The point about cognitive load cuts both ways: if you’ve mastered cursive, if it’s automatised, then you don’t need to think about it. Then, the benefits of having to use far fewer pen strokes might pay off. This is an empirical question: it can (and probably should) be studied.
The first thing I’ll say about that article is that it offers no basis for any of the claims it makes. It’s like it’s stating facts on the level of ‘gravity is why things fall to the ground when you let go’. That’s got me thinking about my article too, though - I should edit it to add in some research, perhaps to back up the alternatives I suggested, or maybe some opinion pieces by secondary school teachers who don’t teach/approve of cursive handwriting.
Thank you David - you’ve really got me thinking here!
I totally agree. Unfortunately, we have a cohort that missed great swathes of school during the formative pen-grip years because of Covid, which is why it’s such a challenge this year.
Really appreciate you taking the time to send me something to read - I’ll take a look now 😊
Totally agree. Our 17 year old has very neat handwriting, but it’s not joined up. That shouldn’t matter! I agree with the part about it taking more cognitive thought and can therefore distract from other learning…
For me, joined handwriting links cognition and hand movement (mind and body), so the connection is the key although it can feel important/unimportant on a scale. Being able to have fine and gross motor skills that are for the whole life can pay over the long term. I can definitely see both sides, as my handwriting is worse than a doctor's when busy, but I still come down on the cursive script side of the fence....for now :)
Not sure about secondary schools up and down the country but the 19 that I work with all HATE joined-up handwriting. They actively tell the children NOT to use it. To me it makes so much more sense to use therapeutic play to strengthen fine-motor skills rather than relying on specifically joined-up handwriting.
Like you said, get them out in nature! Or a really fun idea is to use chopsticks and two bowls. One bowl is filled with objects of different sizes, from a grain of rice to a small bouncy ball. The other is empty. You time the children to see how quickly they can transfer all the objects between the bowls! Great fun!
By the time they get to college (I work with 2 colleges, which have over 45,000 students). The majority of the coursework is accepted online or via word documents, which is obviously typing!
Then you get to university and even note-taking is done on laptops or recorded and transcribed by AI these days! The rest of your coursework and dissertation is all done online.
Handwriting is important, and children definitely need to learn how to write. But forcing joined-up handwriting to prove they're 'expected standard' is outdated and pointless.
Joined up hand writing is really important in secondary by which time most students have adapted it to their own style as we don’t teach handwriting. Why do I think this? Because after 33 years teaching GCSE English and especially post COVID the writing resilience and fine motor skills are simply not there anymore. To hit top GCSE grades you have to be able to write legibly and quickly under pressure, 4 essays in 2 hours 15 for the Literature Paper 2. If it should be tested at KS2 is another matter! And if our exam system is fit for purpose is a whole other issue!
The point about cognitive load cuts both ways: if you’ve mastered cursive, if it’s automatised, then you don’t need to think about it. Then, the benefits of having to use far fewer pen strokes might pay off. This is an empirical question: it can (and probably should) be studied.
In the meantime, this article might be of interest https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/04/30/should-schools-require-children-to-learn-cursive/the-benefits-of-cursive-go-beyond-writing
The first thing I’ll say about that article is that it offers no basis for any of the claims it makes. It’s like it’s stating facts on the level of ‘gravity is why things fall to the ground when you let go’. That’s got me thinking about my article too, though - I should edit it to add in some research, perhaps to back up the alternatives I suggested, or maybe some opinion pieces by secondary school teachers who don’t teach/approve of cursive handwriting.
Thank you David - you’ve really got me thinking here!
Here’s a post I wrote back in 2018. https://learningspy.co.uk/writing/handwriting-matters/
I totally agree. Unfortunately, we have a cohort that missed great swathes of school during the formative pen-grip years because of Covid, which is why it’s such a challenge this year.
Really appreciate you taking the time to send me something to read - I’ll take a look now 😊
Totally agree. Our 17 year old has very neat handwriting, but it’s not joined up. That shouldn’t matter! I agree with the part about it taking more cognitive thought and can therefore distract from other learning…
For me, joined handwriting links cognition and hand movement (mind and body), so the connection is the key although it can feel important/unimportant on a scale. Being able to have fine and gross motor skills that are for the whole life can pay over the long term. I can definitely see both sides, as my handwriting is worse than a doctor's when busy, but I still come down on the cursive script side of the fence....for now :)
Thank for you this! I agree, putting such a high standard on a particular type of handwriting rather than if it is legible misses the point.
As the cool kids say "Hard agree"
Not sure about secondary schools up and down the country but the 19 that I work with all HATE joined-up handwriting. They actively tell the children NOT to use it. To me it makes so much more sense to use therapeutic play to strengthen fine-motor skills rather than relying on specifically joined-up handwriting.
Like you said, get them out in nature! Or a really fun idea is to use chopsticks and two bowls. One bowl is filled with objects of different sizes, from a grain of rice to a small bouncy ball. The other is empty. You time the children to see how quickly they can transfer all the objects between the bowls! Great fun!
By the time they get to college (I work with 2 colleges, which have over 45,000 students). The majority of the coursework is accepted online or via word documents, which is obviously typing!
Then you get to university and even note-taking is done on laptops or recorded and transcribed by AI these days! The rest of your coursework and dissertation is all done online.
Handwriting is important, and children definitely need to learn how to write. But forcing joined-up handwriting to prove they're 'expected standard' is outdated and pointless.
Joined up hand writing is really important in secondary by which time most students have adapted it to their own style as we don’t teach handwriting. Why do I think this? Because after 33 years teaching GCSE English and especially post COVID the writing resilience and fine motor skills are simply not there anymore. To hit top GCSE grades you have to be able to write legibly and quickly under pressure, 4 essays in 2 hours 15 for the Literature Paper 2. If it should be tested at KS2 is another matter! And if our exam system is fit for purpose is a whole other issue!