Why would I use the writing framework?

The writing framework prompts you to consider the different aspects of writing that should be taken into account when you’re thinking about how well a student is writing.
Writing is an essential tool for learning in all areas of the curriculum. Students need to be able to rely on their writing to help them think, as well as to organise and communicate their ideas and understandings to a wide range of audiences.

The first three aspects of the writing framework focus on the set of knowledge and skills that students need when they create different kinds of texts in print or online.

In every area of the curriculum, students learn best when they are involved in purposeful, rich learning tasks. Students need to use their writing for many learning purposes. The next four aspects of the writing framework exemplify how students use their writing for different purposes across the curriculum. At the higher end of the framework, the progressions highlight the subject-specific writing knowledge and skills that students need for English, science, and social-science tasks.

The progressions in the writing framework set out the significant steps that students take as they develop their expertise in all aspects of writing.
All students will need to move past the same signposts as they develop their writing expertise, although they might take different amounts of time and follow slightly different pathways in between these signposts.

The writing framework, with its signposts for each aspect, provides a big-picture map to help you understand what progress looks like. It illustrates this progress by showing how students create texts that are more complex and subject-specific as they respond to increasingly challenging writing tasks across the curriculum.

How can the writing framework help me?

Being familiar with the writing progressions helps you to plan your classroom programme. It helps you to see where your students are and where they need to go.
The annotated illustrations help you to identify your students’ current, writing-related knowledge and skills. You can use this understanding to plan the particular programme that will support them to get to the next signpost.

The writing framework prompts you to think about the opportunities you're providing for students to strengthen their writing in different curriculum contexts.
The framework's illustrations suggest ways you can provide opportunities for students to write for different purposes in different contexts. By highlighting how the texts and tasks in these contexts become more subject-specific, the framework helps you focus on the particular knowledge and skills your students need.

The sets of illustrations that have been developed for years 9 and 10 English, science, and social-science teachers will give you a better understanding of the specialised writing expertise that will support your students to become successful learners.