Do Schools Teach 'Joined Up' Handwriting These Days?

Another name for joined up writing , apart from cursive, is "running hand". I think that's what it was called when I was in school.

However, whatever it was called, my handwriting was always bad, like my parents'. They both typed everything, as did I until computers came along - I was an early adopter. I do wonder for how long hand writing will continue to be taught/ used?

ixion

We were taught the Marion Richardson style in J3 (late 1950s).

So was I. Interesting to have a similar educational start.

ixion

We were taught the Marion Richardson style in J3 (late 1950s).

I was too that was in late 60's so it was around for a while.
Always in Ink as well. I won an award for my handwriting, it's nothing resembling that now.

I was taught Marion Richardson style in the early sixties. He sister taught us art.

Farmor15
I do wonder for how long hand writing will continue to be taught/ used.

Good question.
IMO the main issues are
1. Availability of IT resources for all children.
We learnt during Covid that not everyone has access to a device at home and computer keyboards tend to use upper case letters.

2. Speed
For now, at least in KS1, it will go on for a while. Apart from anything else it’s good for fine motor development, both writing letters and numbers. Even a digital signature needs some letter formation.

The advent of tablets makes it easier to teach letter recognition because the keyboard letters are lower case, and with the exception of a and q they look the same as they find in their early reading books.

The speed that will be the problem.
The only way to get faster at keyboard skills is to use them.
Many adults are rapid typists, not because they’ve formally learnt to touch type, but because they use the skill every day.

Children would also get faster if they used keyboards more often, not just for gaming, but the interim period whilst they speed up would mean lower output of written work (less marking👏👏).

e.g. some KS1 children can fill a side of A4 paper with writing. How much time would need to be devoted to keyboard skills to achieve that?

So I don’t know how long handwriting will be necessary, but while it is, it should be neat and legible.

Copperplate writing was what I was taught at school. Beautiful if done correctly and my father had lovely writing skills

I don’t think they teach any kind of writing! My 16 year old granddaughter is very smart but her writing resembles that of a 7 year old!

I am not a fan of teaching “joined up writing” for very young children. Firstly,all the writing they see in books and around them is in print. Therefore this reinforcement is reduced. Secondly, learning to read involves various strategies without adding another demand on the immediate task in hand. As said before you are depriving them of the synchronisation of seeing print and the writing they are striving to achieve. The ability to read and write is intellectually demanding and to this end children should be taught that it is possible and enjoyable in order that confidence is not lost. It is only too easy to teach a child that it is difficult.

My mother had to teach Marion Richardson at a school she joined. She first had to learn it herself and it completely changed her writing style.

It has made me deeply sceptical about graphology ever since.

So I don’t know how long handwriting will be necessary

So how are we going to communicate in a post apocalyptic world when all the computers go down?

Think it will never happen? Think again.

My daughters all have great handwriting- one particular lovely.

My sons' handwriting, not so beautifully formed.
One of my sons has always written like a spider on acid.

My 13 year old learned in primary. However she has a poor pencil grip and her writing flits between the two in her school books.

biglouis

*So I don’t know how long handwriting will be necessary*

So how are we going to communicate in a post apocalyptic world when all the computers go down?

Think it will never happen? Think again.

I agree. I accept that handwriting is becoming less important in today's technology-driven world, but I think it is still a vital skill to have. Whether it has to be cursive (joined up, whatever you wish to call it), is another debate altogether, I guess. I've often been complimented on my handwriting, but I accept that not everyone's writing skills are as good as others. My son has never been good at it, for instance.

I have dyspraxia, my handwriting has always looked as if it was done by a drunken spider. DS has the same problem.

The trouble is dyspraxia also means that my typing is all over the place and proof reading not very good either.

As all of you will have, undoubtedly, noticed.

If it is on the curriculum it is very poorly taught. I have the devil of a job teaching my private pupils joined up writing because they don’t appear to have been taught at school. It’s hard to teach something one day a week if it isn’t reinforced every day at school.

We are one of the few countries that teaches children to write twice - once in a printed style and then joined up. I suppose it’s three times he you count typing. Most countries teach cursive writing from the beginning of school.

Nowadays, schools are following the practice of other countries, GrannyRose15, in teaching cursive writing almost from the start. That has been the case for a few years, according to my DD2, who has been teaching in primary for more than 20 years and is now a Headteacher.

17 year old GD learnt cursive writing from the time she started school. She attended her local state primary.

Doesn't cursive writing form part of the National Curriculum?

My primary school (1953-1959) insisted on cursive/copperplate, we were told not to take the pen off the paper until we had finished the word we were writing. We were taught how to hold the pencil/pen properly. My grandparents left school at 14 but had beautiful handwriting all their lives. The handwriting on old Census forms is perfectly formed. The 1911 Census return was filled in by the family and although many of my forebears were manual workers all had lovely handwriting on the form - they were all in the same style. The Census returns are a pleasure to look at. I still join up all my letters. Many people today don't seem to join up their letters at all and distort their hands and wrists to write, I wonder if in years to come they'll pay the price with arthritis and other problems. As a student I could take notes very quickly in cursive. When I learnt shorthand, at the slower speeds I found I could keep up in longhand with the dictation and didn't need the shorthand.

Cursive handwriting aids spelling skills. It is important to try and develop this at a young age. Having a tripod grip will make writing easier in the long term. I don’t believe this is re-inforced these days. Very difficult for left-handed pupils to develop writing skills. With the use of computers, handwriting has lost its necessity but it is still important to develop writing skills. I have found that because I use the computer so much, when I do need to write anything, it isn’t as fluid as it used to be.

Back in ‘my day’ we called it ‘real writing’ 😮 I now live in Australia and our grandchildren call it cursive but I don’t think it’s taught 🤔. One of the things I found strange was that they had to earn a ‘Pen Licence’. Before they were allowed to write with a ballpoint pen (or a Biro as we knew them!)

Yes they defo get taught. Well in Scotland anyway...My grandson is 11 and he was taught and I am aretired teacher..so yes..

i was taught italic handwriting at my junior school as the head preferred it. when i got to grammar school i was told firmly that italic writing was too slow so i had to write in a cursive script instead. i was never taught this so my writing became a scrawl which it still is today.

My DGD learns joined up writing at her primary school in Bristol. My DGSs, who live in Canada can only print. Apparently, they don't teach joined up writing in Canadian schools.