Teaching Handwriting

Contemporary handwriting can trace its origins through the history of letters and writing implements from Roman times and beyond. A short explanation is needed to link more recent changes in letterforms with the development of pens over the centuries, as well as the alterations in educational thinking and the changing priorities for handwriting itself. British attitudes have been markedly different from those in other parts of the world. Traditionally, British schools have been allowed to develop their own teaching policies. Whole districts, as well as individual schools, have been free to choose their own models and methods of teaching handwriting, or even to neglect the subject altogether. This situation has resulted in considerable controversy. At the same time it provides a rich field for investigating the effects of different models and methods within the same educational environment.

It dealt with all aspects of the task including a graph showing a graduated scheme for teaching handwriting arranged according to the age of children . So, for instance, Gordon suggested that under the age of four years, children should be encouraged to scribble and produce rough drawings of common objects. Then between four and five years they should be introduced to what he termed 'letters of one space' (letters without ascenders or descenders) singly and in combinations to form short and easy words. The scheme gives us a glimpse of the expectations for elementary school children at the end of the nineteenth century showing, for instance, how a considerable amount of practice was provided on a slate before expecting a child to copy joined words or sentences.

Dr Maria Montessori (1870-1952) began her enlightened work on early childhood education at the beginning of the century, in Italy. Montessori's attitude to teaching handwriting, informed by her medical training as well as her observation of young children, was many years ahead of her contemporaries, and her methods deserve respect and serious consideration today. Despite the alterations in educational thinking and priorities that have taken place in primary and secondary education in the intervening years, the Montessori philosophy can help us to understand and overcome some of the most pressing problems in our classrooms.

She described teaching handwriting as 'Stocking the muscle memory' and described how: 'Writing is often the result of painful and disagreeable preparation in school. It evokes the memory of dry effort, of pains suffered and punishment inflicted'. The sensitive stages, so fundamental to Montessori teaching, are defined as moments when a child is ready and best able to assimilate certain knowledge. They can be used as a general guide as to when children should start to write. She explained how a child of four or five might enjoy touching sandpaper letters with their eyes closed: 'If on the other hand the exercise is given to a child who is too old he will be more interested in seeing the letter which by now represents a sound and part of a word'.