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Curriculum News: Writing Isn’t Just for English

Submitted by Anna Flanagan 

Leader of Curriculum

Writing Isn’t Just for English

When we think about children learning to write at school, we naturally tend to think of the English classroom – stories, persuasive texts, spelling, grammar and handwriting. However, one of the important directions within the new NSW Curriculum is a stronger emphasis on writing across all areas of learning.

This means that writing does not stop when the English lesson finishes.

In Science, students might explain why a shadow changes or describe the results of an investigation. In History and Geography, they may explain causes and consequences, compare perspectives or use evidence to support an argument. In PDHPE, students might justify a decision about health or wellbeing. Even in Creative Arts, students can use writing to reflect upon, describe and evaluate their own work and the work of others.

There is a very good reason for this. Writing is not simply a way of recording what we know – writing actually helps us to think.

When children have to explain an idea in writing, they need to organise their thoughts, select appropriate vocabulary, make connections between ideas and decide what information is important. Research supports this. A major review by Graham, Kiuhara and MacKay found that having students write about what they were learning improved their learning in Science, Social Studies and Mathematics. In other words, writing can help children understand and remember the content they are learning.

This thinking is reflected in the new NSW Curriculum. NESA has strengthened the place of writing across the curriculum, recognising that students need regular opportunities to write for different purposes, audiences and contexts. Writing is no longer viewed as solely the responsibility of the English teacher.

Beyond the school gate

There is another reason this matters.

The children sitting in our classrooms today will eventually enter a world of work that we cannot completely predict. Technology will continue to change the way we communicate and work, and artificial intelligence will undoubtedly become part of many occupations. Yet the ability to think clearly and communicate clearly will remain enormously important.

Our students will one day need to write emails, reports, applications, instructions, explanations, proposals, presentations and perhaps forms of communication that do not even exist yet. A scientist needs to explain findings. A builder needs to interpret and communicate plans and specifications. A nurse records and communicates important information about patients. A business owner writes to customers and suppliers. A farmer increasingly works with technology, data, applications and compliance documentation.

The type of writing may change, but the need to communicate ideas accurately, purposefully and appropriately will remain.

Even in a world where technology can generate text for us, children still need the knowledge and judgement to recognise whether that text is accurate, appropriate and effective. Technology can assist with writing; it cannot replace the need to understand what we are communicating, why we are communicating it and who we are communicating with.

That is why teaching writing well in primary school is about much more than producing a good narrative or achieving a strong assessment result.

We are gradually giving children the tools to organise their thinking, explain what they know, question information, communicate with others and participate confidently in further education, employment and the wider world.

Writing is not just an English skill. It is a life skill.

Further reading

For parents who may be interested in reading further:

• NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) – NSW Curriculum Framework: explains why writing has been strengthened across the new NSW syllabuses and how writing supports thinking and learning.

• NESA – Teaching Writing: Report of the Thematic Review of Writing (2018): the research and recommendations that helped shape the stronger emphasis on writing across NSW curriculum areas.

• Graham, S., Kiuhara, S. A. & MacKay, M. (2020), “The Effects of Writing on Learning in Science, Social Studies, and Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis”, Review of Educational Research, 90(2), 179–226: research showing that writing about curriculum content can improve student learning.

• Graham, S. (2018), “Effectiveness of Literacy Programs Balancing Reading and Writing Instruction: A Meta-Analysis”, Reading Research Quarterly, 53(3), 279–304: research demonstrating the strong relationship between the development of reading and writing.