How To Teach Handwriting: Principles, Lesson Structure And A Ready Lesson Plan

Build A Handwriting Lesson

What Is The Best Way To Teach Handwriting?

Teach handwriting explicitly, in a clear sequence, and often. The DfE writing framework says pupils "should be taught handwriting precisely, in a clearly sequenced progression, starting from reception". Six principles follow from it:

• Explicit. Show the movement. Do not leave it to discovery.
• Daily until secure. Teaching is daily until pupils can write legibly and easily.
• Small steps, consolidated. Move on only when a letter or join is secure, so children do not practise mistakes.
• Modelled. The teacher demonstrates, and the teacher's own handwriting is a model of high standards.
• Whole class, with extra help. Teach everyone together, then give extra support to those who need it, including left-handed children, summer-born children and new arrivals.
• Supervised. Feedback while children write, not after.

Evidence for structured programmes is mixed. The Education Endowment Foundation's Helping Handwriting Shine trial found that a targeted programme for Year 5 pupils gave two additional months' progress in overall writing, while the whole-class Year 2 version made no additional progress. It suggests focus and targeting matter. See handwriting intervention in KS2.

What Does A Good Handwriting Lesson Look Like?

A good lesson has five parts: a ready-to-write routine, a warm-up, modelling, practice with feedback, and review. The EEF trial sessions followed a similar shape, with three elements: preparing for handwriting, a warm-up pencil control activity, and an explicit handwriting activity.

Here is an example 15-minute lesson. The times are a suggestion, not a rule.

The "ready to write" prompts come from the DfE writing framework, which suggests pupil-friendly routines that are practised until only shorthand reminders are needed.

How Often Should Handwriting Be Taught?

Handwriting is taught daily until pupils can write legibly and easily, according to the DfE writing framework. In Reception the framework notes that many schools teach it daily, alongside phonics.

In What Order Should Handwriting Skills Be Taught?

The order that follows from the National Curriculum and the DfE framework runs from movement to fluency. Strokes and letter families come first, then capitals and digits, then size and spacing, then joins in Year 2, then speed and legibility in KS2.

1. Movements, strokes and pencil control (Reception).
2. Letter formation in families, print (Reception and Year 1).
3. Capitals and digits (Year 1).
4. Size and spacing (Year 2).
5. Joins (from Year 2).
6. Fluency, speed and choice of style (KS2).

See handwriting progression for the year-by-year grid and letter families for the order of families.

What Are The S Factors Of Handwriting?

The National Handwriting Association gives teachers seven "S" factors for judging handwriting: sitting, size, shape, spacing, slant, stringing and speed. Other lists have five or six, so the exact set varies by source.

Use them as a self-evaluation checklist. See handwriting lines for size and handwriting assessment for a class record.

What Mistakes Do Teachers Make When Teaching Handwriting?

Five mistakes are worth checking for, most of them drawn from the DfE writing framework:

1. Having children copy from the board or trace dotted letters without supervision. The framework says this can hinder their mental model of the movement.
2. Moving on before a letter is secure. The framework asks for small steps that are consolidated first.
3. Teaching joins before print letters are correct and consistent.
4. Skipping posture and pencil grip. The framework says pupils need to be taught explicitly how to hold a pencil.
5. Inconsistent modelling. The teacher's own handwriting is the model, in every subject.

A sixth is practical: whiteboard pens that are much bigger than a pencil. The framework recommends a marker of a similar size to a standard pen or pencil.

How Do You Adapt Handwriting Teaching For Different Children?

Adapt the paper, the size, the model's position and the pace, not the letterforms. The DfE writing framework names three groups who need extra demonstration and practice: left-handed children, summer-born children and new arrivals.

• Left-handers: the framework asks for space to write, a seat to the left of any right-handed pupil, paper slanted to the right, softer pencils and a slightly higher grip. See left-handed writers.
• Children with motor difficulties: larger lines, slower pace and support such as grips. See dyspraxia and writing and multisensory teaching.
• Children not ready to join: stay with secure print until formation is consistent. See pre-cursive handwriting.