Category: Uncategorized

Original article: LINK

By Victoria Purcell-Gates, Nell K. Duke, Joseph A. Martineau

Research indicates that teaching students about specific text structures can improve their understanding and ability to write those types of texts [LINK]. In Australia, a genre-based approach to teaching writing, influenced by Hallidayan linguistic theory, has long been popular. This method makes the ‘typical’ features of different genres explicit to children by reading as writers [LINK]. Proponents of genre-based teaching argue that students need explicit instruction to understand different genres, as relying on ‘luck’ alone is not enough. However, the approach has faced criticism for being too rigid and for ignoring cultural differences [LINK].

Despite disagreements, there’s a consensus that authentic class writing projects are essential for learning about the different purposes for writing [LINK]. Authentic writing class projects mean engaging with texts in real-life contexts rather than undertaking artificial scheme-assigned tasks.

Purcell-Gates, Duke & Martineau’s research study explored the impact of explicit instruction of genre features within the context of authentic class writing projects.

They aimed to answer two main questions:

1. How does explicit teaching of genre features in science texts affect children’s ability to read and write these texts? [LINK]
2. How is the authenticity of class writing projects related to children’s growth in reading and writing these texts? [LINK]

In essence, the study wanted to explore how to best teach writing by combining explicit instruction with real-world reading and writing experiences.

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We can draw several important conclusions from their study:

1. Authentic class writing projects: Engaging children in real-life writing projects significantly helps them improve their understanding and writing of texts. This finding supports the idea that children learn language better when they use it in real, meaningful contexts rather than just through formal instruction [LINK].
2. Developmental considerations: The study suggests that explicit teaching of genre craft moves might not align well with the cognitive and linguistic abilities of very young children [LINK]. However, as children grow older and more experienced, explicit teaching might become more effective.
3. Combination of strategies: The study hints that combining explicit teaching of genre craft moves with explicit reading as writers strategies could be incredibly effective.

Original article: LINK

By Murray Gadd, Judy M. Parr

Imagine a primary school teacher in New Zealand who found a fantastic way to get his Year 5 and 6 students excited about writing. He started telling his students fun and adventurous stories about his mischievous dog, Baxter. Instead of just asking the kids to retell Baxter’s adventures, he encouraged them to come up with their own funny, naughty, or strange animal stories based on either their own experiences or their imaginations.

The students dove into their writing with enthusiasm. They wrote vivid descriptions, like a cat drinking from a used toilet bowl, a parrot sipping wine from its owner’s shoulder, and a peculiar dog winking mischievously at a child walking home from school. John then told his students that their stories would be published on a class blog for the local community to read.

Almost all the students said they loved the project, and their writing was as good as or even better than their previous efforts. John believed the success came from the nature of the project itself – it was meaningful, open-ended, and connected to the students’ own lives [LINK].

This approach is called ‘task orientation.’ It means carefully planning the content and structure of a class writing project so as to engage students effectively [LINK]. When done right, as John demonstrated, it can significantly boost students’ interest and academic performance. The study highlighting John’s method shows how essential task orientation is for effective writing instruction and how it helps teachers positively impact their students’ learning and engagement.

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Projects are the cornerstone of a writing classroom, whether they are created by teachers [LINK] or students [LINK]. These tasks can vary widely: some might be the same for everyone, while others offer choice; they can be done alone or in groups; they can aim for one specific result or invite various outcomes.

Four key features make class writing projects more engaging and beneficial for students.

• First, the project must be meaningful to the student. When tasks connect to what students are interested in or already know, they become more engaging [LINK]. Students often feel more invested if they have a say. When students find class writing projects meaningful, they are more likely to feel empowered and motivated.
• Second, class writing projects should be linked to learning goals. Writing, in particular, should relate to the students’ own lives and other subjects they are studying [LINK and LINK].
• Third, there should be a variety of projects. Students need different types of writing projects to show their abilities in various areas and to keep them interested. However, tasks should not be randomly varied. They need to be thoughtfully planned to ensure deep learning [LINK].
• Finally, class projects should be appropriately challenging. They should be challenging but achievable to keep students motivated and help them build confidence. When students successfully complete challenging projects, it increases their self-efficacy and motivation [LINK].

Effective class writing projects should meet the students’ learning needs, be seen as purposeful and challenging by students, involve students in their creation [LINK and LINK], consider the diverse backgrounds of students [LINK], and be open-ended, allowing for extended engagement.

This study looked at how these principles of effective unit planning are used by exceptional writing teachers. It examines which strategies are most closely linked to student progress and what these strategies look like in practice. By understanding and applying these strategies, teachers can create tasks that significantly boost student engagement and achievement.

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Teachers who excel in planning class writing projects are more likely to see their students make significant progress in writing. Specifically, two strategies stand out:

• Planning projects that students find purposeful and challenging [LINK]
• Involving students in the selection or construction of these projects [LINK and LINK].

In classroom practice, most teachers successfully planned projects that were purposeful and aligned with their students’ learning needs and diverse backgrounds [LINK]. The lessons observed included a wide range of topics and writing purposes, such as recounting personal experiences, describing imaginary moments, or explaining scientific concepts [EYFS, KS1 & KS2]. Teachers could articulate why they chose specific projects and how these were relevant to their students’ experiences and interests.

In terms of project organisation, most teachers ensured a variety of class projects, often making them open-ended to accommodate personal or imaginative writing. However, there was variability in how much choice students had in selecting topics. About half of the lessons observed involved some degree of student choice within broad parameters set by the teacher. For example, students might be asked to explain how something works but could choose what to explain [EYFS, KS1 & KS2].

Only one lesson demonstrated full student involvement in project construction. Students not only selected their topic but also the purpose and audience for their writing [LINK], fostering greater engagement and ownership of their writing.

Overall, this study highlights the importance of purposeful and challenging class writing project, student involvement in project construction, and thoughtful task organisation [LINK] in promoting effective writing instruction.

Original paper: LINK

By Anne Elrod Whitney

We all yearn for genuine connections [LINK]. Authenticity means being real and honest, not pretending.

As teachers of writing, we need to aim for this authenticity. When we ask students to write, we want their purposes to be real and meaningful. We want their writing processes to be genuine. When they compose texts, we want these to reflect real-life writerly situations. The audiences we source for our students should be genuine too, with real readers providing real reactions [LINK]. And in our relationships with students, we should strive to be authentic, encouraging them to be their true selves as well [LINK].

