Starting this fall, Ontario elementary students will be required to have mandatory cursive writing education.
This change comes after a study by the Ontario Human Rights Commission last year that urged the province to adopt evidence-based methods for teaching reading.
Cursive writing is a form of handwriting that connects letters with flowing strokes.
It was removed from the curriculum in 2006 and became an optional skill for teachers to teach. However, some experts and parents have advocated for its return, citing various benefits for students’ literacy and expression.
According to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, re-introducing cursive writing as a mandatory prerequisite will have many benefits for students who are falling behind on reading and writing skills.
“If we want to boost reading instruction, we have to embrace some of those time-tested strategies that have worked for generations,” said Lecce.
“A return to phonics and, for example, cursive writing is another example where the government is leaning into the evidence and following the voice of many parents who wanted us to really embrace those practices that for generations have worked.”
Shelley Stagg Peterson, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, agreed that it was time to reintroduce cursive writing.
She said it not only teaches students how to write in that script, but also reinforces overall literacy by enhancing writing skills, strengthening letter recognition and improving spelling.
“Cursive should never have been taken out of the curriculum,” said Peterson.
“The more that young writers, beginning writers, are using their hands, they’re using another modality to form the letters, that kinesthetic reproduction helps them to think more about the words that they’re writing.”
The new curriculum changes will introduce cursive writing lessons in Grade 3.
“If we work together as we have for the last year … to embrace this change and to build that capacity, I’m absolutely confident that educators will be set up for success,” said Lecce.
