Research involving trainees working in schools in the South of England has found that it is common for mentors to ask teachers to modify how they speak.
Dr Alex Baratta, a lecturer in linguistics at the University of Manchester, found that “almost all” of the teachers involved in his study had been asked to change how they speak.
One participant from the Midlands claimed that a mentor with a southern accent said that she’d be “best to go back to where you came from”, in relation to her pronunciation of “a” and “u”, as in “bath” and “bus”.
Dr Baratta said: “The trainee teachers I spoke to believe that they are being judged for how they speak and not what they say and asking them to modify their accents made them feel inferior.
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