EYFS best practice - All about… handwriting

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For many parents it is a moment of pride when their child first masters how to handwrite their name. But is there any point in us continuing to teach children how to write with a pen or pencil in 2018?

Voice-activated electronic gadgets can compile shopping lists for us, we text or send emails instead of handwritten letters, and can even use notebook and diary functions on our mobile phones and tablets. Schools in Finland have phased out cursive handwriting lessons in favour of keyboard skills, in the USA many states have removed joined-up writing from the curriculum, and schools in India are also reportedly stopping it.

‘We are at a curious crossroads in the history of handwriting,’ says Pam Hulme from the National Handwriting Association. ‘Most adults would agree that their use of handwriting is decreasing and that there are days when most of us don’t pick up a pen. Instead we rely on a range of technological devices to communicate.’

She adds, ‘In England, however, the use of handwriting remains an integral part of the curriculum, and a large percentage of the school day involves recording by hand.’

Early years consultant Julie Cigman believes that children now see less of adults actually modelling writing with a pen and paper, with even teachers often recording observations on tablets and parents favouring texting.

‘Discussing the future of writing is a bit like e-books versus print books. I hope there will be a future for handwriting but it may be a different purpose; it’s difficult to predict what that may be,’ she says.

Handwriting will continue to be needed alongside word processing, says Write Dance trainer Diana Strauss, senior lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University in the Faculty of Education, Childhood Studies. She believes that they are not ‘mutually exclusive’.

‘While we do not need to teach children how to touch a screen or choose a visual icon, we do need to teach handwriting and how to be fluent in it,’ she says. ‘Many jobs would be impossible without technology and word-processing skills, and we can achieve this while becoming confident writers by hand.

‘Teaching handwriting may have been phased out in schools in Finland and the States, but other countries, including England and France, are sticking with it. There is currently not the funding to provide all students with computers to work on so they will still need the skills to take handwritten notes.’

THE WIDER BENEFITS OF HANDWRITING

Teaching children to handwrite may actually give them an advantage over those who favour typing. Handwriting isn’t simply the ability to put thoughts on paper, record events or communicate ideas to others:

The act of handwriting can strengthen cognitive learning, with research finding that when children write by hand, the area of the brain used in reading is activated, which may support them with learning to read.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that students who wrote lecture notes, rather than typed them, processed the information on a deeper level and it enhanced their memory.

Physically writing can help to stimulate the production of ideas and the flow of narrative. ‘The act of writing helps me to think because it slows down the process and gives me time to reflect,’ explains Ms Cigman. ‘From personal experience, I like to write a first draft in pen and then refine ideas so they are more accessible to other people. For me, it is more visual to put thoughts and ideas on paper than in typed print.’ Handwriting is favoured by many authors at certain stages of their creative process, including JK Rowling, who tweeted that she writes first drafts and plotting by hand. ‘For many, there is a surge of creative power when pen connects with paper,’ adds Ms Hulme.

Writing is also thought to be good for mental health, with the act of keeping a diary or writing thoughts in a letter helping to organise ideas and reduce stress or anxiety.

A person presents their personal image through handwriting. ‘Each person’s handwriting is unique and becomes part of their self-image. It is just as recognisable as a loved one’s voice and can be a strong emotional tie, especially when the voice can no longer be heard,’ says Ms Hulme. She adds that the world witnessed that power recently when the boys trapped in caves in Thailand exchanged handwritten notes with their parents.

Overall, Ms Strauss believes that young children want to express themselves through mark-making, drawing and writing. ‘It fulfils a need for self-expression, and handwriting is a form of this as children experiment and develop their individual style – it used to be that signatures were the only form of security and proving our identity before technology introduced PINs,’ she adds.

DEVELOPING ‘HYBRID WRITERS’

‘The term handwriting to me, from an early years perspective, means something very different from mark-making or writing,’ says Cathy Gunning, pedagogic lead at Early Education. ‘Writing is an activity or skill, whereas handwriting is using a pencil or pen to write in a particular or preferred style. It could take the form of print, cursive, pre-cursive or fully joined up.

‘In the EYFS, writing, mark-making and pre-writing skills are crucial. Being able to hold a tool to make marks and represent words and communicate meaning is a skill that requires strong pedagogy and practitioners who understand child development and the development of mark-making, writing, communication and language. I think that writing and the skill of writing is essential, but the skill of handwriting specifically is separate to that’ (see box, overleaf).

