[Ammi]

A teacher at a school in Berkshire has been told to make her Cumbrian accent "sound more southern", according to a union.

The woman, who has not been named, is a staff member at Whitelands Park Primary School in Thatcham.

It was Ofsted who first made a comment about her accent, according to the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT).

Sky's West of England Correspondent Isabel Webster said the school, which is in special measures, took the issue "to heart".

Webster said it was given to the staff member as a "key objective" for her to work on as part of her personal development as a teacher.

The school did not immediately comment.

Paul Watkins from the NASUWT said: "We are very disturbed by this issue. It is victimisation and I think this is the most extreme and bizarre objective I have ever heard of."

He added: "It could initially be seen as humorous, but the more you talk about it, the more annoyed and outraged you become.

“It is the most extreme form of discrimination and bullying in a country where we are supposed to be celebrating diversity."

Parents outside the school told Webster they thought the teacher was being discriminated against.

Netty Austin, a local councillor and parent of a pupil at the school, said: "I don't see how her teaching, or his teacher, is going to be affected by them changing their accent in any way."

Another parent said: "There's nothing you can do about it. It's like a religion, you can't just change your religion. Your accent stays with you no matter where you go."

In a statement an Ofsted spokesman said: "Inspectors comment on the standard of teaching at schools.

"Negative comments about the suitability of regional accents are clearly inappropriate and should form no part of our assessment of a school's or a teacher's performance."

[Jordan.]

Poor AJ can't catch a break in this job either

[Samm]

Originally Posted by Jordan.

Poor AJ can't catch a break in this job either

[smudgie]

My daughter is a teacher down South, everyone loves her northern accent.
Some think she is a Geordie, others think she is Scottish.
She is neither.

[anne666]

It's official, the world has gone mad

[user104658]

...to be honest, I can see this being a jokey comment made by a colleague that she's just taken a bit too seriously. I lived and worked in Lancashire for 2 years (I'm Scottish) and not only did I get many, many jokey comments about having to change my accent - there were a couple of times that I actually did have to because someone couldn't understand me . I can put on a flawless Lancashire accent on request, my fiancee is a native and we've been together for nearly 7 years. I don't see much point in taking it too seriously. She should just have laughed it off, screeched "Awlroight guv'na I'll be practicin' it all the way up the apples 'n' pears innit pip pip pip!!" and walked away. But no... this is Britain. And what do we do? Find someone to "complain to". Yawn.

Originally Posted by smudgie

My daughter is a teacher down South, everyone loves her northern accent.
Some think she is a Geordie, others think she is Scottish.
She is neither.

People are rubbish with accents! The number of places I was attributed to... America, Canada, South Africa?? ... I was asked where in Ireland I was from several times. Once, by an Irish guy! Wut??

[Livia]

My friend - a teacher - was told by a school in Scotland that she sounded too English to teach... erm... English. Was it a serious comment? Perhaps. Did she get the unions in? No.