So says the Finnish education system. From 2016 handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish schools. And when a high-performing country like Finland makes an educational move, the rest of us who are slipping down the international ladder of academic performance should at least consider whether there would be any benefit in following in their footsteps. 

 

Should we ditch handwriting lessons too? 

 

Does handwriting matter? 

 

Most would agree that everyone should at least be able to pick up a pen or pencil and craft a message that others can read. But beyond legibility, does it matter how you form your letters when you hand write? 

 

There is research linking fluent handwriting with better written compositions. But the key isn’t the quality, form or style of the handwriting, but rather the automaticity of the handwriting. That is, the less you have to concentrate on getting your letters right, the more brain space you can devote to getting your message right. So, your handwriting just needs to feel natural for you. 

 

Typing versus¹ handwriting 

 

Writing automaticity is just as easily achieved on a keyboard. It is actually more time efficient to teach a child to type than it is to teach them a particular handwriting style. By the time they are eight years old, they can already type faster than they can handwrite. 

 

In 2016, the national standardized² literacy and numeracy tests, NAPLAN, will be completed online. We can assume this means students will type their compositions rather than handwrite them. And perhaps the nation’s writing scores will improve as a result. Typed written assessments³ typically score more highly than handwritten compositions. Assessors rate them as better organized, and, quite simply, easier to read. 

 

Should we bother teaching handwriting? 

 

As prevalent as keyboards are, handwriting isn’t obsolete⁴ quite yet, so it remains⁵ important to teach letter formation to young children. 

 

The letters of the alphabet are complex abstract symbols and children can’t begin to write their letters until they can draw a circle. If they can’t draw a circle then they can’t form letters like a, b, d, o, p, q. 

 

This ability to draw an enclosed shape is a very important marker of both cognitive⁶ and physical development, and it is a skill that emerges from their scribbles⁷. So drawing, scribbling⁸ and playing with crayons and pencils are an important part of learning to hand write. 

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