The Importance of Editing

Editing is an essential part of the creative writing process, whether this be for fiction or non-fiction genres, and the sooner children learn to do this in a meaningful way, the sooner they will become better writers. 
 
The English curriculum requires children by the end of KS1 – specifically those who are working within the greater depth standard – to be making ‘simple additions, revisions and corrections’ in their writing. By the end of KS2, the editing requirements of the curriculum become more varied, focussing on children editing and evaluating by ‘assessing the effectiveness of their own and other’s writing’ and ‘proposing changes to vocabulary, grammar and punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning.’ We can see from these statements that as the curriculum moves from KS1 to KS2, children evolve from solely proofreading to reflecting on a piece’s overall composition and effectiveness, its purpose and audience. 
 
In a wider sense, it’s a skill not just for writing but one that will help children in all subjects and in future study, allowing them to build resilience in receiving feedback; develop resourcefulness in finding the tools needed to help them and become constructive in the feedback they can offer others. 
 
However, there are many barriers in the way of children learning to edit their own work and the work of their peers – one of these is time. With so many pressures already on school timetables, it can be difficult to make sure this is happening on a daily/weekly basis. Children can also often see editing as an admission of failure, resulting in many being reluctant to go back and reread their work once an initial draft has been completed. It can also be an extremely overwhelming task and children need to be taught how to do this precisely and see models of this being done well. Through talking with teachers and school managers around the country, we have put together five important components in a school’s overall approach to overcoming these barriers. 
 
A Whole School Approach 
 
Ideally, editing should be approached as a whole-school with a shared pedagogy laid out as part of a comprehensive feedback and marking policy. If editing is embedded in each classroom from KS1, then by Year 6 this will have become an organic process for children, whether editing independently or collaboratively. Editing will look very different in KS1 and KS2, but the habit of reading back over work and the work of peers will have become enshrined as good practice rather than simply ‘correcting mistakes’. 
 
Part of this whole-school approach would be an agreement about the appropriate amount of time to set aside each week. Teachers will feel more supported in allocating this time if it’s been agreed across the school as part of regular practice, rather than feeling the pressure to move on to the next task. It is important to remember that, for assessment purposes, it is not fundamentally the quantity of writing, but the quality of writing that makes the difference ­– and editing is an essential part of this. 
 
Rereading Through Different Lenses 
 
But what does this quality editing time look like? There are many approaches here and certainly a collaborative element needs to be part of this. Children can swap books and offer feedback to their peers or listen to a partner read back their work aloud. Children can also be encouraged to reread the same piece of work through different lenses. The first reading could be to focus on spelling and omitted words; the second on punctuation and word choice and the third on an aspect of composition e.g. tense, adverbials or pronoun consistencies. Editing stations set up around a classroom can be effective in making this a creative process and resources for this can be found online.  
 
Modelling
 
Just as children need to hear their teachers read every day, they also need to see their teachers write everyday (or most days) and part of this is modelling writing behaviours, focussing of proofreading and composition. A range of editing strategies can be modelled as part of this daily provision. These strategies can range from: linking writing back to the LO/SC; underlining key skills when they are used, deliberately making mistakes and correcting them; asking children for feedback; thinking aloud and externalising creative writing choices; stepping back and rereading the shared write as a whole, thinking about audience and purpose; scoring out certain words and choosing more effective ones; and extending oneself with challenges. The hope is that when children return to their own work, they will mimic these writing behaviours. 
 
Feedback and Marking 
 
Feedback and marking plays a critical role also as it praises the work children have accomplished and directs them towards making improvements. Marking needs to be directing children to those proofreading errors – whether it be spelling, omitted words, punctuation or grammar – and directing them to reflect on the composition and effectiveness of the piece. Impact marking which asks questions such as, ‘could you redraft this paragraph using a wider range of adverbials?’ or ‘could you think about using more exciting verbs here?’ goes a long way to encouraging children to think about overall composition. In KS2, some teachers encourage children to rewrite certain paragraphs, cutting their redrafts out on flaps of paper to stick in the margin of their book over their original draft. 
 
Publishing
 
Publishing – whether this be instant or planned – can also play a significant, motivational role in the editing process. In essence, this is the awareness that their work will be read to an audience and displayed for others to read. This awareness will enhance the sense of audience and purpose, ensuring that they are not just writing for themselves but to communicate to others, whether this be to entertain, inform or persuade. 
 
In summary, editing is a crucial part of the creative process and children need to be in the habit of rereading their work and the work of others. Editing must evolve from ‘making additions and revisions’ to reflecting on overall compositional choices as children develop as writers and this is done most effectively when there is a whole school approach.