Writing is language on paper. More than 85% of people in the world write, and writing is intimately connected to every aspect of our lives (Roser & Ortiz-Ospina 2016). For example:
- Academic success. Rightly or wrongly, writing is by far the most popular way of assessing students’ knowledge. Therefore, students’ access to qualifications rests heavily on their ability to write well.
- Economic success. Most employees need to be able to write to perform their jobs, and people’s writing skills are routinely assessed by employers when making decisions about hiring new staff (Light 2001). Writing is also great currency. For the 15% of self-employed people in the UK, an ability to produce writing is essential to the success of their businesses.
- Social inclusion. Writing allows us to stay connected with loved ones and to participate in online discourse (including social media) with confidence.
- Civic and political participation. Writing allows us to persuade others, share theories, give our opinion, and bring about change.
- As an art form. Writing allows people to create imaginary worlds, entertain others and to paint with words.
- Personal well-being. Writing allows us to record the things we don’t want to forget, express our feelings, share who we are, share what we know, better understand ourselves, and potentially heal emotional wounds.
Children who fail to master writing miss out on many aspects of being a fully-fledged member of our society and find themselves at a severe disadvantage. Poor writing skills limit children’s academic, occupational, cultural, civic and personal ambitions.
This National Literacy Trust report explored how children and young people felt about writing in 2024. It looks at how many enjoyed writing, how often they wrote in their free time, what motivates them to write, and what kinds of things they wrote. Additionally, it considers how much they enjoyed writing at school.
In 2023, their report concluded that there was a crisis in writing for pleasure. This year, only around 50% of pupils reported that they enjoy the writing that they do at school. This trend continues with only one third of children and young people enjoying writing in their free time. The frequency in which students write has also decreased dramatically, with only 1 in 9 writing daily in their free time, half the number from the previous year.
We have to say, if these statistics represented children and young people’s reading, it would be a national scandal.
However, it’s not just enjoyment and frequency that are low. Children’s attainment is also at a crisis point.
- In 2019, a quarter of children failed to achieve the early learning goal for writing at the end of the early years foundation stage (EYFS).
- In 2019, around 3 in 10 children failed to achieve the basic ‘met’ standard at KS1. Only 16% of children at KS1 were able to demonstrate that they could write above the basic ‘met’ standard.
- Again, in 2019, only one in five KS2 children in England were able to write above the basic standard. In 2023, approximately, one in three children left primary school failing to meet the standard for writing. This rises to 43% for children who are economically underserved.
- For children identified with a special education need or disability (SEND), the picture is even bleaker. According to the DfE (2022a), nearly 90% of children with a SEND didn’t reach the expected standard for reading, writing and maths at KS2.
- In 2021, over 80% of pupils with a SEND left secondary school without a ‘pass’ grade in English and mathematics. Only 8% of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan progressed to higher education, compared to nearly 50% of pupils with no identified SEND.
- Only 5% of adults with learning disabilities aged 18-64 and who are receiving support from social services are in paid employment. Currently, around 1.5 million pupils in England have a special educational need or disability (DfE 2022b).
We appreciate that these statistics make grim reading. They are particularly concerning when you consider the DfE’s ambition for 90% of all pupils to meet the expected standard in writing by 2030 (DfE 2022c).
Earlier research by the National Literacy Trust has shown that children who enjoy writing are seven times more likely to write above their age level compared to those who did not enjoy writing at all. Children who dislike writing are eight times more likely to write below the expected standard. The steep decline in writing for pleasure and attainment is worrying and coordinated action is going to be required if we are going to turn the tide. Here are five steps we think the profession can take.
- Increase children and young people’s feelings of competency by ensuring that schools are utilising the 14 principles of world-class writing teaching
It’s very difficult to write for pleasure if you feel like you’re not very good at it (Young & Ferguson 2024a). What’s clear from the National Literacy Trust’s work is that there is some kind of correlation between proficiency and feeling a sense of pleasure and satisfaction from writing. Indeed, feeling like you’re good at writing is a big motivator. Success breeds success. And being a successful writer feels valuable.
Therefore, our first step in addressing this crisis should be to ensure that as many children and young people receive evidence-based writing instruction as possible. This type of instruction has a strong track record of increasing students’ feelings of writerly confidence and competence (Young & Ferguson 2021, 2024b).