The challenge of maintaining authenticity in school

We often separate school writing from the ‘real-world’ too sharply [LINK, LINK and LINK]. School writing is too often seen by children as preparation for the future, where writing tasks are ‘just practice’ until you’re allowed to do it for real. However, for children, school is their real world. Children arrive at school with a belief that everything they do there is real and important work [LINK]. They don’t initially worry about academic recognition or question the value of writing tasks. But over time, this sense of reality fades [LINK]. Why does this happen?

Schools often overlook what is most real and immediate to students, like their daily experiences, concerns, hopes, fears, and relationships. Instead, we focus on alienating and detaching children from writing, asking them to write about teacher or scheme-assigned topics for no reason at all [LINK]. To keep writing meaningful, we need to connect it to students’ lives and genuine interests.

Making authenticity a practice in the writing classroom

Most of us understand what it feels like to write something truly meaningful – when it serves a real purpose or gets an important job done. There is a sense of pleasure and satisfaction that comes from that. But do our students experience writing in the same way, or do they just see it as another thing you have to ‘get done’ while you’re at school [LINK and LINK]?

As teachers, we want to provide our students with genuine writing opportunities, but how can we make this a reality? How can we create authentic writing experiences that help students see the true value of writing?

In her article, the Anne Whitney proposes that authenticity requires actions related to four areas:

1. Authentic genres: Use real-life writing forms that students might encounter outside of school [EYFS, KS1 and KS2].
2. Authentic processes: Engage students in writing processes that mirror what writers actually do [LINK].
3. Authentic audiences: Connect students with real readers who provide genuine reactions, social-connection and feedback [LINK].
4. Authentic relationships: Be a genuine writer-teacher and help students express their themselves [LINK & LINK].

By emphasising these aspects, you help students see writing as something more than just a school-based task and help them build more meaningful connections with their writing and with each other.

Using real-life writing genres in the classroom

Authenticity means inviting children to make real, successful and meaningful writing rather than artificial stuff. To making class writing projects more authentic, try these strategies:

1. Use real-life language for genres. Look at how different types of writing are presented in bookstores, magazines, and online [LINK and LINK].
2. Encourage observing real-world writing: Have students track every instance of writing they see over a few days and then discuss these observations as a class. Highlight the purposes behind different writing activities to show that writing has value and use outside of school.
3. Provide real-world examples: Whenever you plan a class writing project, offer examples from outside the classroom [LINK]. If you can’t find a real-world example of what you’re asking students to write, perhaps this is telling you something. Perhaps you need to reconsider whether it’s a worthwhile project.
4. Define genres authentically: Use examples from the real world to teach students about different genres. Read as writers. Analyse what makes a review a review, an essay an essay, or a blog a blog. Also, be open to the idea that genre definitions and conventions change over time.
5. Consider the context of genres: Look beyond just text features. Discuss the purpose, audience, and context that led to the creation of the text [LINK]. Genres are nothing more than purposes for writing. They are a response to a specific situation, so help students identify similar scenarios where they might use the same genre in their lives [LINK].
6. Answer questions with real examples: When students ask questions like “How long does it need to be?” or “Can I draw a diagram?” refer to real-world examples [LINK]. This approach not only grounds your teaching in authentic content but also teaches students how to make these decisions on their own.

Using authentic writing processes in the classroom

Here’s how we can make the writer’s process more authentic:

1. Allow flexibility: Writing doesn’t always go as planned, and that’s okay. Encourage students to adapt and change their plans as needed [LINK]. If a draft takes them in a new direction, give them the space to explore those new ideas rather than sticking strictly to their initial plan.
2. Share your process: Keep a journal of your own writing processes, strategies and techniques. Share these strategies with your students before inviting them to give the strategy a try for themselves that day [LINK].
3. Write alongside students: Occasionally, write in front of your class, thinking out loud about your decisions [LINK]. This shows students that writing is a social and dynamic process, not just about producing a ‘first-shot perfect product’.
4. Set process goals: Set very specific goals for writing time [LINK].
5. Teach specific strategies: When you give verbal feedback, explain the strategies you use when you’re writing and how they might be useful in their situation [LINK]. For example, show them how you use show don’t tell to create a ‘film’ in your readers’ minds.
6. Create posters: Throughout the year, create posters of the different writing strategies you’ve taught that have really helped your students. Display these in the classroom as a reference.
7. Discuss process in sharing time: After writing sessions, ask students about their process. Invite them to discuss their top-tips and any other exciting outcomes. This helps them reflect on their own writerly experiences.
8. Focus on planning, revision and proof-reading: Occasionally, have whole-class or small-groups discussions about specific aspects of the writing process. For example, discuss your favourite planning strategies [LINK], undertake revision checklist sessions [LINK] and proof-read using CUPS [LINK].
9. Include process narratives: When students produce their final published pieces, also have them write about the making of the piece. This could be a letter to their readers or an explanation to their classmates.
10. Review and reflect: Throughout the year, ask your class what mini-lessons have been most useful to them? [LINK]

Securing genuine audiences for children’s writing

Understanding your audience is crucial in writing. When we write, we’re not just putting words on paper – we’re often attempting to connect with people. We are wanting to make and share meaning with others. It’s important for students to write for real audiences who will connect socially with them and show their reaction(s) to their writing. We don’t want children only writing for their teacher’s evaluation nor do we want them writing for phantom hypothetical readers [LINK].

Here’s how you can make writing more authentic and engaging by focusing on real audiences:

1. Start with the audience: At the start of a new class writing project, have students consider who the audience(s) could be for their writing. This is best done by setting a publishing goal together [LINK].
2. Write for different audiences: Throughout the academic year, and across a Key Stage, ensure children write for a variety of different audiences. This way, they learn how to tailor their writing (and voice) for different readers. For instance, writing to a local government official (a stranger in a position of power and influence) is different to writing a picturebook for younger students.
3. Class sharing: Have students regularly exchange their pieces to get their friends’ reactions and feedback. Have them read their pieces aloud to their friends [LINK]. This practice helps them consider the different reactions people have to their writing and they can make changes accordingly.
4. Engage with the community: Use the community outside of school as audiences. For example, host a Writer’s Tea where students can read their stories to community members and see their reactions. This provides the valuable social-connection that writers need and makes the writing experience more meaningful [LINK].
5. Explore online audiences: Help students understand how their writing might be seen by others online. Discuss who might read their class blog or watch their video, and explore tools that show how their writing can be digitalised, found, and shared with others. This teaches them about the impact of their writing and the importance of online privacy and ethics.
6. Continually discuss audience reaction: Discuss with students what kind of reaction they want from their audiences and always share your reaction to their manuscripts [LINK].

