Adopting a French approach to teaching handwriting

last updated:July 2006

We chose this case study because it offers fresh insight into the place of handwriting in young children’s early literacy learning, which brings into focus the different beliefs and approaches to writing in English and French infant schools. The study arose because of English teachers’ concerns over the poor quality of children’s creative writing and of the quality of the writing itself, in comparison with some French children’s writing at a similar age.

This teacher research project took the form of a comparative study set in infant schools in Kent, England and in northern France. A teacher at one English school undertook a series of visits to infant and primary schools in northern France. She based her findings on interviews with French academics, teachers, headteachers and education professionals and on previous research relating to handwriting of both countries.

The importance of handwriting as more than a functional skill in French schools
The study showed that:

• there was a greater sense of a shared cultural understanding of the importance of handwriting among French infant teachers
• teaching of handwriting was a higher priority in French infant schools than in the English schools
• in French infant schools teachers had a much more developed knowledge of writing as a complex mix of gross and fine motor skills, and visual and spatial control, supported by a wide range of literature
• consequently, French teachers believed art and PE were closely linked to the teaching of handwriting
• in French infant schools handwriting was regarded as a facilitator to creative writing
• schools, local authorities and institutions of higher education maintained a shared commitment to handwriting as a high priority in initial teacher training and professional development
• when a greater emphasis was placed on developing handwriting skills in the researcher’s school, teachers noticed an improvement not just in the form of the writing but also in children’s ability to communicate their ideas and in their presentation.

The teaching of handwriting in France was closely associated with the French view that it is important for individuals to acquire this skill if they are to access learning and communication as a part of being a French citizen. As one headteacher put it:

“If our pupils can gain access to culture, they can communicate with anyone.  And to do this they need to be familiar with its symbols – the symbols in writing, in reading, in art, in maths, in music.”

Handwriting, in the French schools, was seen as more than a functional act. It was considered to be a 'graphic act' which was fundamental to the child’s overall learning.  Teachers needed to exercise patience, skill, knowledge and sensitivity while the children acquired handwriting skills. The findings showed that it was a lengthy process beginning at age 3 years when the children enter school to the age of 8/9 years. In France practitioners considered writing, on the one hand, to be similar to an expressive art such as PE, art and music, and on the other, as a tool for developing powers of concentration and memory.  By comparison English teachers felt that it was not necessary to go to such lengths which they regarded as ‘too specialist’ and not relevant to the average child.

What lessons did English teachers draw from the French model?
As a result of the findings the English school in the study adopted a radically different approach to the teaching and learning of writing.

• In the initial phases of creative work children expressed their thoughts exclusively in spoken form.
• The school spent a longer time than previously on the development of the fine and gross motor skills needed for fluent writing styles to emerge.
• Teachers no longer acted as scribes for individual children, and gave them printed writing to work from.
• Teachers at the school saw a marked increase in the quality of the children’s work in relation to: communicating their thoughts and in their speed of writing, punctuation, spelling and grammar. In the words of the researcher “It is as though having automated the hand, the children’s minds are ‘liberated’ to release their ideas more effectively and creatively on paper.”

Reference:
Thomas, F. 'Une question de writing?' Research project commissioned by the Teacher Training Agency, 1996/97
Available at: www.tda.gov.uk/upload/resources/pdf/t/tta07.pdf