Is cursive handwriting part of the national curriculum?

[teabag20048]

DD year 4 struggles with cursive handwriting, she is given extra support and whilst practicing on 1-2-1 basis feedback is good but once back in class under timescales you cannot read her writing. Teacher has said if she doesn't join marks will be taken off any assessments. If she writes without joining her handwriting is neat and clear. I would like her to just be able to write as long as you can read it, but School have said it is an expectation. I was wondering if it is part of the national curriculum?

[shouldwestayorshouldwego]

It is a crazy obsession, because although some people need to write, I very rarely do I have to be able to sign for deliveries and sometimes fill in a form - although many of those are online. Due to their severe hypermobility none of mine can write neatly. I have now had two injure their wrists just through doing exams. They are both learning to touch type, which for many occupations will be a far more useful skill.

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

DS is 18 and his writing is dreadful, I do believe it is because he was taught to join from day 1 at school and he just doesn't do it neatly or easily. His printed writing is lovely and even and legible, but his cursive looks like he is writing with his eyes closed. He finds it painful to write and we are convinced that he didn't fulfil his potential in his GCSEs because he loathes writing and so doesn't write enough, even though if you talk to him he is articulate and knowledgeable, and his typed work is of high quality.

I honestly believe that the emphasis on joined up writing is unhelpful and not very inclusive for children who don't have SEN and so don't qualify for support, but struggle to master cursive.

[BarbieBrightSide]

I get that joining letters will in time be quicker and have explained to ds that lifting his pen after every letter takes more time than not doing so, but at the moment he's not having it!

I don't have a problem with cursive being taught per se, my gripe is that our school have decided that there is only one way to do cursive, EVERY letter must start on the line with a leader, including first letters in words (which I think is unnecessary) and means that children are (for example) linking an 'r' with an 'a' by drawing a line from the end of the r down to the line and then starting the 'a' rather than joining from the top. Because they have had it drummed into them that EVERY LETTER MUST START ON THE LINE!!!

I looked at the relevant bit in the National Curriculum - I am aware I am one of 'those' parents - and it states that children in years 3 and 4 should be able to join with horizontal and diagonal strokes where appropriate, but also that they should recognise which letters, when adjacent, are better left un-joined!

I just wish that there was some flexibility, but it appears that there isn't at our school.

[Norestformrz]

The stop start of printing single letters is slower no matter how neatly the child forms the letters. It doesn't matter in the early stages but may make a difference in written test situations. Continuous cursive has also been shown to benefit spelling as it creates a motor memory.

[ltk]

Joining if a child prints neatly is pointless. If the child spells well and produces clear and organised writing, then I let it go despite our school's requirement for joined up writing. They will lose points on SATS, but that is not an issue for the child. And education should be about the child, not about the school having uniform writing that looks great for OFSTED. It won't matter at GCSE.

[Biologifemini]

If you want a kid to learn it then start in reception and force it then.
I would have thought by year 4 it is a bit late.
I personally think they should push it early but then not enforce it after year 3 as it shouldn’t be another stress for children.

[RainbowFairiesHaveNoPlot]

At the moment cursive is on my shit list... DD1's going through that plate of spaghetti trying to join everything that's remotely joinable and putting some interesting efforts in at trying to join things that aren't (she tried to join a fucking full stop the other day - full marks for attempting to please her teacher!) and it's made doing any writing a complete head fuck of "mummmyyyyyyyyy how do I join a...." instead of any actual content at all in there! I know it's a phase and she'll come out of the other side of it but gawd!

DD2 they can fuck off if they think I'm pushing cursive writing on her - getting letters a sensible size and one after each other is about my aim for her when she hits her sister's age. Realistically she's another who's probably going to end up typing anything extended (OT supports this approach balanced with enough handwriting reinforcement she can fill in forms and write brief things she'll need to in the future but not overly labouring it and turning her off school). School at present are very very supportive of us and we're trying to get her gently used to things like working on a computer and tablet in addition to working on handwriting-oriented skills (under the OT guidance).