By incorporating these strategies, you will help your pupils understand the importance of writing for real audiences and give them practical experience in tailoring their writing to meet different needs and expectations.

Being genuine with students in the classroom

To truly connect with pupils in the writing classroom, it’s essential that both teachers and students embrace authenticity. This means showing our true selves as writer-teachers (both our strengths and weaknesses) rather than just presenting polished, perfect writing products.

1. Show your real writing: Share your own writing with students, including plans, drafts revisions, proof-reads and abandoned pieces. Let them see that writing is a process.
2. Be yourself: Don’t try to be a perfect writer-teacher (it’s impossible). Instead, be open about your own writing struggles and successes. Let students see you as a real writer, complete with excitement and doubts [LINK].
3. Respond with empathy: When a student is facing a difficulty, let them know you understand. Share the strategies you use when you experience what your student is experiencing [LINK].
4. Focus on the writing processes not ‘one-shot perfect products’: Rather than aiming for a one-shot perfect outcome, value the journey of writing [LINK].
5. Make writing a shared and socially connecting experience: Build a classroom community where everyone, including you, is actively engaged in the writing processes. Let students see that writing is a collaborative effort, and that everyone’s contributions are valued [LINK and LINK].

Original chapter: LINK

By Alina Galvão Spinillo

The Latin saying “Verba volant, scripta manent” translates to “spoken words fly away, written words remain,” emphasising the lasting nature of writing. But when we think about writing as a process that involves constant changes, its temporary nature becomes apparent. Alina Galvão Spinillo’s chapter focuses on the crucial role of revising in writing.

Revising is all about looking at your writing critically and making improvements. It’s like quality control for your text, ensuring it is clear, accurate, and effective. This process might involve minor tweaks or major rewrites, depending on what is needed to achieve a satisfactory final product.

Research shows that revision is a key part of writing, happening at various stages:

1. Planning: Before writing starts.
2. Drafting: As the text is being written.
3. Post-drafting: After a draft is complete.

Studies have found that experienced writers, like secondary school students and adults, revise more extensively than beginners or younger students. Less experienced writers often need support from teachers or peers to engage in meaningful revision [LINK].

Who the text is for also influences the type of revisions children make [LINK]. Writers adjust their manuscripts differently depending on their audience. Understanding these aspects can help teachers guide their students more effectively. By encouraging frequent and thoughtful revisions, teachers can help students improve their writing skills and produce higher-quality pieces.

Text revision is an important part of writing, where the writer looks at their own manuscripts with fresh eyes. This process is driven by a sense of comparing what you wanted to say to your readers with what you’ve actually written. When differences are found, the writer makes necessary changes.

When revising, writers typically perform four main actions:

1. Addition: Adding new words, sentences, or paragraphs.
2. Deletion: Removing unnecessary parts.
3. Substitution: Replacing one element with another.
4. Rearrangement: Changing the order of words, sentences, or paragraphs.

Children typically favour substitution, while rearrangement is more common when they are making digital texts.

1. Encourage metacognitive awareness: Teach students to think about their thinking. Encourage them to step back and review their manuscript critically. A great way to do this is through revision checklist sessions [LINK].
2. Focus on audience: Help students consider who will read their text and how to best communicate their message to that audience. Setting publishing goals is a great way to do this [LINK]. Knowing their text will be read by someone specific can motivate them to make more thoughtful revisions.
3. Practise different types of revisions: Have students ‘try out’ addition, deletion, substitution, and rearrangement craft moves. This builds flexibility in their writing skills [LINK].

Beginning writers often focus more on surface-level changes. With practice and guidance, they can learn to make deeper, meaning-level revisions. By incorporating these strategies into your teaching, you can help students develop stronger writing skills, ensuring their final drafts are polished and effective.

When to revise

Revision can occur at different stages of the writing process:

1. Planning: This is the stage where writers generate ideas and organise their thoughts before drafting begins. Here, revisions happen in the writer’s mind as they decide what to include and how to structure their text [LINK]. Collaborative writing can be helpful at this stage, allowing writers to discuss and refine their ideas together [LINK and LINK].
2. Drafting: During this stage, the writer is translating their ideas onto paper. Revisions made here can be called ‘online revisions’. This involves choosing the best words and sentence structures to convey the intended meaning [LINK]. This stage is critical for ensuring the text flows logically from one idea to the next.
3. Reviewing and ‘trying things out’: This occurs after a draft is written. Writers review their text as their reader would, making changes to improve the overall quality. This stage can be called ‘deferred revision’. Revision checklist sessions are a great opportunity for reviewing [LINK].

Good revision practices

• Rereading while drafting: Studies show that rereading parts of your text aloud to friends while you are writing can help generate new ideas and improve the quality of the final product [LINK].
• Collaborative planning and revising: When children work in pairs to plan and revise a text, they tend to make more meaningful changes during planning and more genre-focused changes during post-drafting. Encouraging collaboration with friends can enhance young writers’ revision process [LINK].

The role of the audience when writing

When children write, their audience(s) play a crucial role. This audience can either be physically present while the writing is being made (such as classmates and teachers) and/or absent (town library visitors, strangers on a train).

• Collaborative writing and quality improvement: Studies have shown that when students have their classmates as audiences for their writing, the quality and quantity of their revision increases [LINK].
• Understanding through peer evaluation: Peer evaluations can help children write understandable texts. Regular class sharing sessions are particularly effective in improving text comprehensibility [LINK].
• Undertake revision checklist sessions: Teach your pupils how to give specific and constructive feedback [LINK].
• Balance individual and collaborative writing: Use a mix of individual and collaborative writing time [LINK]. Individual writing time helps students focus on their own writing, while collaborative writing time can introduce writers to new ideas and perspectives from their readers.

