Ruth Miskin announces "new handwriting programme" for schools – days after government reveals new focus on handwriting, following her advice
Children's handwriting: subject of a new push in primary schools by the government. Pic: iStock/Getty Images
Rival phonics publishers furious about what they see as unfair commercial advantage given to Ms Miskin in formulation of DfE's new writing framework, which Ms Miskin denies.
Rival phonics providers have expressed outrage after England’s most well-known player in the field announced a “new programme” aiming to improve children’s handwriting – within days of a new government document appearing, in which this approach was advocated, and on whose advisory panel she sat.
Ruth Miskin Training announced that the new programme for handwriting, offered via its Read Write Inc. platform, “is here” – less than 24 hours after the Department for Education published its new Writing Framework guidance for schools.
Read Write Inc. appears to have more schools signed up for its products than any other phonics company in England, with the firm having since its inception generated nearly £17m of funds for the person who appears to be its sole shareholder: the former headteacher Ruth Miskin.
Ruth Miskin Training has said that Ms Miskin developed her handwriting lessons nearly 40 years ago, when she was a teacher, that films launched to promote these lessons had been initiated back in 2023 and that they were available at no extra cost to schools buying the firm’s phonics programmes.
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By Warwick Mansell for EDUCATION UNCOVERED
Published: 16 July 2025
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Ms Miskin's work on phonics, strongly promoted by her then close friend HMCI Woodhead, (1994-2000), met significant resistance from English subject HMI. Mr Woodhead had an uncomfortable time as HMCI, his public views/statements were frequently challenged internally and his changing of reports without consultation were a cause of much angst within the Inspectorate. He found support for Ms Miskin's thinking on the place of phonics in teaching and learning from Nick Gibb, an accountant by trade, as a consequence very large sums of public monies were made available. This initiative has been constantly challenged within the education profession, but retains a significant following. We should not be surprised by the development into hand writing by this author, but we should be surprised that it's development has not been subject to wider consultation with this who will be teaching it.