To think that teachers should be able to punctuate

pen, ditto re random facts... well, random useful facts anyway! At least (*least*) half of teaching and teaching related tasks is problem solving of one kind or another.

My feeling, back in the eighties, and as governor of a school where there was one good maths teacher and the entire school depended on him, was that if it is reasonable to expect all teachers to have an O level in English language, then it was also reasonable to expect them to have an O level, or the equivalent in tertiary education training, for teaching primary maths. Perhaps that is an unreasonable view to have held, but no-one has convinced me it is... yet.

aka, agreed about confusing arithmetic with maths. I'm not fast at mental arithmetic, nor even very accurate when rushed, and people sometimes comment "I thought you were a mathematician?!" My response is that arithmetic isn't maths. You can be a mathematical thinker without being a speedo at arithmetic.

Not that speed at mental arithmentic is to be scoffed at. It's a valuable skill.

I don't think it unreasonable at all, bags, I am just glad that I
I got into teaching!

Anno you're right about languages and patterns, and also about teaching styles. In my (our?) day teaching styles were relentlessly didactic. I understand more about Maths now, after 48 years with Theseus, and after hearing him coach the DGC; he actually explains things to me. After taking the p***, of course!