But yeah - after another explanation session that we don't join absolutely everything under the known universe at the moment cursive's on my "oh feck off" list.

I was an abject cursive refuser at school - just refused to join up anything at all. I outlasted the school's stamina on that one! (I actually think seeing how DD2 struggles that I'm dyspraxic and fell through the net as just clumsy, shit at PE, crap handwriting and generally uncoordinated)

[AmateurSwami]

Fucking hate cursive. 10x more difficult to read

[tomhazard]

I'm not sure but my DDs school teach it from reception - seems excessive to me.
I am a secondary teacher and not I or any of my colleagues care about anything other than legibility. Ditto exam boards.

[user789653241]

Barbie, what you are saying was exactly what I felt few years ago. I really felt annoyed that he was able to write faster and neater with print. Lost interest in writing.
But 2 years later with regular short practice, his writing has transformed and can write a lot faster and neater with cursive. It is better, since you go higher the year group, you need to write more in shorter time.
It's not really school or teacher's fault, they just have to follow the curriculum. Your ds is still in yr3, plenty of time to improve.

[BarbieBrightSide]

I agree that schools choose their own style, but what made me so grumpy this morning was the fact that there is no flexibility. Surely cursive writing is much of a muchness, with a few tweaks here and then. What I don't understand is this obsession with ONLY writing in a particular style. It made me think of left handed children being forced to write right handed in years gone by!

Personally I couldn't care less whether his handwriting is joined up or not, if it is legible and neat and he can write at speed why can't the school just leave him be?

He has gone from a child who loved school to one who says he hates going. And I really don't see how it can be productive to learning to have a child at the point of tears from being forced to do something which, as has been said above, will likely be dropped as soon as he leaves primary. So frustrating!

[user789653241]

Barbie, I think each school choose their own style, and getting a random workbook isn't a good idea. Our teacher printed out handwriting practice sheet children can take home if they wish, so my ds practiced on that first. Once he was able to form letters correctly, it was only matter of persistence and regular practice.

[CramptonHodnet]

All this school obsession with cursive handwriting reminds me of when I was at school and the HT insisted everyone learned italic handwriting . What for? It made us slow writers. I abandoned it as soon as I started secondary.

Imo I think it's much more important children learn to write neatly, spell well and have a reasonable understanding of grammar. Primary schools are going too far with their handwriting pressure to the detriment of children's joy of learning - they're killing it off with too much work and SATS. Rant over ...

[BarbieBrightSide]

I realise this is an old thread but I came to start something very similar and found this one.

What frustrates me is that ds yr 3 is having pressure put on him to join his handwriting, although he can write neater and faster if he prints and gets upset to the point of tears with joining (he is a summer born child, so young in the year) He had agreed to practice joined up writing every day at home. I looked on Amazon for some practice books and found one that stated it was KS2, year3 targeted handwriting practice which sounded perfect, but on closer inspection didn't use leaders on first letters, or join letters that are neater left unjoined. I asked ds's class teacher if that was okay and he said no, they HAD to start every letter on the line.
I was a bit taken aback and said 'Why?' and he said because it is school policy.

So that's great. Neater handwriting, and a child who is happy to practice at home is no good if it doesn't start on the line. And there is no flexibility, (I asked) because apparently it is school policy.

I looked at the school's handwriting policy when I got home and although it does say that children should be able to form letters correctly, it doesn't say that they have to start every one with a leader on the line.

I really don't want to piss his teacher off as he seems the type to take it out on the child a bit, but where can I go from here do you think. Mostly the school is good, but the handwriting thing is not, IMO

[user789653241]

My ds struggled with cursive and I was really dreading couple of years ago. But help from teachers on MN and his persistence, he finally got his pen licence, as one of the last ones to get. He literally practiced writing in cursive everyday in different form, for few minutes a day. He is still slow, but it's a lot better than I thought.

Op, your child is still in yr4, there is still time for improvements.