Students also set themselves publishing goals which involve them writing for an audience who is not physically present in the classroom [LINK]. Publishing goals influence children’s writing and revision process:

• Revising for a broader audience: When revising for a future reader, students are more likely to make changes that enhance clarity and coherence. Children make more meaningful revisions when they know their text is going to be read by someone outside their immediate circle.
• Improving through audience awareness: Children can improve their writing significantly when they are given time to think from the reader’s perspective [LINK].

Students learn to modify their writing based on their readers’ needs.

Practical tips for teachers

1. Define the audience: Help students identify who the audience is going to be for class writing projects [LINK]. Have classroom discussions about what their audience(s) might need or expect from their texts. You can do this by setting the product goals (success criteria) for a class writing project collaboratively [LINK]. This will help students think more critically about their writing choices.
2. Plan authentic ‘real-world’ writing projects: Plan a variety of class writing projects where students write for different audiences, such as letters to people of interest [LINK] or articles for a school magazine [LINK]. Such projects make the revision process more purposeful.
3. Set specific revision goals: When asking students to revise their compositions, give them specific goals related to their audience. This is best done through revision checklist sessions [LINK].
4. Use real-world examples: Show students examples of how you’ve made revisions to your text. This can provide a concrete model for students to follow.

By integrating these strategies into your teaching, you can help students become more aware of their audience, leading to better and more thoughtful writing.

In a previous article, we described what young writers are doing as they make writing [LINK]. When a child settles down to write, they will: conceptualise – generate ideas – translate – transcribe – reconceptualise.

So what can we, as teachers, do to support children as they are writing? Well, to help, we’ve created the following resource. Why not use it as part of a staff meeting on improving writing?

Download it for free below:

By Bethany Lewis

Original article: LINK

Many teachers recognise that multilingual students have unique strengths. However, when it comes to their needs, teachers don’t always feel equipped to address their pupils’ needs effectively [LINK]. This article reviews studies from 2010 to 2023 to find out what supports have been most helpful for multilingual writers. Seven key strategies emerged:

1. The role of the teacher: Teachers’ guidance is crucial in helping students improve their writing.
2. Writing mentor texts: Using exemplar texts to model good writing helps students understand different genres [LINK].
3. Creating multimodal texts: Encouraging students to use different forms of media and expression enriches their writing experience [LINK].
4. Writing scaffolds: Providing structured support helps students gradually develop their writing skills [LINK].
5. Authenticity: Engaging students in real-world writing projects makes learning more meaningful [LINK].
6. Specific teacher instruction: Tailored writing instruction addresses the individual needs of multilingual students [LINK].
7. Multilingual language approaches: Inviting students to use their knowledge of their home language(s) can enhance their writing skills [LINK & LINK].

These insights give primary teachers practical strategies to support multilingual students’ writing development in literacy lessons and other subject areas.

The role of the writing teacher

Teachers play a critical role in helping multilingual students develop their writing skills. How they view and support multilingualism in the classroom can make a big difference [LINK]. Some teachers create an environment that values students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds, while others may overlook the benefits of children’s home language(s), seeing them as an inconvenience.

When teachers embrace students’ existing cultural and linguistic resources, students thrive as writers [LINK]. Teachers who reflect the realities of their pupils’ languages and use inclusive teaching methods, help students feel that their identities and experiences are important to their writing [LINK]. Most studies found that teachers made efforts to support multilingual students by moving beyond traditional monolingual teaching methods. These teachers:

• Use bilingual texts [LINK]
• Encouraged students to mix languages by translanguaging [LINK]
• Provided technology that supported language learning
• Support students to choose their own writing topics for class writing projects [LINK]
• Involved families as language resources
• Valued multilingual compositions [LINK]

Writing mentor texts

Using mentor texts is a key strategy for helping multilingual students improve their writing. These mentor texts can be published books, student-written pieces, wordless picture books, or texts produced by teachers or assistant teachers [LINK and LINK].

For example, in Hong’s study [LINK], a teacher used children’s literature and a previous student’s writing to help multilingual students write their own poetry. Mentor texts allow students to see the author’s craft, understand different genres, and learn how to structure their writing [LINK].

Students don’t just read these texts; they study them as writers, analysing how the authors constructed their writing [LINK]. Teachers can show children bilingual poetry before inviting them to make their own.

Creating multimodal texts

Students can create multimodal compositions, using various tools and resources like drawings [LINK], artefacts, and digital technology to express their ideas. Writing can be challenging for young students, but visual and multimodal projects give teachers a better understanding of students’ storytelling and writing skills beyond just words on a page [LINK].

• Inviting children to draw as part of their writing process was the most common form of multimodal work.
• Other teachers had students create presentations.
• Two studies involved using photography, where students took photos before writing personal narratives, adding a unique and engaging element to their work. Photography also helped students bring their cultural backgrounds into the classroom, making their learning more meaningful.
• Another project involved children creating bilingual eBooks with visual images and audio recordings.

Writing scaffolds

Using spoken language is crucial for multilingual students as they learn to write. Ongoing and collaborative conversations help students plan, draft, and edit their compositions [LINK]. For example, in peer-writing partnerships, students used their combined language skills to reflect on, evaluate, and improve their writing. This kind of interaction, often involving switching between languages, helped students solve problems and generate ideas. Encouraging students to talk through their writing process not only boosts their writing skills but also their verbal abilities [LINK].

Speech-to-text software can significantly improve the quality of students’ writing. Technology also helped students communicate and collaborate. For example, children can use Google Translate to talk and write with their classmates who speak different languages. However, it’s important to note that while technology can be beneficial, it has limitations. Younger students, for example, often perform better with paper and pencil than with digital devices. Teachers should carefully consider when and how to integrate technology, ensuring it enhances rather than hinders children’s writing development.

Scaffolds like graphic organisers can help students organise their thoughts before writing [LINK].

Authentic class writing projects

Authentic writing instruction is essential for all writers, including multilingual students. This involves making writing meaningful by connecting it to real purposes and audiences, and incorporating students’ lives and experiences into the writing classroom [LINK and LINK].

Writing with real purposes, like communicating a message or achieving a goal, deeply engages and motivates multilingual students. When students write about topics they care about, they see writing as important and powerful [LINK]. When teachers invite students to write about their own lives and backgrounds, students feel a sense of ownership over their writing. They begin to appreciate the diverse experiences within the classroom [LINK].

