Former HSC chief examiner recommends 5 productive pedagogies for writing in the senior years and beyond

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Australian students’ performance in writing has attracted a lot of attention this year, particularly in the middle years where NAPLAN results are regularly scrutinised.

But, while no one disputes the importance of the middle years, it is the senior years where students encounter high-stakes English exams that have far higher consequences – getting into their university or VET course of choice, as well as acquiring a job at a difficult time in our economy for young people.

For Dr Janet Dutton, Lecturer in Secondary English at Macquarie University and NSW’s former chief examiner for English, a host of productive pedagogies in writing can make all the difference, elevating both students’ enjoyment of writing and their writing outcome.

Before outlining these sound approaches to writing instruction, Dutton told Campus Review that the words of Donald Graves “offer a sound starting point”.