Lights up your brain: experts back return of mighty pens for NAPLAN

Ditching keyboards in NAPLAN* testing in favour of the mighty pen was one of several changes unveiled after Monday’s meeting between federal Education Minister Jason Clare and his state and territory counterparts.

Experts welcomed the government’s move, saying handwriting is a key learning tool that boosts motor skills, focus and memory.

They also suggested that students switching to a computer for tests after using pen and paper in class could lower student performance in the national test.

Minister Clare worked with state and territory education ministers, who agreed to implement the change.

The change comes after the latest NAPLAN results showed a widening literacy* gap, with a rising number of students needing additional support for reading and writing.

HANDWRITING LIGHTS UP YOUR BRAIN
Children develop important motor skills* in primary school.

When students write by hand, they learn how to grip the pen and push it hard enough across paper to write letters, said University of Sydney Associate Professor and education researcher Marian Vidal-Fernandez.

“If you look at the brain, it’s going to have a lot more things lighting up when you’re writing than when you’re just looking at a computer,” Prof Vidal-Fernandez said.

Research shows that both engagement and concentration also increase with handwriting compared to using computers, she said. Typing skills could be developed at a later stage, while proper handwriting skills remain crucial* for primary school students.

“There is something special about handwriting,” Edit Cowan University Associate Professor Anabela Malpique said, while acknowledging that processing information on a computer is also important given we live in a digital world.

“When we write using paper and pencil, it triggers* specific parts of our brains related to memory, and word recognition, and letter recognition that is different from when we are typing,” Prof Malpique said.

“I do agree with the move to paper-based writing tests, especially in primary schools … studies from across the globe show that kids in primary classrooms from Year 4 to Year 6, they still write higher quality text when they write using paper and pencil, not when using computers.”

WHY IS HANDWRITING IMPORTANT?
Handwriting is not just working your wrists. It all starts with the brain and how you think about sound and use words.

The process of writing involves a lot of brain activity that helps you recognise the sound of words, mapping*, connecting and memorising, according to occupational therapist and University of Newcastle lecturer Dr Karen Ray.

“In fact, what studies have found is that kids who learn to write the letters and learn how to form them, they actually write longer, better stories,” Dr Ray said.

“It’s kind of like building a jigsaw puzzle in your brain. So, you’re connecting what letter sounds are, what shape goes with that sound, and when you practise writing it and using your brain and your memory to write it, you’re connecting it all up much more strongly.”

COPYING VS COMPOSING
Dr Ray said when children have enough handwriting practice, the fluency helps them become creative and write and compose new ideas and stories.

“It’s not that handwriting fluency makes your work neater,” she said.

“It actually means you’re not wasting valuable brain energy on trying to remember how to handwrite, trying to remember the correct letter formations … Once you become really fluent or skilled, you don’t even think about it.”

HIGH SCHOOL READING SCORES HIT RECORD LOW
Research also suggests that fluency in handwriting helps boost reading skills in young children, another key focus area for the government.

Prolonged exposure to digital devices could be affecting students’ concentration*, literacy development and ability to retain* information, according to the department’s own research findings.

In September, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results showed Australian high school students’ scores in maths and reading hit their lowest point on record.

Currently, only Year 3 students complete the NAPLAN writing test using pen and paper, while students in older year groups sit the assessment on computers.

The NAPLAN overhaul would mark another significant shift away from digital learning, following the government’s 2023 mobile phone ban in public schools.

NEW EDUCATION SUPER BODY
Minister Clare also announced that four of Australia’s key education agencies* will be merged into a “super body” to address a concerning decline in student NAPLAN results and boost attendance rates.

In the biggest shake-up of the nation’s school system in almost two decades, the joint meeting of education ministers agreed on Monday to establish the Australian Teaching and Learning Commission (ATLC).

The decision means the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) established in 2008, which sets the national curriculum, including NAPLAN testing, will combine with three other national education agencies.

They include the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), which oversees national teacher standards; the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), which provides evidence-based research to improve teaching; and Education Services Australia (ESA), which develops digital education resources and services.

The merger* will bring decisions about what students learn, how teachers are trained and supported, how students are assessed and which teaching methods work best under one national body.

The new commission will also focus on boosting school attendance and improving Year 12 completion rates, amid growing concerns about students disengaging from education before finishing high school.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• NAPLAN: The National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy, annual assessment for students in year 3, 5,7, and 9.
• literacy: the ability to read and write
• motor skills: they are learned and co-ordinated movement of muscles in the body and are divided into two groups of fine motor skills (small muscles) and gross motor skills (large muscles)
• crucial: very important, necessary
• triggers: anything that starts a process, or causes a reaction
• mapping: the process of creating a map, grouping or connecting things
• concentration: the ability to focus on one thing at a time, thinking carefully about something you’re doing and nothing else
• retain: to keep or to hold something
• agencies: government departments
• merger: coming together, the process of merging

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QUICK QUIZ

1. What year will the switch to pen and paper be implemented in NAPLAN?
2. Why is handwriting important?
3. How do students perform when they switch to computer tests?
4. How can you become more creative in writing?
5. What organisations are coming together in the “super body”?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Handwriting Better than Typing
Does the article provide enough evidence to prove handwriting is better than typing? Explain your answer.

What happens inside your brain when you are writing?

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Do you enjoy copying information or writing your own original ideas more when handwriting?

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking.

2. Extension

Are computers making students better or worse learners? Choose your side of the argument and write the three strongest arguments in support of your viewpoint;

View:

Supporting Arguments:

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Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum links: English, Digital Technologies, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking.

VCOP ACTIVITY
Down-level it
When you up-level a sentence, you do things to it to improve it: make it more interesting, or more complex.

But sometimes, when we read something it can be too complex and we don’t understand it very well. You ask someone to explain it to you, they do (in a simpler way) and you think, well why didn’t they just say that?

Go through the article and find a sentence or two that is complex, or hard to read.
Ask an adult what it means, or try and look some of the words up in the glossary.
Once you know what it means, see if you can rewrite it in a simpler way- down-level it.

Make sure you don’t change the meaning of the sentence in any way though.