Definitely ‘News’ ? Handwriting in exams is too ‘tiring’ for students, headmaster warns“

I used to mark GCSE English papers but decided to stop when they brought in scanned copies of handwritten papers. It was bad enough trying to read and retain the sense of a poorly handwritten essay when you had the physical paper in front of you and didn’t have to scroll up or down and could refer back a page with ease, so I think this is a sensible step.
As for touch typing, I could touch type since primary school as my DM, a shorthand and typist teacher taught me, but even my two 10 year old DGC can type as fast as me with their two index fingers.

Easier for the markers to read too!

Enough mistakes of the variety are made in handwritten exams, could predictive text really be even better?

Look at the questionfrom the examiners side, what a relief to no longer having to struggle with lots of different styles of handwriting with arious levels of legibility.

As I said DS and I are dyspraxic and have struggled to produce legible texts in exams, and had sympathy for the examiner

I did a Combined Honours degree and had 10 written exams to do in as many if not less days. My hand was dropping off by the end of it so I do have some sympathy. Nowadays there is scope for typing and hand writing. Just think of the mistakes you could make in your exam using predictive text??

I should, to be fair, have said "recent Conservative governments". Money for the development of ICT in schools was poured into equipment and training from 1986 onwards. This was continued by Labour governments from 1997. From 2010 it became far less of a spending priority.

Typing is OK for most exams but gets a bit tricky for maths.

If I remember correctly the hand writing competition when I was in Junior school was run by Cadburys. My handwriting was so bad it was discarded immediately.

I have to say that I use the computer to ‘write’ letters, but I use the ‘Lucinda Handwriting Font’ so it does look nice and by the 3rd page my own handwriting would be a mess, plus as someone said I can cut and paste and alter things which make a written letter a real mess.
Then when I save it I can send it to other friends or family as well.

Absolutely the correct thing to do. Using a keyboard is vastly more efficient, allows editing, correction and refinement of thought processes at speed.
I cannot now see any significant place for handwriting in the world of work. As I was frequently saying in my professional role about thirty years ago, handwriting is useful for shopping lists and letters of condolence. I would leave out the shopping lists these days.
Why on earth would you want to restrict the use of complex writing skills in secondary age pupils and disadvantage pupils with physical or learning disabilities by insisting on handwriting?
Fine to carry on teaching the basics in primary schools. When I retired sixteen years ago, many of my schools were ensuring that every child had access to a word processor; if they don't have that now then the impact of Conservative governments on schools has been even worse than I thought possible.

Josianne

I can't see any very irritating comments on this thread, and no one is bemoaning technology and its uses. It is a very measured discussion, some posters have expressed personal preferences and some have expressed valid concerns. What will be, will be.
Thank you Urmstongran for this thread in News.

Poor little babies, and how are they going to cope in the big world if they can't write.
Rather blinkered views which I find irritating. So many children identified with SEN now, that require assistance, not because they are stupid or lazy.
We have come such a long way from the days of sitting children at the back of the class because they couldn't keep up.
Just a little nudge to some here who need to think about the wider issues.

Our 4y old L’il Miss is in Reception and just learning her letters. All have a little curlicue or worm sticking out of them. They look very strange at this stage but I think it’s the precursor to joining them together. So even that has changed over the years.

Thanks for your comment Josianne! This is exactly the kind of topic I had in my for NEWS. It was an article in yesterday’s newspaper and I did think it might generate some comments. Interesting and informative. Thank you everyone!

EllanVannin I think you're right that artistic flair helps with beautiful handwriting. I remember a few years ago there were thousands of comments from young, computer literate people saying how they wished they had handwriting like 8 year old Harper Beckham. The little girl might not be the sharpest tool in the box ,and might not even pass all her exams, but she will no doubt be creative.

I can't believe the handwriting of my 9 year old GGD. It's as good as any teen's best writing. Admittedly she's got an artistic flair to start with in her drawings etc.
It's worth encouraging so her next present from me will be on Calligraphy as I'm sure she'll pick that up.

