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Why we Can’t Neglect Handwriting in School

More than mere decoration, this fundamental skill is one of the main foundation on which education is built

Jane Medwell Write Your Future campaign
by Jane Medwell Write Your Future campaign
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Handwriting is often put to the side in curricula in favour of maths and reading – yet literacy and mathematical performance are intricately connected to the ability to write by hand.

My colleague Professor David Wray and I conducted the Developing Mark Making and Letter Formation study as part of Berol and Paper Mate’s Write Your Future campaign in order to build dialogue around the importance of this skill to a child’s education.

Yet in the age of computers, many parents and teachers ask why handwriting remains important.

There are two main reasons why writing is still a fundamental skill that needs to be taught. The first is automaticity, and the second is information processing.

Automaticity is the process that allows us to write and create letters without needing to think about the act of writing the letters themselves – instead, we’re able to focus on the content of what we’re writing.

Automaticity is a gateway to further cognitive development. It helps to sharpen memory and hone our processes for absorbing information. Studies show a strong link between better recall of information when it’s been handwritten rather than typed.

Processing information as we write also helps us pull out the key points of what we’re noting down – which allows us to drill into the information one step further than when we transcribe, which is what we do when we type.

But with teachers and parents both reporting less time to focus on handwriting, how can we ensure children are able to learn this crucial skill in their development?

Teachers are increasingly pressed for time in the classroom due to crowded curricula. Exams focusing on maths and reading mean in a busy day, much attention is given to these subjects – and the teaching of handwriting can suffer as a consequence.

Educators need support to ensure this skill is brought to the forefront in early years classrooms. During our study, teachers who were provided with an opportunity to discover and discuss the importance of handwriting reacted positively to putting more focus on it during their lessons.

They also responded well to learning about activities to inspire mark making and letter formation in young children, including ‘messy play’.

Teachers and parents also agreed that parents have a role to play in fostering handwriting ability. While parents reported feeling confident to prioritise maths and reading at home, they felt ill-equipped to tackle handwriting.

The study brought parents and teachers together to engage them in the mark making process – and schools reported that parents remained engaged around teaching handwriting after the study was over.

Parents responded positively to information about the importance of handwriting and support about how to work on it together with their children. Most importantly, parents and teachers were enthused when children were enjoying the activities.

Messy play such as drawing in flour and water mixtures or writing on windows truly engaged the children, and they often wanted to repeat these exercises. It shows the opportunities that messy play brings to not just build the crucial foundations of literacy, but also to allow adults and students to work on activities together.

It’s easy to lose sight of the importance of handwriting in a digital world – but this skill is crucial to a child’s development leading to benefits in later life as well.

We must work harder to support teachers and parents in fostering handwriting, so that their students can thrive. Making handwriting lessons fun and providing more tools for teachers is an important first step in helping children develop this literacy skill and making sure that handwriting remains a crucial part of the learning process.

The Write Your Future Campaign believes that handwriting is the foundation for learning, and its mission is to reinforce the importance of this vital skill and create fun and engaging ways to enable more children to write more often. Head to writeyourfuture.com to find out more.

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