SRA director slates trainees’ English
A Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) director has lambasted law schools for not providing students with English language training, branding the standard of grammar among trainees “poor”.
SRA director of regulation standards Liz McAnulty said a foundation course in English language should be introduced while students undertake their Legal Practice Course (LPC).
Speaking at The Lawyer’s Graduate Recruitment and Trainee Development Conference on Wednesday (24 September), McAnulty said: “The fact that we’re getting people with straight As at A-level, a good degree and the LPC, but that their application forms are displaying spelling mistakes and a generally low standard of English, is a worry.”
McAnulty said an English foundation course would benefit students, but admitted the SRA did not have the funding for such a scheme.
She told The Lawyer: “Although I would support a foundation course we haven’t got one in place at the moment.”
But not everyone is a fan of the idea. College of Law chief executive Nigel Savage called McAnulty’s suggestions “batty”.
He said: “This seems like a policy that has been made on the hoof and no consideration has been put into the cost implications or the fact that students will have to study for another year on top of what they already have to do.”
For more on this topic from BPP Law School's Peter Crisp, click here.
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Readers' comments (18)
Anon | 29-Sep-2008 12:21 pm
WEV
OMG grmmR is like so L8m.
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Anonymous | 29-Sep-2008 12:25 pm
Inglish
I'm ok because I can speak and write Inglish gooder than anyone else at my furm
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Shania | 29-Sep-2008 12:30 pm
Conjugate!
Good, gooder, goodest.
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Rob Bushnell | 29-Sep-2008 12:36 pm
Poor Standard of English
I personally agree with Liz McAnulty, that the standard of English is unacceptably poor. Thinking of the candidates we see for Training Contracts, it appears to be getting worse each year. I'm not certain though that a Foundation Course is necessarily the right course of action. It seems to me that poor spelling and grammar is a generational issue, and needs to be tackled far early in the education process.
It strikes me that the candidates are over reliant on computerised spell checking and that common errors, and frequently Americanisms, are not being corrected and that the candidates may not even be aware of their own errors.
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Anon. | 29-Sep-2008 12:59 pm
Education
At risk of going over the same old ground that is so often debated in this arena, a large contributor to the poor standard of grammar is the post-1960s inheritance that is the idea of grammar being 'elitist'.
For this reason, formal teaching of grammar was dropped from the national curriculum (to the astonishment of overseas observers). The effect of this was to widen rather than narrowing the gap between the elite (who go to private schools where they carried on teaching grammar) and those in state schools subject to the whims of naive policy makers.
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Anonymous | 29-Sep-2008 2:03 pm
Pot-kettle?
"The effect of this was to widen rather than narrowing the gap". Hmmm.
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Anonymous | 29-Sep-2008 3:31 pm
Physician heal thyself...
This would be the same SRA who sent a letter to a trainee about to qualify with the words 'You may now apply to be admitted to the ROLE". I know many of us are frustrated actors but really...people in glass houses...
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Anon. | 29-Sep-2008 3:54 pm
Too little, too late?
My LPC provider teaches a legal writing module. We are even provided with the Oxford Guide to Plain English! I have mixed feelings about the module. Certain elements are useful for some students; for example, letter writing; preparing memos; file notes; etc. However, we have also been asked to complete a spelling test; provided with information on grammar, punctuation and syntax. In that context at least, I would suggest it is too little too late!
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Anonymous | 29-Sep-2008 5:09 pm
Spelling for lawyers!
Gotta love this article. My very well educated attorney son, well placed in corporate law, advised me several times in a personal email regarding my financial assets how I should handle my "Idel Funds". With no immediate response to my inquiry about just what these funds were, I began ruminating about what these funds could possibly be; I didn't remember buying them.
It came to me in the shower. Of course!! "Idle Funds". So much for literacy in law school!
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Anonymous | 29-Sep-2008 5:12 pm
Too little too late
It seems that the problem stems from a younger age. During my LPC we were given a guide to plain English and spelling tests and it just smacked of being ridiculous. However, most people were surprised at the poor standard they have. English language should be taught better at a younger age then there wouldn't be this problem when you are set in your ways.
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