The implications for teaching, Ms Hulme proposes, is that we need to develop what Virginia Berninger describes as ‘hybrid writers’ – those who are competent in print, flowing writing and keyboard skills. ‘This enables the writer then to choose whichever mode best serves the purpose of the task,’ Ms Hulme explains. ‘There is every indication that it will continue to be a useful skill in the communication toolbox. The curriculum, however, needs to be purged of its lingering preoccupation with the more surface features of handwriting. It needs to be regarded less as an art form and more as a functional tool.’

• She believes that teachers need to be trained in how to teach handwriting in order to move away from ‘neatness’ and focus instead on aspects critical for functionality:
• legibility
• speed and fluency
• automaticity
• sustainability.
  
  

LEARNING: WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT

Many early years experts argue that currently the emphasis on handwriting is too early in England. ‘The first pilot Early Learning Goal (ELG) for Writing is that children are able to write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed,’ says Ms Cigman. ‘It is concerning that children may be taught how to write letters before they understand that writing is a symbolic code. A teacher may tick off that they can form their letters, but the child may not understand that these are symbolic representations of sounds. There is no ELG on writing with purpose and meaning.

‘In England, lots of children will be four years old when they are assessed on handwriting, and I feel that’s much too early to prioritise handwriting, and much earlier than other countries.’

She adds that children need to understand that we write to communicate and that we communicate in different ways – from conveying a ‘no entry’ message to writing a poem. ‘There are lots of different types of writing and children need to learn them in context. As with [Lev] Vygotsky’s social constructionist theory, children need to learn what writing is all about before they learn how to actually write, and they do this alongside adults and more skilful peers. Frank Smith called this “joining the literacy club”,’ she explains.

Alistair Bryce-Clegg, an early years educational consultant, agrees that handwriting needs to be linked to a purpose. ‘There is a big element of emotional maturity, particularly for boys. If they don’t see the purpose, then they won’t do it. The more child-led then the more success you’ve got,’ he says. ‘Nobody is born hating writing. We are born inquisitive and experimental and refine our muscles to use tools. But fast forward to the age of three and, often boys, can articulate their dislike of the writing process – what has happened? The sad truth is that well-meaning adults who are trying to do their best for children are starting early and pushing it too hard, too soon.’

To achieve successful writers, he says practitioners need to recognise each individual child’s stage of development and decide when they are ready to learn.

Ms Gunning adds, ‘It is important to note that handwriting specifically is not in the EYFS Statutory Framework. The supporting guidance materials Development Mattershas a strand called “writing”, but this too does not mention handwriting. What is important is that it is recognised that children develop at different rates and in their own ways. From birth to five, children need a broad range and variety of experiences in all aspects of communication, language and literacy to feel like writers.’

DEVELOPMENTAL READINESS

Handwriting begins with early scribbling and gradually develops into more intentional formation of shapes, patterns and letters that have meaning. ‘Developmentally, children initially are only able to form – draw – primitive shapes, but as hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor control develops, so the ability to form letter shapes and combine these shapes into a regular pattern also progresses,’ explains Sally Goddard-Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology.

‘Although the process of learning to write follows a predictable sequence, writing involves far more than simply development of fine motor skills. It involves sequencing of motor actions, co-ordination between the eyes and the hands; controlled use of one hand in carrying out complex movements independently of the other – reflective of increasing functional hemispheric independence – and translation of speech sounds into written symbols.’

Irrespective of the varying expectations for handwriting of different education systems, she says there are developmental ages at which a child can be expected to form specific shapes:

• circle (three years old)
• plus sign (three and a half years old)
• square (four years old)
• cross (four and a half to five and a half years old).

‘The ability to form a simple plus symbol reflects the ability to cross the horizontal midline, while an X involves making a diagonal line and crossing the midline,’ Ms Goddard-Blythe explains.

‘To write all of the letters in the English alphabet requires the ability to form these different lines, shapes and combinations. In addition, the ability to make clear, independent movements with the fingers of each hand separately does not necessarily emerge until five and a half to six and a half years of age. While some children do develop these skills earlier and are physically “ready” to write, there is considerable variation within the recognised developmental parameters of physical precursors to writing.’

A child needs to be able to master gross motor control and co-ordination skills before they can develop writing and pencil control.

