POOR standards of handwriting among Scottish pupils have been highlighted by examiners who are encountering more problems than ever before.
A report into this year's Higher English exam has revealed markers have identified "near-illegible" sentences on the papers submitted by some students.
The problem has become so acute that officials from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have suggested that alternative arrangements, such as using computers, could be put in place to ensure all exam scripts are legible.
The SQA review said: "More markers than ever commented on the poor, sometime near-illegible, handwriting of some candidates, which made it extremely difficult and time-consuming to mark the essay.
"While no candidate's work is ever left unmarked for this reason, centres should do their best to reduce this problem by making alternative arrangements for some candidates."
The warnings come as concerns mount that teenagers brought up using email, texting and web-based social media sites to communicate have lost the ability to work with a pen and paper.
Handwriting has not only been shown to support literacy skills such as reading, writing, and speaking, but research also shows it develops areas of the brain that improve wider learning skills.
The issue is considered so important by some private schools, such as Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, in Edinburgh, that all pupils are expected to use fountain pens to develop handwriting skills.
Ken Cunningham, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, which represents secondary headteachers, said good handwriting was vital.
He said: "We recognise the way young people communicate with each other these days does not involve using longhand, but it is still an important skill. There will always be circumstances when pupils have to use handwriting and it is crucial it is legible.
"Schools and teachers need to reinforce the importance of this to all pupils, and those sitting Higher English should be ensuring their handwriting can be read."
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said good handwriting was a skill that had long been valued, but was now gradually being lost. She said: "The neat, copperplate handwriting of our parents or grandparents is largely a thing of the past. Many parents do care about their children's writing and it would be helpful if school approaches and policies on handwriting were discussed with families and parents given guidance of needed."
Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland teaching union, said the pressure of an exam had a significant impact on the quality of handwriting displayed.
He said: "During an exam pupils are in a situation where they can feel under pressure to produce a large quantity of work quickly in a strictly limited timeframe.
"Inevitably, this can sometimes have an impact on pupil's handwriting, particularly further into the session when fatigue becomes a factor."
Bryan Lewis, headmaster of Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, said teaching pupils how to write well was just as important as neat uniform and good manners. He said: "Using a fountain pen requires accuracy and concentration on what you are doing and the children learn that presentation is equally as important as content. It's also rewarding because they know with practice and effort they will improve."
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