Pen licences

[JassyRadlett]

Eldest has just hit year 4 which is when pen licences start getting handed out. I had no idea of their existence until this week.

Have they always been a thing? I didn’t grow up here - we just started using pens halfway through year 4.

They seem pretty grim to me, but that may be because I’ve got a 9yo next to me who’s just been crying that he’s useless, he tries really hard at his handwriting and he’s so ashamed that he didn’t get it.

Is there any evidence that they have a net benefit? I would have thought that for every child who’s spurred on by the desire to get one, you’d get another who’s massively demotivated by it.

We had these at my primary school! Can't believe they're still a thing. I was last in my class to get one :(

My DS primary school made a big deal of pen licences. It can be 'earned' at any age but usually year 4+. Pen licences are for pupils who consistently write in clearly and neatly in cursive script. Readiness for a pen licence is assessed by the class teacher then the pupil takes a book to show the head to get her decision. Some pupils are turned down and told what to improve on. Licences are handed out in assembly in front of the whole school.

Only pupils who have a pen licence can write in pen so the few kids in Y6 who are still writing in pencil are very obvious in the classroom. My DS struggles with writing (he has hypermobility that I am convinced makes it harder for him to form letters) but finds it easier to be neat writing in pen. School refused to allow him to write in pen, despite agreeing it was neater, since he must first earn his licence by writing consistently neatly in pencil. Result was a child who was not interested in even trying and (I'm sure defensively) took the stand point that he didn't care about getting any awards etc and refused to do more than the bare minimum in his writing.
I have raised the issue with school as a parent and as a Governor but their stand point is they must have the same clear rule for everyone and no one should be writing in pen unless they have mastered writing in pencil. It really does feel like something that was perhaps a good idea but has been applied far too rigidly to be effective.
Now he's in Y7 and is able to write in his own pen that he chose to be comfortable etc. He is taking more care with his writing and really enjoying creative writing.

I’m 34 and I never got one. I’m now a secondary teacher so go figure. I think pen licenses started as part of the sense of “graduating” year 6 but they are being brought in earlier and earlier.

This is a great link for explaining how complicated handwriting actually is: occupationaltherapyforchildren.over-blog.com/article-handwriting-67838149.html

If you want to, I would suggest looking into activities and exercises that will improve his fine motor skills and/or muscle tone.

There are loads of different games and funny tasks you can do so you can pick what will suit your son.

My students enjoy one activity where you put a length of toilet paper on a table, place your hand on the table with your fingertips just on the end. The game is to try and gather up the toilet paper without lifting the palm of your hand off the table. It tougher than it sounds!

Some children will see it as a challenge to improve their handwriting to get the reward and prove they can do it if they don't get the licence on the first wave.
Some children will see it as a criticism not to get it on the first chance and feel defeatist a d that they'll never get the licence.

My child fits into the latter and needs a lot more encouragement to try things she struggles with but will do other things she finds easy until the cows come home.

The key here is resilience. Helping him to have the attitude, oh well, didnt get a licence this time, not fussed about a pen anyway, I'll get one sometime as I continue to try hard.

Easier said than done I know, but keep trying with the resilience as I am patiently trying with my dd.

Pens were banned in my primary school until we were in year 6 and it was a great privilege for us all!
No fuss or anything, though- just a note sent home on the final day of Y5 to say bring s pen in September instead of a pencil!

It’s definitely a thing, I taught primary for 10 years and all the school I worked at did this. Honestly as a teacher I hated them. They were meant to encourage nice neat handwriting which ofsted always pull schools up on but in reality some kids were just never going to get one and it was unfair. Kids that did have one often then stopped trying and their handwriting became a mess again. When children started writing longer pieces especially in y5 and 6 they can’t go back and correct, edit, improve their work, it has to be all done again. Also if the school has cheap books the pen would go through the paper making a mess. More hassle than they were worth so I never gave any licenses out until I was moaned at by the head!

By the way handwriting had been linked in studies with bike riding (weirdly). Practising one helps with the other and vice versa. Some children will naturally struggle with this and some will get it early on. A good teacher will recognise this and put in extra support and encouragement where needed.

That’s interesting, because he’s actually a brilliant cyclist. Finds handwriting tougher - he always has. We worked at it really hard during lockdown, and he’s made big improvements.

I’m not denying or arguing with the importance of handwriting, just asking about the evidence for this particular system being used as part of improving handwriting?

Pen license? Another weird British thing?

Many of the schools in the US have dropped cursive writing entirely, except for learning to write your signature. It has been replaced with typing (starting in kindergarten) because typing is needed for computers and all essays are now done on computer. Handwritten essays are not even accepted to be graded.

Easier said than done I know, but keep trying with the resilience as I am patiently trying with my dd.

Yes ditto. I do feel your pain and it’s a massive struggle that we have been working on since he was four or five.

Interestingly my other child is completely impervious to external validation. Which is great in many ways but carries its own challenges in a world of star charts, school behaviour systems built around whether a teacher is pleased with you or not, etc.

