The latest media comment around the British education system’s attitude to grammar and spelling comes from the London Metro. The paper has highlighted the case of one particular unnamed secondary school where teachers have been told to correct a maximum of three spelling errors in any piece of written work. Parents have brought their concerns to the notice of the local MP but the Department of Education is loath to get involved saying that this is a matter for individual schools. Teachers maintain that it is important to preserve children’s self-esteem by not pointing out too many mistakes and that there are other ways of improving spelling apart from a red pen approach.

© istockphoto.com/Viorika Prikhodko

The questions still remains unanswered as to what we can do to ensure that children leave full time education ready for the job market with a good grasp of English grammar and punctuation. Young adults applying for jobs for the first time do not want to find that they have been overlooked or missed opportunities purely due to simple mistakes in their applications.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2012