According to The Guardian newspaper, schools in the Nordic country have decided to gradually phase out handwriting lessons for children in order to introduce skills which will be of greater benefit once they enter the job market,
Acknowledging the importance of IT familiarity in today's society, schools have stressed the need to teach keyboard skills, with Minna Harmanen of Finland’s National Board of Education explaining:"They don’t have time to become fast at cursive writing, so it’s not useful for them."
According to proposed plans, by next year children in Finnish schools will only be taught print handwriting - a move which, according to Minna, has garnered little response from parents.
But while the pupils' parents may accept the motivation for the proposed change, it seems the older generation are struggling with the notion.
Elaborating on this issue, Minna explained: "We’ve hardly had any comments about the move from parents. A few of the grandparents were upset, but everyone else seems fine."
Agreeing with the schools' decision, author Anne Trubek insisted priority must be given to certain topics, saying: "If we're choosing what to spend our valuable educational time on, with our children, it's right to have it [cursive writing] become a smaller portion of the school day."
What are your thoughts?
