‘The more connections I can make with it, the more I enjoy it’: children’s relationship with writing at school

Given low levels of writing motivation among primary school-aged pupils (Bonafede, F., C. Clark, A. Cole, and I. Picton. 2025. Children and Young People's Writing in School in 2025. National Literacy Trust), understanding pupils’ perspectives and experiences of writing within school is essential. This study drew on self-determination theory and used semi-structured interviews with 24 pupils aged 9–11 from three English primary schools to gain in-depth insights into children’s perspectives on whether and how writing facilitates connection and relationships. Using thematic analysis, three themes were identified: (i) children’s evolving relationship with their own writing; (ii) children forming relationships with readers through sharing their writing and (iii) navigating relationships with their fellow writers in the classroom. These findings highlight the nuanced and complex nature of children’s relationships with writing, readers and fellow writers, and offer possibilities for positioning relationships more centrally within the writing classroom.