What are the expectations of young children’s ability to write by hand and how is this changing in the context of an increasingly digital world, asks Annette Rawstrone

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For many parents it is a moment of pride when their child first masters how to handwrite their name. But is there any point in us continuing to teach children how to write with a pen or pencil in 2018?

Voice-activated electronic gadgets can compile shopping lists for us, we text or send emails instead of handwritten letters, and can even use notebook and diary functions on our mobile phones and tablets. Schools in Finland have phased out cursive handwriting lessons in favour of keyboard skills, in the USA many states have removed joined-up writing from the curriculum, and schools in India are also reportedly stopping it.

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