Trainee teachers with northern accents are ‘pressured to speak ‘the Queen’s English’ in the classroom’
Northerners said they felt like frauds by poshing up voices
TRAINEE teachers with northern accents are being pressured to speak "the Queen's English" in southern classrooms.
According to a new study accents most associated with the Home Counties are favoured by the teacher training profession - leaving those from the north out in the cold.
Experts say teachers with northern accents are discriminated against in a profession that would not tolerate prejudice based on race and religion.
They dubbed it the "last form of acceptable prejudice" in our society.
Previous research found trainee teachers with northern accents felt like frauds because they had to change how they speak in order to be understood in the classroom - having been instructed to do so by their bosses.
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 Alex Baratta, a lecturer in linguistics at Manchester University, led the study which focused on schools based in the south of England.
His previous research was carried out in schools in the north.
The doctor said his latest findings exposed a shocking culture of prejudice.
He said: "There is a respect and tolerance for diversity in society, yet accents do not seem to get this treatment - they are the last form of acceptable prejudice.
"One teacher told me that it makes no sense that teachers have to sound the same, but teach the children to be who they are."
The expert said when interviewing trainee teachers with regional accents almost all of them admitted that the way they speak had been picked-up on by mentors.
He said they felt they had to "modify" their accents as they were deemed "inappropriate" for education.
Dr Baratta added: "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."
"While received pronunciation or the 'Queen's English' was historically regarded as the most prestigious accent, there is evidence to suggest its influence is less pervasive nowadays amid growing recognition of, and respect for, regional accents.
"We live in a society in which equality is championed and diversity is celebrated, certainly within the workplace, so why does it feel as if the teaching profession is completely discarding the unique richness that comes with regional accents?"
In 2014 Dr Baratta conducted the first study into how accent modification in Britain affects the way people feel about themselves.
He found that many people felt like fakes for "poshing up" their accent to fit in to certain work and social situations.
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