‘Imagine trying to thread a needle if you can’t navigate your limbs through a tunnel, or over an A-frame,’ says Ms Gunning. ‘Imagine trying to sit and carry out handwriting when your body prefers to be physically active or your gross motor movements aren’t yet refined enough to strengthen your core to enable you to sit holding your tummy muscles and back comfortably.’

She advocates teaching handwriting only once a child demonstrates developmental readiness and confidence. ‘I would also advocate the adults, practitioners and teachers working alongside to show and share writing, letter formation and their handwriting so that the children have very positive and frequent role-modelling,’ Ms Gunning says.

‘The more children see writing modelled for different purposes and have inspiring opportunities to represent and communicate their ideas, the more they are likely to want to write.’

CASE STUDY: Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School in Kent

‘We believe that handwriting is an important skill and it will remain so, despite the rise in technology,’ says PE specialist leader of education (SLE) and English co-ordinator Fiona Ingram at Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School.

‘Children often come to school without the gross motor skills needed for handwriting, so we use a range of methods to put those in place.

‘We encourage children’s gross and fine motor skills through fun activities such as messy play, including sand, paint and Plasticine, developmental movement sessions, yoga and massage. Write Dance forms part of our curriculum, which prepares the whole body to write using music as the inspiration and driver for practising the rhythms and patterns of handwriting.

‘Following work with French schools, we also incorporate their concept of graphisme, which is based on pattern work; for example, dots, straight lines, swirls, “castle tops” and cross shapes as the preparation for pre-handwriting skills. All of this encourages children’s hand-eye co-ordination and the use of both sides of the body necessary to develop a balanced, fluent, flowing script.

‘The children absolutely love it, especially the freedom to express themselves on a writing surface.

‘We teach the children to write in cursive script from Reception and see the outcomes of the logical flowing patterns. There are a minority of children who find this too difficult so we do not force it on them and they use print to record at this early age.

‘Although the formation of the patterns are fixed, there is no right or wrong in the Write Dance approach, so the children use a range of equipment, from sticks in the mud to crayons on paper; we encourage children to mark-make in a non-threatening way so that writing itself comes naturally and easily.’

CURSIVE WRITING

Whether it is appropriate to teach cursive handwriting in the early years is an issue debated in the sector. Some schools, such as Herne Church of England Infant and Nursery School in Kent (see case study) choose to promote it rather than re-showing children how to form and join letters later. Others argue that it is not age-appropriate.

The National Handwriting Association’s Pam Hulme says it is important to define ‘cursive’ because it is widely misunderstood. ‘The term cursive derives from the Latin “currere” and means to run or flow as in the current of a river,’ she explains. ‘So, it really means any style of penmanship in which some characters are written joined together in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of writing faster. The label “cursive” is often used now to refer to one style of writing, “Continuous Cursive”, where every letter starts on the line with lead-in strokes and all lowercase letters are joined.

‘Though some children will be able to do this style well, others – especially some boys – will have difficulty learning overcomplicated letter shapes. For some it is the “curse of the cursive”, but the term cursive can also be used to describe a simple modern hand without entry strokes and is a combination of joins and pen lifts. This is in fact how the majority of adults write, using a mix of joined and unjoined script. In terms of speed there is no evidence to date that fully joined handwriting is faster than part- or unjoined script.’

Although print is the clearest style to read, lecturer and trainer Diana Strauss says it makes sense to join up groups of letters. ‘This increases the fluency and exercises children’s muscle memory,’ she explains. ‘The style of font does not need to be loopy.’

The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology’s Sally Goddard-Blythe agrees, ‘Some children find this easier as there is a flow to the physical actions involved in cursive writing, more consistent with the patterns children are able to make at an earlier age, while printing requires a “start-stop” method to form each letter.’

But Ms Strauss acknowledges that writing single letters with lead-in and lead-out strokes can be confusing for a child because it can be difficult to visualise how to form the letter shape.

Consultant Julie Cigman believes cursive writing should be reserved for later. ‘When children are required to use cursive or pre-cursive writing, they can find it very hard to read back. This makes it harder for them to understand the link between reading and writing,’ she says. ‘If young children are so fixed on what something looks like, they are not able to think of the compositional aspect. Research shows children are able to develop quick, fluent handwriting when they are able to develop their own style.’

MORE INFORMATION

Supporting Boys’ Writing in the Early Years: Becoming a writer in leaps and bounds by Julie Cigman

Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, www.inpp.org.uk

National Handwriting Association, www.nha-handwriting.org.uk

Write Dance, www.writedancetraining.com