- Bring motivating writing teaching into more classrooms and schools
Motivation matters. A failure to employ motivated writing teaching can leave pupils with a sense of apathy (or even disdain) towards writing. There are five core drivers that make up our Motivation For Writing Framework.
The five core drivers of writing motivation from Young & Ferguson (2024) ‘Motivating Writing Teaching’
- The first is success. This is about teaching in such a way that we can give students confidence that they will be successful. As already said, we can increase our odds by utilising evidence-based writing practices in classrooms (Young & Ferguson 2024b).
- Next, is culture. This is social in nature. It’s about how the attitudes, routines and actions of the classroom and school environment influence pupils’ view of writing and being a writer.
- Then we have motives. This is about students locating what is moving them to write and why they are bothering.
- After, we have identity. This is about building up a bank of positive past experiences with being a writer. Linked to this identity is a student’s self-concept and their long-standing writerly self-esteem (Young et al. 2022).
- Finally, we have buy-in. This is how we can attend to students’ interests, preferences, and provide them with a sense of choice and control.
- Explicitly teach pupils idea generation strategies
Pupils’ enjoyment of writing at school (54%) isn’t translating into writing in their free time (29%). We suspect this is linked to students’ perceived struggles with generating writing ideas (44%). Explicitly teaching pupils strategies that writers use to generate their own writing ideas is not common practice in UK schools. Instead, the majority of teachers or schemes undertake this important work on students’ behalf. One way schools can increase the amount of writing students do in their free time would be to teach them idea generation strategies and techniques that they can use in the classroom and at home. For more on this, see our book No More: I Don’t Know What To Write… [LINK]
- Increase the amount of writing students do ‘for real’
When interviewed, children regularly struggle to identify the reasons they are moved to write (Young & Ferguson 2021). If pupils don’t know about the multiple ways in which we can be moved to write for a variety of audiences (including just for ourselves), then writing in their free time is going to be less probable. Schools should build their writing curriculums around the key reasons we are all moved to write [LINK] and ensure that students get opportunities to publish to a variety of audiences beyond the classroom [LINK]. Once students see what’s truly possible with writing, they are more likely to pursue these reasons outside of school too.
- Make better connections between home and school writing
Giving pupils time to pursue their own personal writing projects while at school, and encouraging them to continue pursuing these projects while at home too, can bridge the gap between school and ‘free-time writing’.
Here’s something to think about. As a nation, we regularly send books home in children’s bags, but do we ask them to also put their writing journals in there too? Do we even give them writing journals? We encourage parents and children to read together at home but do we ask them to do bedtime writing? This is something worth thinking about.
Personal writing projects should be celebrated and should be allowed to travel freely between home and school. For more on this, see our book A Guide To Personal Writing Projects & Writing Clubs For 3-11 Year Olds [LINK].
Final call to action
We will end this article by quoting the National Literacy Trust’s report directly:
‘extraordinary action must now be taken… these compelling findings must inform action and investment in cultivating and supporting the writing-for-pleasure practices of disadvantaged children and young people… responses highlight the vital role writing for pleasure plays in the lives of young writers.’
It continues:
‘increased awareness of what motivates young writers to write for pleasure and the many benefits it can bring, should inform the development of novel pedagogical approaches aimed at galvanising reluctant writers’.
The open comments left by pupils in the National Literacy Trust’s findings last year revealed a clear difference between students who enjoyed writing in school and those who didn’t. Students appreciated structured lessons, clear writing instruction, and feelings of support from their teachers. In contrast, those who didn’t enjoy writing disliked the time constraints put on them, assessment activities, being assigned teacher-directed topics all the time, and a lack of freedom in choosing their own writing style and criteria for success. With only about half of students stating that they enjoy writing at school, it’s important to consider these comments.
Finally, we’ll leave you with this powerful comment from Christina Clark and her colleagues at the National Literacy Trust:
‘This report shows that it is now time to provide considered changes in policy and in-school opportunities aimed at reconnecting children and young people with the creative elements that transform writing into a personal pleasurable practice that empowers them to become fully integrated human beings with a rich individual interior life that they can express through their writing.’
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