Teachers can encourage students to bring their communities, families, and outside experiences into the writing classroom [LINK]. For instance, one study found that when students used photography to capture their outside lives, their motivation and enjoyment for writing increased significantly. They wrote more and were eager to share their work with their peers.

Three studies specifically highlighted the benefits of writing for authentic audiences. One approach involved students rewriting and translating poems and songs shared by their families, positioning parents as literacy and language experts. Another study had students use message journals to communicate with their families, building literacy skills through real conversations. Some students even had multilingual pen pals, which gave them a genuine audience and reason to write, helping them understand different perspectives.

By connecting classroom writing to students’ outside worlds, teachers help students see the real value of writing skills [LINK]. Families also become partners in education, bringing valuable knowledge and expertise into the classroom.

Specific teacher instruction

While just teaching more words won’t solve all writing challenges for multilingual learners, there is a clear link between knowing more words and writing texts that people tend to appreciate more.

Another study explored the use of transition words and their effect on writing quality. It found that the more students used transition words, the higher their writing scores. Teaching students how to use these connecting words can make their writing flow better and improve their overall composition quality.

Multilingual language approaches

Teaching students to write in more than one language can boost their overall writing skills and cognitive flexibility.

Students often switch between languages (code-switching) or blend them (code-meshing) while writing. This practice, known as translanguaging, helps students use their entire language repertoire, improving their writing in the process [LINK].

Some students may initially hesitate to write in both languages due to dominant language ideologies or not seeing their bilingual skills as valuable in the classroom [LINK and LINK]. However, with the right support and teacher modelling, students can be encouraged to use all their language abilities. Teachers might need to use mentor texts and direct instruction to help students feel more comfortable and confident in their dual language writing [LINK].

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If you found this article useful, you may like to download our publication: A Teacher’s Guide To Writing With Multilingual Children

By Noella Mackenzie

Original article: LINK 

Most young children love to draw and they need to learn to write. Despite decades of research showing a strong connection between drawing and early writing skills, some classrooms still keep these activities separate.

This research project focused on writing in the first year of school. Ten first-year teachers were asked to make drawing a key part of their writing lessons. The goal was to explore how integrating drawing into writing lessons affects children’s learning in the first six months of school, particularly as visual and written literacy become increasingly intertwined.

The results are clear: when teachers encourage children to see drawing and writing as connected ways to create and share meaning, children’s writing becomes more complex than when they rely on writing alone. These findings are important for two reasons. First, in a time when visual literacy is crucial, ignoring the link between drawing and writing is counterproductive. Second, the results highlight the value of building on what children already know – talking and drawing – while introducing them to new skills, like writing [LINK].

This approach not only enhances their writing abilities but also helps them develop a positive attitude towards themselves as writers.

Learning to write

Writing is a complex skill that involves coordinating the hand, eye, and brain [LINK]. It’s often thought of as a step-by-step process: children start with scribbles and pretend writing, move to invented spellings, and eventually create conventional texts which can be read by others. However, writing actually develops in many ways at once. Children often come to school already able to talk, play, tell stories (real or imagined), teach you about the things they know a lot about, and draw.

The relationship between drawing and writing

Drawing and writing share many similarities: they use the same motor skills, rely on similar thinking processes, are both ways of making and sharing meaning, and develop over time with instruction and practice. Research over the years has consistently shown a strong connection between early writing and drawing skills.

While writing involves a fixed set of symbols (like letters), drawing is more flexible and influenced by a child’s cognitive development. Creating meaning starts with more direct forms of expression, such as gestures, play, and drawing. For many children, drawing is both a fun activity and a serious way of sharing meaning with others. It helps them explore real and imaginary worlds, and it allows for rich expression and complex thinking. Drawing also provides a scaffold and support as children face the challenges of writing [LINK].

When children begin to write, they often have to encode many of the words they want to write, which can be time consuming and exhausting. Their drawings can help them remember and ‘tell’ their writing when they can’t write conventionally all the words they want to use [LINK].

Teachers can use these insights to support young writers by integrating drawing into writing lessons, making the process more engaging and less frustrating for children. In the context of Writing For Pleasure schools, we believe this is best done by inviting children to make picture and chapter books every day [LINK].

Shifting teachers’ priorities

Teachers play a crucial role in shaping what happens in the classroom. They shouldn’t just blindly follow a set curriculum. Instead, they should adapt, refine, and prioritise based on research and evidence. What teachers choose to emphasise sends a clear message to their pupils what is important [LINK].

Despite research supporting the benefits of drawing and its connection to quality writing, many young children in the UK are experiencing writing instruction that undervalues or even refuses children’s opportunities for drawing.

This shift may be driven by an extreme ‘presentational-skills’ movement, which holds a narrow, flawed, and incomplete view of writing [LINK]. In too many classrooms, drawing is simply seen as a time-filler or as a treat – when you’ve finished your writing. This is completely the wrong way round. Asking children to ‘write cold’, without drawing and talking first, makes writing even harder than it needs to be. It ignores the strong connection between drawing and writing, especially during the early stages of writing development [LINK].

(Young & Ferguson 2022)

Teachers should consider incorporating drawing into their writing instruction through book-making [LINK]. This supports all young writers, including those with special educational needs and disabilities [LINK] and those new to English [LINK]. It makes the writing process feel less effortful for children and more engaging.

Encouraging drawing and talking before writing

It’s important that teachers model how to draw and talk about your drawings before inviting children to do that same during that day’s writing time. Teachers showing their pupils how this helped them decide what to write and remember their ideas is absolutely essential. Teachers should also explain how talking while drawing and writing can help you organise your thoughts [LINK].

During writing time, teachers can engage students in conversations centered on their drawings and writing [LINK]. Even the quietest of students feel comfortable discussing their drawings, and this process naturally encourages them to write – and write more.

The impact drawing has on teachers and students

When teachers made drawing a priority during writing time, they saw many positive changes. “Writing time” became a favourite part of the day, with students engaging in more conversations and supporting each other. Unlike in previous years, children were never at a loss for what to write about because their drawings always provided a great starting point.

Teachers noticed that children were more motivated to write, even during free time. Students became more independent and willing to take risks with their writing. Many chose to write during free play, showing a newfound enthusiasm for being writers.