@growinggreyer

I await you visiting the swimming teacher to complain about the 25 metre badges, too.

Resilience is learning that there are things you will excel at and others that you won’t and to cope with both without crashing and burning, or becoming arrogant and cocky. For some children, neat handwriting and good presentation is their strength, why shouldn’t a useful skill be celebrated? Unlike the endless bloody medals and cups handed out by sports clubs to the footballing pack and brought into assemblies. Now they’re tacky.

Has been for a while but I find it cruel and all children are told to write with a pen in secondary school so might as well get the practice in the later stages of primary school.

It is life though. I appreciate that some kids may not be motivated to try hard to get the reward but that’s what life is like so they do need to get used to working in this way

@Muddybuddy exactly. These things build in a little resilience in a gentle way. Kids need that

My Yr5 DD sees it as something else she will never get. She tries hard though. Unfortunately her effort Nev seems to be rewarded.

Fortunately out of school her practical skills are noticed.

I know when i started highschool kids from a different primary school had not been al;lowed to write in pen and we all thought it was ridiculous. I there had been penliscences when I was at school I would have done my GCSE in pencil. ((Dys girl.)

@JassyRadlett

By the way handwriting had been linked in studies with bike riding (weirdly). Practising one helps with the other and vice versa. Some children will naturally struggle with this and some will get it early on. A good teacher will recognise this and put in extra support and encouragement where needed.

That’s interesting, because he’s actually a brilliant cyclist. Finds handwriting tougher - he always has. We worked at it really hard during lockdown, and he’s made big improvements.

I’m not denying or arguing with the importance of handwriting, just asking about the evidence for this particular system being used as part of improving handwriting?

It needs to be a part of a whole school policy to work. Maybe ask your school what their policy is? This starts with writing in sand etc in nursery and leads to introducing correct letter formation and practising it up through the school. A strong hand is also helped by using Lego regularly (and similar) and play dough, tough plasticine etc to build fine motor skills and muscle tone in the hands. Unfortunately there are no short cuts, it takes years of practise. The pen licence is one part of a long process - or it should be.

[quote LittleTiger007]@Muddybuddy exactly. These things build in a little resilience in a gentle way. Kids need that[/quote]
They really do. Some kids will never excel at sport, some maths, some art, the list goes on. There will be things they are good at though.
Knock backs in life like not getting jobs etc are par for the course and if kids don’t learn to be how to fail and then pick themselves up when they’re young, life will be hard.

Different strokes I imagine.
My daughter knows sports day trophies etc are out of reach for her and although she tries she's not the best swimmer either. She's just not a sporty kid. She reads and loves writing. The pen license was her "equivalent" win I suppose. Not all kids will find it easy, but that goes for anything measurable at school, even down to what reading level books they/their peers are on.

I was the last in the class to get one and then moved off it as I couldn’t be trusted with a fountain pen. Tbh it did motivate me to improve my writing and although it was upsetting at the time, I think my subsequent first from Oxford helped me to get over it.

We have it at the dc’s school too. Dd is the only one of my children who’ll get a pen licence straight away. Clearly she didn’t inherit her handwriting from me.

DS never got one. He was still using pencil till his year 6 teacher told him he had to use a pen for his Sats. I think he was disappointed at first, but after a few weeks wasn’t that interested.

It needs to be a part of a whole school policy to work. Maybe ask your school what their policy is?
This starts with writing in sand etc in nursery and leads to introducing correct letter formation and practising it up through the school. A strong hand is also helped by using Lego regularly (and similar) and play dough, tough plasticine etc to build fine motor skills and muscle tone in the hands. Unfortunately there are no short cuts, it takes years of practise. The pen licence is one part of a long process - or it should be.

Lego, dough etc all things he’s great at!

However really interested in the evidence for pen licences as part of the processes, particularly as it seems they’re not universally used?

My daughter got very demotivated by this last year (she also was totally demotivated by Star of the Week). I find it totally ridiculous. She’s just gone back into Yr 5 and her handwriting has suddenly dramatically improved. It was great in Yr3 but a total scrawl in Yr4. And I’m sure it’ll keep changing. She’s a writer, always writing stories. She also loves to use a fountain pen!!

It’s part of the process to make children realise that it’s important for their sats as I’ve previously stated. Some kids have reached year 4 and still haven’t seen the point of handwriting. For these kids it helps them. Many respond to the pen license just as many respond to stickers for learning their times tables. It won’t work for all.
Other things that are great for fine motor skills would be hammer beads, sewing, Airfix kits. Etc etc...

I was at school in the days of pen nibs, inkwells and blotting paper. Had poor handwriting then and still have.

I'm 37 and this was a thing at my school. Well it was when the girl in my class with the nice handwriting told the teacher who thought it was a great idea. We were ten years old. Yes, I was one of the last ones to get a licence and it pissed me off.

See also my disappointment about being one of only FOUR children in my class of 30 not good enough to be in the "Concert Choir" that year. Grossly exclusionary.

I grew up to be a solicitor so not exactly a complete failure in life.