RCT Evaluation of Helping Handwriting Shine

 Privacy notice

Helping Handwriting Shine focuses on improving crucial elements of fine motor skills in order to develop children’s handwriting fluency. In so doing, it aims to increase children’s capacity to develop writing composition, and to improve children’s writing attainment overall. Members of school staff are trained to deliver the programme to all Year 2 and selected Year 5 pupils; they then deliver the programme to pupils, which consist of three 30-minute sessions per week for eight weeks, over Autumn 2018 - Spring 2019. Sessions include a selection of engaging activities and approaches to support children’s handwriting (including body-position, pattern formation, stylus grip, and breathing). Training materials provided by the programme offer guidance on how sessions can be adapted to support pupil interest and motivation, and to mirror curriculum themes.

What are the trial aims?

The programme is being evaluated through a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to explore the impact on children’s overall writing, handwriting speed, and writing composition. The evaluation will also investigate how the sessions are delivered, and teachers’ and children’s views on the programme and the support provided.

Who is conducting the trial?

The Education Trials Unit at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) is conducting the trial. The University of Leeds is providing the training and support to schools for the Helping Handwriting Shine intervention. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is funding the trial. The NFER has subcontracted No More Marking to provide test outcomes.

What will the trial involve for schools?

In Spring/Summer 2018, all schools will need to provide pupil lists/IDs for all current Year 1 pupils; Year 1 pupils will then need to complete baseline tests, and the school completes a short pro-forma. Schools will then be randomly allocated to either the intervention group (who receive the programme) or the control group (who do not receive the programme).

In Autumn 2018, Intervention schools select Year 5 pupils to take part in the intervention. Between 4 and 16 pupils should be selected depending on the school’s size and needs. Schools provide pupil lists/IDs for selected pupils, who then complete the same baseline test as the Year 2 classes; they will then be randomised so that half of the group receive the intervention and half do not.

Intervention schools will then book a minimum of two identified members of staff onto a half-day training session, which will be held locally to the school, paying a discounted rate of £500 per school to receive the training and materials. Schools will then commence the 8-week programme, split into two four week sessions either side of the Christmas holidays. Intervention schools will need to complete a weekly record about the sessions; and be willing to take part in observations and interviews if invited. On completion of the eight week programme there will be a number of tasks and activities for pupils before follow-up tests are carried out in Summer 2019.

Control schools will not receive the handwriting intervention, but will need to complete a records about any handwriting support they provide in their schools during the trial period. Control schools may also be invited to take part in interviews and observations, and will be required to complete the follow-up test in June/July 2019. Control schools will receive a contribution of £500 on completion of the follow-up tests.

In Summer 2019, NFER test administrators will then support all schools to complete follow-up tests with all pupils in the trial. This includes all selected Year 5 pupils selected to take part within the intervention schools, whether or not they have received the intervention.

Which schools, staff and pupils will be involved?

The trial will involve around 100 primary schools across Leeds, Bradford and North East England. The trial is for all Year 2 pupils (with the intervention delivered to all Year 2 whole classes in the school), and also for small groups of targeted Year 5 pupils in intervention schools in need of handwriting support, where slow and effortful handwriting is interfering with their ability to communicate with others.

The school must identify a minimum of two members of staff to be trained and deliver the intervention. The members of staff need not necessarily be teachers; where more appropriate they may be, for example, members of senior leadership, SENCOs, teaching assistants or occupational therapists. This may be particularly important for Year 5, where delivery of the intervention may happen separately to normal teaching.

Each school will also need to provide a named school contact for the duration of the trial. This person will act as the single point of contact between the school and the developers and evaluators of the trial and could be a class teacher, teaching assistant, SENCO or a member of the leadership team. The named contact will ensure the return of baseline assessments, ensure the number of sessions are delivered in the way prescribed and that the logs are completed and returned for evaluation. The contact will also be responsible for liaising with NFER in Summer 2019 for the administration of the follow-up tests.

Timetable of Activities for Schools

How will schools benefit from taking part?

All schools in the trial will contribute to the evidence-base on what works in supporting handwriting and writing in primary schools. Schools allocated to the intervention group will have the opportunity to receive discounted training and support on the Helping Handwriting Shine intervention. Schools will also receive feedback on relative pupil performance in both sets of tests.

Do schools have to take part?

Helping Handwriting Shine is available only as part of the trial during 2018/19. Schools only have to take part if they wish to do so. Pupils can opt out of taking part at any time. However, all data is important to the trial, and the NFER and the University of Leeds really appreciate schools’ support in providing pupil tests data for the trial.

How will NFER and partners use and protect the data collected?

For information on how the parties involved in this research will gather, use and protect data, please refer to the Privacy Statement for the Evaluation of Helping Handwriting Shine, available here.

How will the findings be used?

The findings from the project will be freely available on NFER’s and EEF’s website. They will be used to inform the education sector about improving writing in primary schools.

Who can I contact for more information?

Please note: schools may only sign up to one of the following EEF trials: Helping Handwriting Shine, Learning about Culture: Young Journalist Academy; Learning about Culture: Craft of Writing, and Learning about Culture: Power of Pictures. If you have any questions about this, please contact NFER.