Teachers also observed improvements in student behaviour and engagement. Drawing made writing accessible to all children, keeping them involved and focused. Some students showed better concentration and fine motor skills due to the emphasis on making detailed drawings.

By modelling and discussing their own drawings, teachers helped students see the value in planning and revising their writing. Writing became a very natural extension for drawing. Children were eager to write, leading to more detailed and thoughtful compositions.

Teachers reported that students made accelerated progress in writing compared to previous years. Children were more willing to write extensively. The drawing-first approach allowed teachers to assist students more easily too, as there were no blank pages waiting for help [LINK]. This made writing time less stressful and more productive.

By the end of the year, most children chose to write first and use drawing to illustrate their stories. This shift happened naturally as children grew more confident in their writing abilities. Teachers were surprised by just how effective this approach was, especially those teachers who were initially worried it might lower academic standards and progress.

Overall, prioritising drawing not only improved the quality of students’ writing but also made the process more enjoyable for both teachers and students.

***

If you found this article interesting, you may want to read about the book-making approach which is used in EYFS and KS1 classrooms in Writing For Pleasure Schools. You can read more in our Getting Children Up & Running As Writers In the EYFS-KS1

Drawing is also a valuable strategy for older writers. You may like the drawing-based planning strategies that can be found in our publication: No More: I Don’t Know What To Write Next… Lessons That Help Children Plan Great Writing

This article looks to describe what young writers are doing as they make writing (Young & Ferguson 2022). It will also share things teachers can do to make writing easier for children.

When a child settles down to write, they will: conceptualise – generate ideas – translate – transcribe – reconceptualise.

Conceptualise

Consciously or subconsciously, a young writer will consider the purpose and audience for their writing. Teachers can support children with this. For example, teachers and children, together, can establish a publishing goal for a class writing project (Young & Ferguson 2024).

Generate ideas 

Next, the young writer will generate ideas of what it is they would like to share with their reader(s). Teachers can help support children by teaching them idea generation techniques that writers actually use [LINK]. 

Translate

This is where the young writer has to convert the ideas they have in their head into possible phrases and sentences. Teachers can support this process in two ways:

1. Teachers can ask children to draw their ideas first.
2. Teachers can invite children to talk about (and otherwise ‘tell’) their drawings with them and their friends.

With the youngest of writers, we believe this is best done through picturebook or chapter book making [LINK]. Teachers can encourage children to make books where they produce a drawing and a phrase (or a series of sentences or a paragraph) about their drawing on each page [LINK]. This also a good strategy for older struggling writers too [LINK].

With more experienced writers, teachers can support children by teaching them other drawing-based planning strategies and techniques [LINK]. They should also undertake regular sentence-level instruction [LINK] and teach grammar functionally [LINK]. 

Transcribe

Transcription includes attending to their letter formation, handwriting (or typing), encoding and spelling. At this point, children must physically make their marks on paper or screen. It’s important that these transcriptional skills become automated and fluent as soon as possible [LINK]. Therefore, children need a daily and extended opportunity to engage in meaningful writing.

For the youngest of writers, this will mean a daily, extended and meaningful opportunity to engage in mark making and emergent writing [LINK].

Reconceptualise 

This is actually something children are doing all the time. They will regularly stop, think, rethink, draw, redraw, share, discuss, re-read and perform their developing compositions.

(Young & Ferguson 2022)

They regularly talk about their drawings and writing with their friends and teacher. Teachers can support children’s reconceptualisation processes by ensuring that they have regular moments during writing time to stop and share what they have crafted so far that day. For example, by giving children class sharing and Author’s Chair time [LINK]. They can also provide children with explicit revision instruction and revision checklists (Young & Ferguson 2024). They should also engage in systematic and daily pupil-conferencing with their pupils [LINK].

***

We can personify the production strategies children use to craft text as if they were being undertaken by different people. In reality, of course, these are done by the individual writer. These people would include:

• The proposer. The proposer prepares ideas in the mind (and on paper through drawings) and offers them to the translator.

• The translator. The translator takes those images and organises them into phrases and sentences.

• The transcriber. The transcriber’s job is to take those phrases and sentences from the mind and put them down onto paper or screen.

• The evaluator. The evaluator reads and reviews the text as it is being crafted. They will also share the text regularly with others to gauge their reactions. Finally, they act as a motivator for the rest of the gang too!

It’s important to remember that a piece of writing will move between these four people all the time. For example, the evaluator might have to go and talk to the proposer. The translator and transcriber are likely to be in back and forth conversation too.

***

If you found this article interesting, you may like to read: The Science Of Teaching Primary Writing and Motivating Writing Teaching.

We’re delighted to announce that we’re collaborating with HFL Education and UK Literacy Association’s School Of The Year Elmhurst Primary School to bring you our new training: Getting Writing Right: What the Evidence Says.

Join us for a day of learning!

About this course

Held at Elmhurst Primary School in London, this training will equip teachers and leaders to understand what the latest evidence and research concerning quality writing teaching is.   

The day will consider how schools can ensure that all children make maximised progress in writing.  The essential features of writing teaching will be discussed, such as: 

• How to set rigorous writing goals
• How to plan a class writing project with the greater-depth standard as the standard
• What’s involved in delivering an effective writing lesson
• How to deliver sentence-level and grammar instruction
• How to connect reading and writing profitably.

Learning Outcomes

• Have a secure understanding of what the evidence and research says around effective writing teaching
• Be given practical ideas and strategies for writing teaching to use in the primary classroom immediately
• Be equipped with greater confidence and subject knowledge concerning the teaching of writing

Additional Information

Lunch & refreshments will be provided.

Schools will also receive a school license (worth £54.75) to our latest eBook How To Teach Writing.

