How can teachers help left-handed children in the classroom? Advice from a former teacher
From scissors to seating arrangements, many things need to be taken into consideration when teaching a left-handed student, but do these children need to be given extra attention?
My daughter is left-handed and has just entered Year 2 at a school in Hong Kong. Her Year 1 teacher was very aware of her needs and gave her extra help with handwriting. This week my daughter asked for left-handed scissors and was told by her new teacher that there aren’t any. She also came home upset because the girl who sits next to her is getting cross because they keep banging elbows. Should I go to see the new teacher about this?
Historically, being left-handed was considered strange, unnecessary or at worst to be associated with the devil or witchcraft. Until as recently as the 1970s, some teachers went to extraordinary lengths to make left-handed pupils use their right hands.
Of course this no longer happens in schools but left-handers can still be penalised or disadvantaged by lack of awareness by teachers. Even though 10 to fifteen per cent of children are left-handed, very little is included in training courses for teachers and it would seem that some right-handed teachers are not aware of the differing needs of these pupils.
Should Hong Kong schools be doing more for left-handed children?
It is definitely worth having a quick discussion with your daughter’s new teacher so some immediate changes can be made. Something as simple as providing the appropriate scissors or being seated on the correct side of someone to avoid the clash of elbows, can stop further frustration and make an enormous difference to a child’s experience at school. The last thing you want is your daughter feeling clumsy and uncoordinated due to struggling with right-handed implements or having unsuitable seating positions. Also, such skills as cutting and writing are often used to assess a student’s development in the early years.
