Across Quebec, elementary schools have stopped teaching students to write in attached letters, a decision that sometimes leads to headaches when a child changes institutions.
While Quebec’s Ministry of Education proclaims that “writing and cursive techniques must be recognized,” on-site learning varies from school to school.
Some schools only teach the script, others only teach the letters attached, and others teach children both. There may be several different practices in the same school service center or in the same district.
“It varies a lot across Quebec, there is no consistent line, the majority still practice both types of writing, both cursive and cursive. But cursive writing is slowly disappearing. The trend we are seeing is increasingly not generalized, but if there is a trend it is that cursive writing is slowly disappearing,” admits Nicolas Prévost, president of the Fédération québécoise of the management of educational institutions. The latter points out that there are currently no precise statistics on this issue and decisions are often made by the school team.
Mr. Prévost emphasizes that it is easier for a child to learn to write in attached letters. The movement is more fluid and continuous, which is preferable for young people who suffer from dyspraxia or problems with movement coordination.
“The script is more difficult on a mechanical level, but everything is based on the script level. Assessments, reading, all learning to read is based on this writing style, so the trend is more in that direction,” he says. There are two schools of thought in this area, he adds.
Change schools…and writing
However, the headteacher is aware that the disparity in practices within the network creates certain challenges for pupils who move between institutions during their school career.
A child who does not know how to write in attached letters will need to learn it quickly in a new institution where this technique is a priority.
“It is certain that we will destabilize it,” agrees the president of the FQDEE, who adds that this learning still happens quite quickly, especially among the youngest. “For students in the 5th or 6th grade who have always lived in writing, who arrive in cursive, the shock can be greater.” He emphasizes that the responsibility for teaching lies with the new school, often with the special education teacher .
Ontario restores attached letters
Meanwhile, the opposite is happening in Ontario. The province has just reintroduced attached letter writing to be mandatory for everyone after abandoning the learning technique for more than 15 years.
And for good reason, if Marjorie Cuerrier, a doctoral student in the didactics department of the Faculty of Education at the University of Montreal, is to be believed. The latter believes that Quebec should follow Ontario’s example and introduce clear and uniform rules for learning to write. There is currently no “clear policy” in the Quebec program.
“Ontario has been interested in writing for some time, and with this new policy the goal is clear: to support educational success through research data. They will choose what seems most beneficial and for now the research will really focus on cursive,” she specifies.
The advantage of attached letters
Learning cursive allows children to write faster and more fluently because the number of pencil lifts is limited and the letters are linked together in a continuous movement. For young learners, there would be fewer, if any, problems with the spacing between letters and words, and no errors between the letters b and d and between p and q. “These are errors that occur very, very often in writing and are practically rare in cursive,” emphasizes the doctoral student.
Ms. Cuerrier stresses that teaching both writing techniques, as is still the case in Quebec, results in “overloading” students, who will then be slower in mastering graphomotor skills and spelling. So the first step would be to choose a single style. “We choose one, and if it is cursive, the more effective it is,” adds the scientist, who regrets that we do not have data to create a picture of the situation. .
The government admits that research has evolved and that “deliberations” are underway within the Department for Education. The question of calligraphic style is being addressed in particular as part of the work to revise the French programs announced last June.
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