Original article: LINK

By Steve Graham, Alyson A. Collins & Stephen Ciullo

In this paper, Steve Graham and his colleagues identify 11 effective methods for teaching writing based on nearly a 1,000 studies. These methods apply to both younger and older students (aged 5–18). Here are their key points:

1. Students need to practise writing regularly, but just writing a lot isn’t enough.
2. Students should receive guidance and support while writing (LINK).
3. Basic writing skills like handwriting (LINK), spelling (LINK), grammar (LINK), and sentence structure (LINK) must be taught.
4. Teaching students how to plan (LINK), revise (LINK), and edit (LINK) their compositions improves their writing.
5. Encouraging critical thinking and the use of vivid imagery can make pupils’ writing better (LINK).
6. Increase students’ knowledge about writing techniques and concepts (LINK).
7. Incorporate modern writing tools and technology in the classroom.
8. Have students write about their learning in wider-curriculum subjects (LINK and LINK)
9. Encourage children to read as writers in writing lessons (LINK) and to write about their reading in reading lessons (LINK and LINK).
10. Teach students how to write summaries in reading lessons and in the wider curriculum (LINK).
11. Create an environment that motivates students to write (LINK).

Writing’s importance is undeniable. It touches every part of children’s present and future lives. 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. 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.

Unfortunately, many teachers in the UK feel they don’t know enough about how to teach writing effectively (LINK).

For pupils to feel the full benefits from writing, teachers need effective teaching tools. One good way to find these tools is by looking at research on teaching writing. This is what Graham and his colleagues did in their article. They reviewed six meta-analyses and one meta-synthesis to make evidence-based recommendations for the teaching of writing.

Before presenting their 11 evidence-based recommendations in more detail, it would be good to explain the meta-analyses and meta-syntheses they used. A meta-analysis is a way of systematically reviewing and summarising the results of different studies that investigate the same question using similar methods. Meta-analysis converts the results of each study into a common metric, allowing them to be compared and combined. In each study, an ‘effect size’ is calculated to measure the impact of the writing treatment.

A positive effect size indicates that the teaching practice had a more positive effect than the control group. An ES of 0.25 is considered small, 0.50 medium, and 0.80 large. However, these numbers are often only a broad indicator and are best seen as increasing your chances of success.

Unlike meta-analyses, which focus on quantitative data, a meta-synthesis looks at qualitative studies. This involves analysing the writing practices of exceptional writing teachers. Researchers read each study, record the practices used by these teachers, and identify common themes. We conducted something similar ourselves in 2019. If a theme was found in most studies, it can be considered a common practice among the best performing writing teachers.

Recommendation 1: Students need to practise writing regularly, but just writing a lot isn’t enough

When teaching children to write, the goal is for them to use writing effectively to meet their own writerly needs. For instance, by completing class writing projects, children learn about their readers’ expectations, the writer’s discipline, and what makes for a successful and meaningful piece of writing in different genres. They also discover which craft moves work best when. Students can learn important things about writing by writing frequently. They can also develop their writing fluency [LINK].

Children also learn a lot about writing by writing for meaningful purposes and for real audiences. Ensuring students write for genuine reasons can help them become better writers [LINK].

However, just increasing the amount of writing children do is not enough to significantly improve their writing skills. What makes the difference is explicit instruction. For example, directly modelling to students strategies for planning [LINK], drafting [LINK], and revising [LINK] helps them apply these same techniques to their own writing.

Recommendation 2: Support students as they write

Undertaking a writing project involves five key steps: thinking about the project and establishing a publishing goal [LINK], generating ideas [LINK], turning ideas into sentences [LINK and LINK], transcribing those ideas onto paper [LINK], and making changes (revisions LINK and edits LINK). While not every writing project uses all these steps, helping children with them can improve their writing outcomes.

One way to support students is to plan your writing units effectively [LINK]. This involves a routine of establishing a publishing goal, reading as writers [LINK] planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing and performing. Students write for real audiences and purposes and support each other with daily feedback [LINK]. Teachers provide mini-lessons based on what children need instruction in most [LINK]. These approaches have been shown to significantly improve the writing skills for children and teenagers.

Effective support strategies

1. Goal-Setting: Teachers and students should set specific product goals for a class writing project [LINK].
2. Teach idea generation and planning strategies: These help students gather and organise their writing ideas through discussion, reading, brainstorming, drawing, and using graphic organisers [LINK and LINK]. Pre-writing activities like these lead to significant improvements in children’s writing.
3. Peer feedback: Students work together when generating ideas, planning, drafting, revising and proof-reading their writing. Peer assistance leads to small improvements for younger children and moderate improvements for older pupils [LINK].
4. Teacher feedback: Verbal feedback, written marking and group evaluation based on class-generated success criteria all help improve students’ writing [LINK & LINK].

Recommendation 3: Teach basic writing skills

To write well, students need to learn how to turn their ideas into sentences that others will understand. This involves choosing the right sentence structure, picking the right words, and using the conventions their readers will expect. Crafting sentences should become an easy task for students [LINK].

Teaching grammar functionally and teaching at the sentence level.

1. Sentence level instruction: Explicitly teaching students how to craft sentences improves their writing. For example, modelling specific sentence types before inviting children to use them for themselves that day is effective [LINK].
2. Vocabulary: While vocabulary instruction has positive effects, its impact on writing is not significant enough to be considered better than no instruction. With that said, our schools are having great success attending to vocabulary use at the editing stage of a class writing project. To find out more, see our eBook No More: My Class Can’t Edit!
3. Grammar: Teaching grammar functionally helps older students (ages 12-18). We see moderate writing improvements. Effective grammar instruction focuses on practical application in writing and treats grammar as a decision-making process [LINK]. According to Graham and his colleagues, for younger students (ages 7-11), grammar instruction does not have a significant impact on the quality of children’s writing. With that said, our schools are having great success teaching our functional grammar mini-lessons [LINK].

Developing transcription skills

When students have wonderful ideas, they need to be able to write them down happily and successfully. Handwriting and spelling are crucial here [LINK]. These skills should become automatic to avoid slowing down children’s writing process. Ultimately, we want their audiences to be able to read their texts just as they intended.

1. Handwriting and spelling: Explicitly teaching handwriting and spelling to younger children (ages 5-11) results in small writing improvements [LINK]. Spelling instruction also benefits older students (ages 12-18) with moderate gains observed [LINK]. According to Graham, handwriting instruction for older students hasn’t been tested enough to draw conclusions.

Effective practices for teaching foundational writing skills

1. Spelling for young children: Use word sorting to teach common spelling patterns. For example, teaching long and short vowel sounds, finding words in reading and writing that match these patterns, and building words using these patterns [LINK].
2. Handwriting for young children: Teach letters every week that have similar formations. Have students identify similarities and differences, practise tracing, copying, and writing from memory, and use the taught letters in their writing [LINK].
3. Spelling for older students: Teach about the origins of words, such as roots, as well as common prefixes and suffixes [LINK].

