We published the following in our March 2024 Left handers Club newsletter...

As a founding member of LEFT-IN, I was privileged to listen to Kate – who lives in the state of Victoria in Australia. Her one woman crusade to improve the educational outcomes of left handers is truly amazing – if more people followed her example, we could change so much for future generations of left handers.

Her young son was getting frustrated by even simple things (like doing the buttons up on his jumpers and cutting bread) & she thought that he was clumsy. She tried sitting beside her son to show him how to do things – but at that point didn’t realise that he was left handed - so he continued to be frustrated at his inability to do anything. She now sits opposite him so that he can copy her.

Worried that this would translate into behavioural issues at school – or him withdrawing into himself – she talked to the Kindergarten teacher but they don’t worry about handedness & leave that to the teachers at Primary School (age 5+)… which is potentially too late!

In Preschool Kindergarten he was one of 3 lefthanders in the room while now at Primary Schoolhe is one of 6 in a class of 16 - a statistic that does not come as a surprise to us. However, despite this prevalence, Australian state & maternal checks fail to cover handedness as a topic of interest.

Having finally worked out her son was left handed, Kate went to research what she could do to help & what information the State of Victoria offered its Teachers – and found that the guidance provided regarding teaching lefthanders was exactly the same as for right handers (same paper positioning / letter formation – just the subject title at the top of the page had been changed!!!). She contacted the State education department & (after several chases) got the response that she should discuss the matter with her son’s teacher! – like she’s going to tell a professional teacher how to teach… With the help of her local MP, she finally got through to the right contact – and, to cut a long story short, with the assistance of a fellow LEFT-IN founder member, the State of Victoria now has proper guidance for teaching left handers. There are still a few little tweaks that LEFT-IN have just shared with the State & we expect those to be updated shortly.

But that’s only part of the problem

• How do Teacher’s know that this information is out there?


• How do other State’s in Australia get updated?


• When will the teacher training colleges add it to their curriculum?


• In the UK we’ve been trying to achieve this for over 25 years & the resistance we have encountered over those years is truly disturbing.


• Governments talk about ensuring children learn / develop / thrive – often in the same breath as inclusivity (gender / race / etc) & equal opportunities - but completely fail to include handedness.


• How can we stop this discrimination around the world, boost educational outcomes & help change lives?

The 2024 elections offer an opportunity for change, as over 2 BILLION people around the world will have the opportunity to vote. If you live in a country with such elections & have the opportunity, please consider discussing this issue with your local nominee(s) & seek their support for implementing the necessary changes at local / central government level.

What else can we do?

Firstly. if you have a connection with a school (teacher / teaching assistant / bursar / governor for example) – please make your colleagues aware that there are resources out there!  One of the best is Mark Stewart’s Training Video (available as a download or on USB) -which is perfect for inset days or small group training.....To help make this more widely available, we are offering the download version FREE of charge (normally £45) to any school spending just £75 or more in one order (excluding VAT and delivery). Just put FREE USB in the delivery comments / gift message box at checkout & ensure that you register as part of the checkout process (if you haven’t already) & we will send you the download link shortly after the order has been despatched. This offer is available until 31^st May 2024 and only applies to registered schools**.  (Now extended until end June 2024 - see our website for new details)

Alternatively, if you share Kate’s passion for change, please follow her example with your own school / state board / etc

As an aside, in listening to Kate’s story, it makes you wonder if a proportion of cases of ADHD / ADD in left handers are actually mis-diagnosed… with the child getting frustrated because they can’t do things as they have never been taught how to do them as a left hander. If anyone has details of any recent research in this area, please do let me know.

PS Kate isn’t giving up - she’s now pushing or changes to be implemented across Australia – Good on you Kate ???? Never give up!!