spelings in any piece of work, this is in order that a child’s self esteem is not damaged.”
He said: “It’s not fair to allow children go out into the world not being able to write good written English because it may be that their covering letter, sending a CV to an employer, just goes in the bin if it’s full of spelling mistakes.
“They may not be offered the job and they may not be able to progress in their chosen career.”
He said that he believes the problem to common across the country after speaking with teachers since he raised the issue in the House of Commons on May 1.
He said: “One thing that Winston Churchill was passionate about was that children, above all else, should be able to read and write a high quality of English.
“I think he was absolutely right. It’s a basic building block to give children a chance to do whatever they want in life.
Given the tough jobs market we have I don’t think its acceptable for schools to be allowing children to go out into the world who could have better spelling and get rejected from jobs that they could do extremely well and have a career in.”
His concerns were backed by users of the community website Mumsnet, with one user saying: “‘Surely it would be better to focus on encouraging them to spell correctly and making them feel proud of their work. Copying out a spelling mistake three times was how I improved.”
Mr Selous said on Twitter that he was “delighted” with the support.