Are you seeing your students going back to printed text over joined up handwriting?

Repeatedly, I am seeing an interesting trend within secondary schools, where pupils print rather than write using joined up handwriting. This is due to the fact that when children are put under pressure from time constraints, they refer back to a style of writing they are most comfortable and confident with - this style is often print, a style that they see everyday when reading books.

This shows that these children do not feel confident writing at speed using a cursive style and highlights a need for some intervention. Teachers should not feel pressurised to rush children to learn cursive.

Instead, they should be allowed time to use their knowledge and expertise to slowly build up a child’s confidence with cursive, by ensuring their printed text is legible first. Once this has been achieved, then they should be allowed to spend plenty of time on the basics of joined up handwriting to build writing confidence.