Recommendation 4: Teach writing strategies

Writing strategies are the techniques writers use to plan, draft, monitor, revise, evaluate and proof-read their compositions. These strategies can help students manage the different processes involved in writing. Some strategies, like planning rivers, can be used for any writing project, while others are more specific, such as character monologue or sensory description. Modelling these strategies before inviting children to use them in their own writing gives students the tools to organise and improve their writing [LINK].

Recommendation 5: Teach creative craft moves and critical thinking

Teaching students creative craft moves and critical thinking can help them become better writers. Here’s why:

• Creative craft moves: Encourage children to come up with new ideas and unique solutions for their writing. They also provide a way for students to visualise and imagine ideas for their texts [LINK]. For example, teaching children how to use similes, metaphors, and analogies in their writing.
• Critical thinking: Helps students analyse and evaluate their writing more effectively [LINK]. For example, encouraging pupils to ask analytical questions about their writing.

By incorporating these skills into writing instruction, students can enhance their ability to generate ideas, critically assess their manuscripts, and visualise their writing more vividly.

Recommendation 6: Teach summary writing

Learning to write summaries is a key writing skill. It helps students identify and focus on the most important ideas and condense them into a clear, concise form. This skill is used when gathering content for writing in wider curriculum subjects [LINK] and when writing summaries about what they’ve read in the reading classroom [LINK].

Recommendation 7: Enhance students’ writing knowledge

Good writing relies on various types of knowledge [LINK]. This includes understanding language, writing topics, audiences, characteristics of good writing, writing genres, and the context in which writing is produced [LINK and LINK]. Writers with more knowledge about these areas can draw on these resources to create better texts.

Effective ways to increase writing knowledge

Reading as writers and emulating mentor texts

Providing children with mentor texts which they can read as writers has shown to have a positive effect on their writing. This includes reading a variety of examples of good writing [LINK].

Teach students the purposes, basic elements, and organisation of specific types of texts, such as persuasive essays or stories, helps improve their writing [LINK]. This approach involves introducing, analysing, and defining genre elements using mentor texts, and then having students create their own texts using these elements too [LINK].

Seeing their readers’ reactions

Observing others as they read and react to their texts [LINK], or watching how their teacher uses certain craft moves [LINK], can help improve children’s writing.

Recommendation 8: Embrace twenty-first century writing tools

Writing instruction in schools heavily relies on paper and pencil. Despite living in information-rich societies where digital tools dominate everyday writing outside of school, classrooms have been slower to adopt these technologies.

Word processors can offer numerous advantages over traditional handwritten methods. These tools make it easier to edit, revise, and organise texts quickly. They often include features for automatic spelling and grammar correction, which can improve the quality of children’s writing. AI programmes go further by assisting with planning, providing feedback and creating multimedia.

However, implementing these tools in classrooms requires teachers to become familiar with their use. Despite these challenges, the benefits are clear, especially for older students. Switching from handwriting to word processing has shown small improvements in writing quality for students aged 12-18.

For younger children, the benefits of using word processing have not been clearly demonstrated. While these tools can be used with younger students, they do not necessarily enhance their writing abilities compared to more traditional methods.

Recommendation 9: Integrate writing across the curriculum

Writing is a powerful tool for learning. When students write about what they’ve learnt in class—whether it’s in history or science – they deepen their understanding of that material [LINK and LINK].

Why writing enhances learning

Firstly, writing reinforces what students have learnt as they have to translate it into their own words. It encourages them to elaborate on their understandings, adjusting their previous knowledge to incorporate any new ideas they encounter. Writing also makes students more explicit about what they find important, helping them organise their thoughts into a clear structure. It engages them actively in deciding how to present information and transforms their understanding for the benefit of their readers. Finally, writing allows for reflection, as students review, connect, critique, and construct new understandings.

Effectiveness of disciplinary writing

Research has shown that writing about class material improves learning outcomes across different subjects. Students have shown consistent gains in learning when invited to write creatively about what they’ve learnt [LINK and LINK].

Recommendation 10: Writing in the reading classroom. Reading in the writing classroom.

Writing and reading go hand in hand—they support each other in important ways [LINK, LINK, LINK and LINK]. Writing about what they are reading in reading lessons enhances children’s comprehension of a text.

When schools give equal emphasis and timetabling to specific writing lessons and specific reading lessons, students show positive gains in both subjects.

Recommendation 11: Create a motivating writing classroom

Exceptional writing teachers often create inspiring classrooms that motivate students to write effectively [LINK]. These teachers implement several key practices:

• Demonstrating passion: They show enthusiasm for writing, making it clear that they enjoy both writing and teaching it. They foster excitement about writing by visibly sharing their own enthusiasm with students [LINK].
• Publishing children’s writing: Students’ writing is celebrated and published to a variety of audiences [LINK].
• Promote collaboration: They encourage students to share their writing with peers and engage in positive interactions about writing [LINK].
• Positive classroom culture: They cultivate an environment where students feel encouraged to try their best, believe in the effectiveness of the craft moves taught, and attribute success to their own efforts [LINK].
• Agency: Children are supported to generate their own writing ideas within the parameters of the class writing project. Encouraging children to write about their own interests increases their attention and engagement [LINK].
• Self-Regulation: Students are empowered to work independently and take ownership of their writing process [LINK].
• Set high expectations: Teachers set challenging yet achievable goals for writing, encouraging students to surpass their previous achievements [LINK].

Creating such environments is expected to:

• Increase children’s motivation for writing.
• Improve students’ perception of the value of writing.
• Enhance students’ success as writers within the classroom.

Final thoughts and conclusions

Teachers deserve to know about evidence-based writing practices which can improve their students’ writing. This article shares teaching practices which have a proven track record. However, it’s important to remember:

1. Incomplete picture: Our current understanding of teaching writing is always evolving, and future research will likely uncover new effective practices.
2. Contextual effectiveness: A practice that succeeds in improving writing in a research study may not yield the same results in the classroom.
3. Prioritise writing education: Given the pivotal role of writing in children’s learning and life outcomes, increasing our efforts and resources towards teaching writing effectively is imperative [LINK].