Does your child's class teacher insist on cursive?

[AhhhHereItGoes]

My daughter is in year 2 (6) and her class teacher is pretty militant about using cursive. I thought it was quite young to insist on cursive as I was still learning how to carry letters together at that age and didn't use reliable, continuous cursive until 8/9 years old.

Apparently they do not get breaks if they don't do it (!) my daughter actually quite likes writing in cursive but some of the other kids really struggle and the parents - like me - think it's a bit strict and too early.

Does your child's school do this too? If so, which year group is it insisted upon? It reminds me of my old head teacher making us miss break if we were out of line.

In my son's school it's the only method of writing taught - so from the very beginning of primary school! Apparently there are evidence-based reasons for this. My son's fine with it so it hasn't been an issue for us.

It'll be a school policy, not a class teacher policy. Ask to see their handwriting policy.
As for keeping a child in for not doing cursive, that's not on. But it may be that they do a handwriting intervention and that's the only time they can fit it in? Just pop in and ask the teacher.

It's the National Curriculum

Can't comment on current situation because I don't have school aged children yet, but when I was in school cursive was the only writing method taught. I understand that times change but surely if we weren't too young for learning it 25 years ago I don't see why children nowadays would.

DC is in year one and expected to write in joined up writing. From reception they taught them cursive letters.

It's taught from Reception - can be awkward to begin with but much easier in the long run than learning one system for printing and then having to unlearn it later in order to 'join up'.

Yes. It’s the national curriculum, not the teacher.

As pp says it will be school policy rather than the teacher being "militant".
The idea is that it the child will learn to write cursive quicker opposed to printing and then writing cursive.

That said the no break times are a concern.
As a ta I've only seen children working during a break when they have refused to work in classtime. Could it be a case of this rather than the child is kept in because they can't do it?

If you are worried ask for a meeting with the teacher about your concerns

Many schools do teach it from reception but it's neither desirable or necessary

I was more calling the staying during break militant - I completely get why they are taught it because it's the preferred method of writing.

I think some struggle with certain letters but yes it's best to learn it as the only option then less struggles.

No way would I like that method of discipline

I think my DC was taught it from reception.

Made me reflect on how much I actually hand-write myself- just birthday/Xmas cards and the occasional post it note on the fridge! That is literally it.

My eldest is in y3 and really struggles with handwriting, he writes in cursive but not joined, most in the class do joined up though. I would not accept him missing break because he's struggling with writing! I do help him at home and he has improved though!

I'm a primary school teacher and don't think taking break times away is fair. I think it's only justified if the child has been disrespectful or has misbehaved heavily. I for one don't believe it's a big deal to use cursive handwriting. The only reason it's a 'must' is because it helps children write quicker which will help them when they sit tests. Because your child is in year 2, I do think the teacher is being slightly harsh on the class so what I would do is maybe raise it to her but in a very very nice way. Us teachers are always getting moaned at and we honestly really appreciate it when a parent is just nice and communicate well. She'll take on board what you say much better too 👍

My eldest is also in year 3. She had beautiful handwriting in year R, started precursive in year 1, then cursive in year 2. It's awful. I now really struggle to read her writing. And she takes longer than printing making sure she has her loops in the right place. She is still quiet a phonetic speller and in non cursive I had more of an idea.
It really pisses me off, as I write in more of a printed fashion with an occasional joined up letter where it makes sense and I always get comments on how neat it is. In the other hand I work in a semi medical profession and struggle with handwritten notes of those with full writing, its always messy and leaves room for doubt on their notes. How people used to get the right medications off their doctor I will never know. Eligibility is the most important thing.

Oh, and keeping them inside isn't on, they need downtime before the onslaught of the next lesson.

mini her teachers have all been amazing so no complaints here.

I'm told they write numbers in cursive which I'm unsure if I was taught msybe I just forgot it .

It's so much quicker though as you say. I reckon I'll try and brush up mine with her teaching notes as I often forget which way I'm supposed to join a certain letter to another.

mimi even

@AhhhHereItGoes I've never heard of joining numbers?!

Yes. It became part of the national curriculum when DS3 was in y3 or4 and was a game changer in terms of his having legible hand writing.

It's mad really as when they go to our local Secondary School in Year 7, the children are told to stop writing in cursive as it's so difficult for the teachers to read. I can completely understand this as I work in a Yr3 class where most of the cursive writing is illegible despite lots of time and effort. It slows down the writing of lots of the children too.

Where did this obsession with cursive come from? I always assumed there must be some evidence for it being taught so exclusively in primary. Since writing is not really called for any more I would have (possibly naively) thought as long as people can write legibly that should be sufficient.

So children do not need to write any more? Or adults? Yes they do. Cursive is quicker to take notes. It is a life skill and it enables writing at speed for exams too.

My dd is learning it in reception. I think it’s easier to do it from the offset then try and convert to it later

I don't think there is an obsession with cursive but there is research carried out by Oxford University showing that fluent handwriting is beneficial for exams. It's also been shown to aid spelling and improve cognitive processing.