The American astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan captured the critical importance of writing when he stated, ‘Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions.’ Teachers of all subjects recognise the significance of both learning to write and writing to learn. Writing promotes self-expression, creativity, critical thinking, and comprehension. It is a means of discovering, connecting, clarifying, and communicating what we know and who we are. In essence, writing helps us to think and to make sense of ourselves and our world.  

Given the critical importance of writing it is disconcerting to hear the concerns being raised in educational circles about the decline of writing in Australian schools. Recent research suggests that students are no longer writing as competently nor as confidently as they once did. One study by the Australian Education Research Organisation suggests that less than half of Year 9 students are proficient at writing sentences. Given this situation, it is even more pressing that teachers equip students with the wide range of writing capabilities necessary to succeed at school and life beyond the school context. These effective writing practices and routines must begin in Year 7 in order to build student capacity, and cultivate positive attitudes to, and enjoyment of, writing.

The secondary context needs a sustained whole-school approach to writing underpinned by the belief that all students have the capacity to be writers. This has been and will continue to be the college’s literacy focus over the next few years. Our intention is to develop students' expectations that every class is a writing-focused class whether it be History, Music, English, Science or Maths. Mount Carmel recognises the importance of schools creating communities of practice where writing is valued, undertaken often and responded to regularly by teachers and peers in rich and authentic ways.

Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach