Handwriting has had its day? Not at all!
Do you still write by hand in everyday life? I write quite a lot myself. My notebook, a pencil and a rubber band are always with me in my daily work as a special needs teacher. Everything that I can't forget, that I need to structure and organise, I first write down by hand. I believe that personal, fluent handwriting is an important skill for all people.
I believe that handwriting is still needed despite laptops in class and smartphones at home. The «digital devices versus handwriting» debate is mixing up topics that don't belong together. Using digital devices is a skill that everyone needs today. This also includes writing on a keyboard. But that doesn't mean that learning handwriting has become superfluous.
Writing by hand helps children to memorise facts and understand content.
Rather, what is needed is the promotion of handwriting in a meaningful, digital context. Specifically, it is about finding a mindful and responsible approach to the digital world. We must not abandon our tried-and-tested cultural techniques out of fascination for the latest gadgets. The Dachverband Lehrerinnen und Lehrer Schweiz is participating as a partner in the 2019 German STEP study.
Together with the Verband für Bildung und Erziehung and its 16 state associations, the Schreibmotorik-Institut is conducting a nationwide online survey among teachers from all types of schools. The aim of the study is to gain further insights into handwriting acquisition and to test new practical approaches in a combination of the analogue and digital worlds. If we succeed in reorganising practice together with teachers, digital media and innovative technologies could even make learning to write easier in the future.
Children increasingly have problems writing by hand
My personal experience and that of my team colleagues in school practice confirm the assertion that today's children have increasing problems writing by hand. One reason is obviously that boys and girls start kindergarten or school with fewer motor skills than in the past. Let's first look at the motor skills that children need to develop in order to be able to write by hand at all.
Children's motor skills develop from the head to the feet and from the inside out. It can also be said that motor development progresses from large to small and increasingly precise movements. We observe children who try to control their writing movements with their shoulder, their arm is raised from the table and their fingers do not move when writing. Although this is possible for a short time, it quickly leads to great fatigue. To be able to perform a successful writing movement over a longer period of time, it is necessary to rest the arm on the table.
This is the only way to control the wrist and finger movements. Before children are able to do this, they need to develop their fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination through a variety of experiences in play and action.
In the basic principles of the teaching aid «On the way to personal handwriting», learning to ski is compared to learning to write. Both activities are acquired through learning to move, they are not inherent in people. Both activities are only really enjoyable when the mind and body are free for skilful composition. It takes instruction and practice, and with both skiing and writing by hand, it is not certain whether the next generation will be able to do it at all.
«Schönschreiben» - abolished with the introduction of Curriculum 21
In connection with the introduction of Curriculum 21, there was a nationwide debate about the acquisition of handwriting in schools: should beautiful, precise and standardised handwriting, or «beautiful writing», continue to be taught in school writing lessons? No, said the Swiss-German education directors, basing their judgement on reports from school practice and research.
After ten years of development and testing in the canton of Lucerne, the Lucerne basic script was introduced in 2011, and the Swiss-German Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education recommended this Lucerne variant as the new school script for German-speaking Switzerland in 2014.
When writing by hand, over 30 muscles and 17 joints work together.
I was personally very pleased with this decision, but it raised concerns among many teachers that writing lessons would be neglected in the future. I completed a management training programme to become a course leader for Swiss German basic writing and have held several courses on this subject over the past three years. It is very important to me to spread the basic understanding that, despite a packed timetable, regular lessons are held to promote graphomotor skills. As a teacher for children with school difficulties, I like the fact that the diversions via «Schnürlischrift» is no longer necessary.
The children can learn and consolidate the basic alphabet in the first two years of school. In the third year of primary school, the first connections are practised and from the fourth year onwards, personal handwriting can develop from the basic alphabet. The aim is to acquire legible and fluent handwriting, not calligraphy. The promotion of handwriting is still important, as writing by hand plays a central role in learning.
Writing by hand, educates
Experts have discovered that more than 30 muscles and 17 joints work together when writing by hand. When writing by hand, 12 areas of the brain come into action and the brain creates a motorised memory trail. Writing by hand helps adults and children to memorise word pictures, remember facts and understand content.
You could say that writing by hand educates people. That is why I will do everything in my professional life to ensure that the promotion of handwriting is not neglected. The children should be given regular opportunities to develop their graphomotor skills in a variety of ways. With practice and guidance, the children should learn that they are getting better and better at drawing lines. With this in mind, I also encourage you as parents to be a role model for your children and to write something down by hand from time to time.
