Above are a couple of grips of children who visited my shop last Saturday. Age 10 and 11 years old and having real problems with their handwriting. They can’t see what they have just written and, when using a pen, smudge their writing. Neither had received any help at their respective schools.

This is NOT the fault of the teachers, it is the fault of the system which doesn’t appreciate the importance of left-handed children being shown how to get a good handwriting technique. This situation is not helped by the fact that, in the current National Curriculum, handwriting for left-handed children “should receive appropriate guidance”, not “Must” (statutory requirement) as stipulated for right-handed children.Whilst “should” does imply some degree of requirement, it is NOT the same as must and I would argue that left-handed children need more help with their handwriting than right-handed children. It is not difficult, time-consuming or expensive but can make such a difference to the academic achievement of the child. If teachers are not aware and able to respond to such needs, surely something needs to be done.

Yet Nick Gibb,MP Minister for Education, is not prepared to change the wording to make it a statutory requirement.

To compound the failure of the system, the Department of Education freely admits that its “Does not collect information of the numbers of pupils who are left-handed and therefore has not made an assessment of their levels of academic achievement”. An astonishing admittance of ignorance on what is probably the largest minority of the whole school population.

How can the Department of Education speak with any authority when they admit to such ignorance?!

To improve the handwriting of left-handed children will not only help the child achieve, it will improve the schools standards/results and by implication will benefit the country – simple!