Fixing Australia’s Writing Crisis

When students write well, they’re not just communicating clearly, they’re also thinking clearly. Writing is how we structure, organise, and reveal our thoughts. It helps students make sense of complex ideas, solve problems, and retain knowledge over time. Strong writing skills boost confidence, deepen learning, and empower young people to engage meaningfully with the world around them.

Writing is important to all schools, regardless of sector. While resourcing and access may differ, the challenges are often shared. The national data tells a story of declining writing proficiency across the board.

There are many theories about how to boost literacy, but the most successful literacy programs use every opportunity to instil the ability to read and write.

The focus now must be on collaboration, sharing what works, investing in professional development, and supporting schools, public, private, and independent, to prioritise writing at every level. Giving students and teachers the time to write, compose and construct is of paramount importance.

At Strathcona, writing is not treated as a single skill confined to English. It’s a foundational capability that is embedded across the curriculum.

We view writing as a thinking tool, not just a mode of communication, and this belief is reflected in the way we teach. From the Junior School through to the Senior Years, we focus on deliberate, structured writing instruction that enables students to think deeply, organise ideas, and express themselves with clarity.

For students who need additional support, we provide personalised, targeted intervention through our Learning Enhancement Department. This includes explicit small group instruction and in-class support designed to meet students at their point of need. The goal is always to build confidence and agency through meaningful progress, no matter where the student is starting from.

Older students who may be struggling with their reading need a respectful and rigorous approach, with a focus on building foundational skills in a way that feels age-appropriate and relevant.

We typically pair reading intervention with compensatory strategies such as text-to-speech software and the use of audiobooks to promote reading enjoyment and development. In addition, older struggling readers are encouraged and supported to immerse themselves in personal reading through access to books that match their reading level and that align with their personal interests.

Providing engaging, appropriately levelled texts is particularly important for these students, as it can foster a sense of enjoyment and open the door to a lifelong appreciation of reading.  

At Strathcona we sometimes recommend that parents read aloud to their daughters. to support students who are building reading confidence. Shared reading allows young people to engage with texts that are beyond their independent reading level as adults can scaffold vocabulary, concepts and comprehension. Reading aloud creates a shared literary experience, which can enhance motivation to read and instil a love of reading for life.

We also focus heavily on writing as a form of active learning to advance comprehension and critical thinking. When students are supported to write thoughtfully about what they’ve read, they develop deeper understandings and insights. Strong writing builds better readers, just as strong reading builds better writers.

Embedding writing across the curriculum isn’t about adding to teachers’ workload but about approaching what they already do with greater intention. The school supports staff through professional learning and shared frameworks that show how writing can enhance learning in any subject, from Mathematics to the Arts. For example, helping a student decode complex vocabulary in science or history. It isn’t just about improving students’ reading; it’s also about giving them access to ideas.

Teachers across all subject areas provide explicit instruction, modelling and templates to scaffold the different forms of writing that students are required to produce across different disciplines. Explicit feedback is given. When all teachers use writing as a learning tool, every subject becomes a place to build literacy.

Of course, resources help. But more than funding, this approach relies on a culture of collaboration and a commitment to improvements backed by rigorous research. When writing is seen as essential to thinking and learning, the impact is transformative and empowering for students.

There’s no single cause for declining literacy but writing instruction has likely suffered in an increasingly crowded curriculum. It’s also possible that a focus on content delivery has come at the expense of output. Students are reading and receiving but not always processing back through writing.

The shift to digital assessments is another factor that deserves scrutiny. We know handwriting activates different parts of the brain, and the move to typing in NAPLAN may disadvantage students.  

Most of all, writing is a craft that must be taught. It doesn’t come naturally and is a learned process that improves through structure, feedback, and repetition.

Writing is a cognitively demanding task that draws on a range of complex skills, including planning, organising, evaluating, and synthesising ideas. It requires higher-order thinking to communicate meaning clearly and effectively. It takes time and effort, and in our fast-paced world, where immediacy often overrides substance, writing stands as a disciplined act of intentionality, reflection, and intellectual rigour. It asks us to slow down, to think with sophistication, and to shape our thoughts with precision, making it not just a skill, but a vital practice for learning and living.

One could argue that writing is one distinguishing aspect of being human, as it represents a notable shift from the reactive instincts of the mammalian brain to the reflective, abstract reasoning of the human brain. Writing promotes higher-order cognition that allows us to analyse, create, and communicate complex ideas with purpose over time and space.

Parents can support their child’s writing development beyond the classroom through activities like journaling, writing letters, or co-authoring stories. They can also encourage reflection by asking what their child thinks about what they’ve learned and inviting them to explore those ideas on paper.

Additionally, handwriting still matters. Even five minutes a day spent writing by hand can sharpen focus and boost retention. When parents model a genuine interest in writing, children are more likely to value it too.

The role of oral language is key in supporting writing ability.  Research shows a strong relationship between oral language skills and writing development. Oral language provides the foundation for vocabulary knowledge, sentence structure, and the ability to organise and express ideas, all of which are essential for writing. Students who can speak in well-structured sentences and explain their thinking orally are generally better equipped to transfer those skills to written expression and vice versa.