Does writing by hand
still matter in the digital age?
Technology is having an impact on children’s
handwriting ability. But what does this mean for learning and development?
Cast your
mind back to the most recent thing you’ve written. Maybe it was a document for
work, a message to a friend, or a simple shopping list. Did you use a pen? Or
did you type it?
The decline
of writing by hand – particularly among young people and children – has been in
the news. Last month, paediatric doctors warned that children were finding it difficult to hold pencils due
to excessive use of technology. Letters to Santa are increasingly sent by email, and Cambridge
University is piloting the use of laptops instead of pen and paper for selected
exams after requests from students. Some academics have noted the “downward trend” in students’ handwriting.
But what of
the role that handwriting plays in learning and development? And with
technology changing how we live and work, what place does handwriting have in
the modern classroom? These were the questions put to the teachers, academics
and specialists in education and technology at the Guardian’s roundtable event
on 27 February.
The
roundtable was supported by the Write Your Future campaign from Berol and Paper
Mate.
Children struggle to hold pencils due to too much tech, doctors say
The
delegates noted with interest that everyone at the table had chosen to use
pens, not laptops, to make notes. One reason for this could be that writing
plays a social role in our lives, said Dominic Wyse, professor of early
childhood and primary education at UCL and incoming vice-president, president
elect of the British Educational Research Association (BERA). Having a laptop
open would be rude in such circumstances, he argued – and he would find it more
difficult to engage.
The level of
engagement involved in writing by hand is important, said Diana Strauss, co-founder
of Write Dance Training, which helps children develop their handwriting skills
through music. She pointed to recent research carried out in France in which
one group of adult learners was told to write notes while another typed them.
Those writing by hand were later found to have a deeper level of learning.
Ros Wilson,
founder of Andrell Education’s Big Writing model for teaching writing,
described the process of handwriting as “creating a mental picture of the
world” and said computer processing did not create the same picture in the
brain.
This is why
teachers encourage children to draw in the sand or water, which embeds learning
in the early years, noted Naveed Idress, headteacher of Feversham Primary
Academy in Bradford. “You never know what an A is unless you’ve physically
drawn it.”
In terms of
writing in schools, there was agreement that increasing use of computers in
university assessments could have a knock-on effect lower down the education
system. “One of the concerns is that if you put high-stakes tests onto a
computer it changes what schools have to prepare children for,” said Jane
Medwell, associate professor at the University of Nottingham and consultant for
the Write Your Future campaign. Encouraging children to concentrate on using computers
too early might not be in their best interests in terms of development.
Angela Webb,
a psychologist and chair of the National Handwriting Association, explained
that engagement with the physical environment activated certain areas of the
brain and stimulated cognitive development, so picking up a pen has a positive
impact not just on literacy but on other disciplines too.
One example
of this is the way that it helps to develop the muscles needed to sit at a desk
for long periods, said Strauss. She said learning to write by hand aided
physical coordination, rhythm, stamina and posture. Secondary school students
are at risk of physical problems later in life if not taught to sit and write properly.
Wyse said
that while he would like to see children taught to touch-type early in school,
it was rare to find children who had formed their first words on a keyboard.
But educators should also be careful not to teach handwriting before students
were physically ready, argued Jonathan Rodgers, primary advisory teacher for
the Centre for Literacy in
Primary Education. He criticised the “rush to mark-make, or to write when they
should be mark-making before they have actually been squeezing things and
climbing things and hanging from things”.
Idress
agreed that handwriting should be part of children’s holistic development. One
way his school helped itself out of special measures was by focusing on music,
which helped build focus and readiness to learn in the children. He believes
handwriting gives children similar skills to those gained through music –
resilience, creativity and the ability to interact socially. “We are not just talking
about mechanical skills here,” he said. “We are talking about how children
learn. We are making them ready for life.”
Nina Iles,
head of EdTech at the British Educational Suppliers Association, said it was
important to balance digital and written awareness and for children to be able
to express themselves creatively through technology and writing. “The key is
learning to do it well,” she said. “Sometimes if a child is struggling with
their handwriting, that can be a barrier to them being able to use it
effectively to inform and express themselves.”
Delegates
agreed it was important to achieve “automaticity” – the ability to get letters
down automatically – to free up the brain to focus on creativity. But for Guy
Merchant, professor of literacy in education at Sheffield Hallam University,
this can take place with a keyboard or touchscreen just as well as with a pen.
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