Is the word "remedial" considered a bad word in the UK?

Question

My wife is in the education field and remedial has never been considered a bad word here in Canada . She decided that a portion of her company name should have "remedial" in there but it wasn't until she spoke in the UK at a conference that she was told [by a colleague that has known of her company name for some time now] not to mention that the word "remedial" was in her name.

She was shocked of course. She has devoted her life to helping children with learning difficulties and has always been politically correct about these matters but felt horrible thinking that in another country she could be offending the same people that she has spent most of her life helping.

Is there any UK educators out there with the answer to this one?

Thanks!

Answer 1

It is not a bad word in any professional sense. I believe your wife's colleague is simply guarding her best interests because the word "remedial" can be used by some people as a slang and offensive word to describe a normal ability person who has been slow at something. The word does therefore have a stigma attached to it and the phrase "learning difficulties" is much more widely used.

Thank you David B . . . you are a gentlemen.

Answer 2

The writer above sums it up very well.  In the educational field it would be a word to be avoided.

Answer 3

Unfortunately words that are acceptable in one English speaking country are not always acceptable in another. Eh 'handicapped' - acceptable in the US, offensive in the UK.

A while ago Tiger Woods caused a controversy here when he said he played "like a spaz"

Remedial has bad connotations, when i was at high school (a long time ago) there was a remedial class - this wasn't people with learning difficulties it was people who for whatever reason had not learned enough in primary school to cope with learning several different subjects. Their class focused on basic English and Maths with a lot of art and cooking. Looking back these students were not in that class for their benefit but for the benefit or the 'normal' students who would not be held back by the 'remedials'.

I suppose the word is on a par with r****d in the public mind.

Oh and it is also used in the building trade, in the sense of retrofitting something.