Writing in secondary subjects

Why disciplinary writing matters

Strong writing skills are essential for success across the secondary curriculum. Each subject discipline, whether science, history, maths, or PE, requires students to understand and apply specific literacy skills. Teaching these explicitly helps improve comprehension, confidence, and attainment.

Classroom resources: writing models

Premium members can download model texts to be used in the secondary classrooms. Each text is framed around a different secondary subject, but could also be used to structure your own model answers. These examples:

• Demonstrate text organisation and structure.
• Highlight language features specific to each subject area.
• Support teachers in developing their own models.

The teacher guide explains how using context, purpose, and audience can support pupils in understanding the form of the text and where they need to begin.

• Context – the subject and topic
• Purpose – why the writing is required
• Audience – who it is written for

These models can also be used to co-create success criteria with students, supporting independent writing.

Explore more on disciplinary writing

Our suite of secondary training CPD provides professional development for school leaders and teachers focused on literacy within the curriculum.

We offer training to support literacy leads and teachers who have identified writing as a key priority area, as well as a broad introduction to disciplinary literacy and subject specific courses, including:

• Disciplinary writing in the secondary curriculum draws on the models provided here. Within the course we explore the cognitive challenge of writing, review the evidence base for what works in teaching writing, and provide strategies for building students’ motivation and confidence in paragraph writing, enabling them to evaluate their own work.
• What is disciplinary literacy? introduces the concept and explores relevant research and practice guidance
• Subject specifict courses cover literacy in mathematics, science, English, geography, history and PE.