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

Atm ds’ writing is fine but big if not joined. It’s getting better but lots of letters have the tails but are backwards so hard to join.
In my eyes if he can get better and use cursive fine but if not there are alternatives. Also, won’t stop him getting exceeding in other papers and in long term we’ll find alternatives if not.
In ds’ case it is both the school senco and the OT saying long term that there may well be need for a scribe in exams or for him to do work on PC, not us.

[CauliflowerBalti]

Yes and it does my head in and is severely impacting on my son’s confidence and interest in writing.

His non joined up writing is beautifully clear. He struggles with cursive because he is left handed. So now he just doesn’t bother writing anything of length. It takes him too long, he ends up having to run too much out...

But he won’t get his pen license until he can. He’s year 5. I fucking hate the primary national curriculum with a deep, venomous passion. They are making school as painful and joyless as they possibly can at the time when kids are most receptive to learning. His school tries really really hard to make it all fun. They’re great. But the material they’ve got to work with is absolutely diabolical.

No one, anywhere, ever, NEEDS to write joined up. There is just no fucking need. Clear. That’s all you need. Neat handwriting with clarity. The letters don’t have to touch.

[Norestformrz]

We had a parent of a child argue that her dyspraxic son shouldn't be expected to use cursive. His occupational therapist disagreed and told her it would be much easier for him once he learned to join. When he left in year six he had fantastic handwriting.

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

Tbh with a son with quite severe dyspraxia that is struggling to print in yr1 atm this part of the curriculum can get knotted IMO. Ds will most likely either used a scribe or an iPad for his yr2 sats next year and if the fact that he CAN’T get exceeding in writing is because of his disability I will explain this to him.
Gotta admit I’ve never done cursive and got an a level in English so not too bothered.
Tbh I think in general NC is not particularly great anyway but that’s another issue.

[Gwynfluff]

After completing one GCSE in Y9 in cursive, dc has made a personal decision to stop writing in cursive. She doesn’t hold the pen correctly for it so it’s cumbersome and painful to do it and she then can’t write fast enough to get through her GCSE papers as she would like. Her handwriting is far more legible now.

As soon as she is in HE, if not at A-Level, she’ll be expected to type most things. But at the moment most HE esssay exams are still handwritten so need to keep on!

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

Sorry - I’m in Scotland - so many schools take different approaches

[Norestformrz]

It’s a fad that has been put into statute it's been a requirement for thirty years in state schools and even before that most schools taught cursive handwriting ...that's not a fad!

[ilovesushi]

I wouldn't overly worry about the curriculum/ school's requirements, but maybe focus more on what is going to be useful for your DC. My DS struggles enormously with handwriting and has had over the years lots of great help from an occupational therapist, lots of practice at home and support at school, but ultimately we (I) just decided that we were all spending far far too much time flogging a dead horse and our time would be better spent bringing him on in other ways. He now writes using a mixture of typing, dragon dictate and hand writing (print not cursive). Sure he might lose marks in a school assessment but in the grand scheme of things I think we can all live with that and he is making great strides in other areas. x

[NorthernKnickers]

Verbena, crazy as it sounds (and believe me I really know how crazy this is!!), Year 6 English SATS includes handwriting (they have a reading, writing and a separate grammar paper). Their writing assessment includes handwriting element now (years ago it didn’t, and spelling was also separate, so a child with dyslexia for example was still able to get a good writing level...not now though as spelling is also included in the writing assessment!) So if they don’t join (or have poor spelling) they won’t get Expected...and will have failed even if they are writing JK Rowling-worthy content (appalling, I know!!!!!) This will be used in high school (Progress 8) to predict their GCSE scores and ultimately be data that follows them through (so high school groupings for English/Maths will be affected). I don’t agree with this at all. But what do I know? I’m just a teacher with 27 years worth of experience! The government clearly think they know better than educators 🤷‍♀️🤬 Chikdren are reduced to sets of data...makes me so angry!