The ‘essential’ skill children should always be taught in schools – ‘timeless’
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Today marks National Handwriting Day – a tool which is taught up and down the country. For some workers, handwriting is something they use on a daily basis. However, for a growing number of people, it’s becoming a less relevant piece of expertise in their lives. So, should schools continue to place an emphasis on teaching it to students?
School children start learning how to write in primary school, with the new National Curriculum for primaries stating pupils should work towards mastering handwriting that is fluent, legible and, eventually, speedy.
Indeed, when the new curriculum was introduced in 2014, it gave more weight to handwriting than its predecessor.
Nonetheless, the emergence of new technologies and social media over the past couple of decades has led to questions being raised about its eligibility in schools.
Hannah Hawthorne is an Education Learning Designer at High Speed Training – one of the UK’s leading online training providers for a variety of professions.
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She said: “Let’s remember that over 40 percent of the world’s population don’t have internet access. And in developing countries, only one-third of homes have a computer.
“The cursive handwriting practised by thousands of children across the country is not a prerequisite in many of their future professions, with technology now replacing the need for many of us to pick up a pen.
“However, in professions such as teaching, legible handwriting remains an essential requirement. This is also the case in fields such as calligraphy, design and styling.”
Today, people are able to communicate through a host of mediums other than written words, including email, mobile messaging and social media.
Regardless, Ms Hawthorne says the power of writing shouldn’t be forgotten at the expense of quicker forms of communication.
She added: “Written words last longer. They are permanent, a legacy to younger generations, and we should never forget their power.”
In recent years, there have been some calls from within the education sector to scrap handwriting altogether.
But in Ms Hawthorne’s view, this won’t happen for “many, many years yet, if ever”.
In fact, she argued educators should instead look for alternative solutions to make handwriting more rewarding for children.
She said: “Educators should use positive reinforcement to help build a culture of intrinsic motivation, where children and young people feel compelled and excited to improve and refine their handwriting so that it reflects the best of their ability.
“Doing so will help children and young people to see the beauty of the written word.”
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