The preparation of student teachers to be effective teachers of writing requires attention to both their writing skills and their personal confidence. When teachers have confidence in themselves as writers and strong writer identities, they are likely to better placed to develop strong writer identities in their own students. It is suggested…

Partly as result of the predominant 'narrow' view of writing in England's recent school curriculum and assessment, current primary school pupils often hold a skills-oriented view of 'good' writing for a substantially longer period than has traditionally been reported in the literature. This makes it difficult for teachers to promote and engage…

There is an assumption that English teachers identify as writers. This article explores the stories of three secondary preservice English teachers, their descriptions of their writing experiences and their self-perceived vulnerabilities around writing. These narratives originated in a broader research study into the writer identities of preservice…

This paper examines the nature of the out-of-school writing practices of three primary-aged children aged 9-10. In particular, it explores the writing these children chose to undertake at home including 'for school' writing, completed at home. The study's findings reveal the ways in which these three, developing young writers engage and interact…

In this paper, I draw on two childhood ethnographies to ask basic questions about the foundation of child writing. The first question is, "where does writing come from in young children's lives?" Answering this question will lead us to childhood play as the foundation of writing. The second question is, "how do educators negotiate…

This New Zealand-based article reports on an analysis of data gathered over two years from upper primary school students on their attitudes to writing and writing instruction and their beliefs about their self-efficacy as developing writers. Responses from 449 students in five diverse schools are included. Through an online survey administered at…

Boys' attitude to writing is widely perceived as an issue in English primary and secondary schools. Prior research has identified a link between negative attitudes to writing and lower achievement and raised the issue of the stereotyping of boys as underachievers in literacy. The study reported here suggests that if we are to understand the…