I know we have to move with the times, and I myself type far more than I write these days. But I do think it's a pity.
I think handwriting should still be taught and used in schools.

Part of my 11+ exam in the 1950s was something called “penmanship”! There was no alternative to writing until recently.
Typing goes so much faster. The only problem is that there can easily be dishonesty…

I can't see any very irritating comments on this thread, and no one is bemoaning technology and its uses. It is a very measured discussion, some posters have expressed personal preferences and some have expressed valid concerns. What will be, will be.
Thank you Urmstongran for this thread in News.

Santan I some how missed your comment, your GS and I seem to have the same issues. I’m sorry that the laptop marks him out as different - I didn’t realise dyslexics were entitled to one. As you noted the laptop marks him out as different, which I would have HATED, it’s a great idea for everyone to use them.

Times they are a’changing.

I agree with Gagajo I’m dyslexic and at school I hated writing in the exams. I was slower at writing which lost me time, and because of the awkward way I clutch pencils (apparently part of my dyslexia) my hands were in aching agonies by the end. Typing would have levelled the playing field for me a bit for exams. Dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalcula very common, I think typed exams can’t come soon enough and it would help the environment!
Children would still be taking copious amounts of handwritten notes in classes anyway so will get enough time to practice their writing ( and I imagine all classes will be fully on laptops eventually)
I think it’s a bit old fashioned to think that they are lazy and not up to working if they don’t use handwriting in their exams, when workplace culture has moved on so much, they must be more confident with computers now, I wish I was!

Agree Santana.

If we move over to totally online exams, there will be systems built in to prevent cheating (spell & grammar check). Millions of International Baccalaureate middle years children do their end of unit / year exams online. I have private students who do.

For all those bemoaning all the technology, think of all the waste paper of all those exam papers and answer booklets. They all go online in the end anyway (scanned, uploaded, downloaded elsewhere). Why not cut out the middle man and just do them online in the first place?

My GS has mild dyslexia and hypermobility. Controlling his hands to write is very difficult, and they get very tired.
He is entitled to a word processor and extra time for exams.
This marks him as different.
Some of the remarks on here are very irritating, and don't consider that many children require assistance, and perfect handwriting is impossible for them.

I tend to agree with the school of thought that says Handwriting is a fast disappearing art.

My DB, a teacher in Denmark, brought a group of 6th formers 12th year to Manchester Grammar School.
His students were shocked surprised by 2 things:
Uniforms and handwritten workbooks.
That was 10 years ago.

More recently a df returned to her doctor, after having had a scan at the hospital and was told that they had not done an Xray. because the hospital doctor wasn't able to decipher the GP's handwriting. GP apologised but now she has to spend another day and wait another while for her condition to be diagnosed.

Personally I love beautiful handwriting. Maybe there should be a TV series such as Bake off, Sewing Bee or the Pottery Thrown Down to show people what we are losing.

I am afraid that is not something that will embarrass them. I work for a small charity we are the only organisation in our field in our area who produce some handwritten records, I to be honest am often embarrassed by that.

So every single child in every home will need a lap top with a power bank in case of power cuts and access to Broadband.
School will need a supply of power banks in case the power fails during an exam.
Let’s hope they don’t all end up with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, lots of law suits against the schools in later life alleging that they weren’t aware of the risks of being on keyboards all day.
And yes, at the age of 4/5 they will have to learn keyboard skills maybe along side handwriting until that gets dropped altogether.

TBH I can see his point.
When I was doing OU exams some years ago, I was so unused to handwriting anything but a birthday card or a shopping list, I did actually practise handwriting - legibly! - for extended periods.
I don’t think it’s a case of laziness. Handwriting 3 or 4 essays in 3 hours (as will be the case with a lot of A levels) really will make your hand ache if you’re no longer used to it.

Our secondary school is quite balanced, children get their own laptop for use (no cost to parents) and they still do written work.

I remember at school my wrist and hand aching and no computers back then. I don't think it's a bad idea for long written exams. They could use a programme that doesn't spell or grammar check for them.