Call for Papers | Handwriting today: pedagogical, educational and teaching perspectives | Graphos 2/2025

The profound cultural and technological transformations of contemporary society inevitably affect the way handwriting is taught and learnt, prompting experts in the writing gesture to engage with a renewed scientific and pedagogical debate. Although the widespread adoption of digital technologies has transformed everyday, educational and professional communication practices, numerous international studies demonstrate the ongoing importance of handwriting in children's cognitive, motor and symbolic development, and in the formation of personal identity and access to knowledge.

The current issue of Graphos aims to encourage broad reflection on the persistence, decline and/or transformation of handwriting in contemporary educational systems. Handwriting is not merely a technical or motor act; it is also, and above all, a cultural and educational practice involving cognitive, affective, symbolic and socio-relational aspects. This practice is learned in increasingly heterogeneous and complex contexts. Its didactic transmission therefore requires critical reflection in pedagogy.
Throughout the twentieth century, writing was the subject of much pedagogical research, highlighting its value in developing attentional skills, executive functions, spatial organisation and sequential thinking. Today, however, we must ask how to teach it at a time when typing is replacing manual writing, and consider the educational and cognitive consequences of this transition. In some school systems, the teaching of cursive writing is marginalised; in others, attempts are being made to integrate it with digital tools from a multimodal perspective. In any case, the question of the pedagogical and formative value of handwriting remains central, not only in primary school, but also in other school years and in non-formal and informal educational settings.

Topics for exploration may range from instructional design and school practices to neuropsychological implications and cultural representations, as well as teacher training and the evaluation of instructional processes and outcomes. Theoretical essays, critical reflections, case studies, experimental research and qualitative analyses are welcome, provided they contribute to our understanding of the educational significance and challenges of handwriting in the 21st century.

 

The contributions can be of a theoretical-foundational, epistemological-methodological, theoretical and practical nature; historical-pedagogical and pedagogical; didactic-methodological, with reference to the principles and teaching models of handwriting, and also to the design of plausible teacher training courses; theoretical, empirical or experimental, from the perspective of empirical research and reflection on interventions aimed at improving teachers' professionalism in the teaching and learning processes of handwriting in their transformation related to the change of cultural processes.

In addition, as with all issues, the journal includes a section for free papers in the broad and pluralistic field of education.

Submission of proposals: 30 September 2025

Issue publication: December 2025