How Seven Steps aligns with international curricula
7 mins
Education
Sarah Bakker
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Seven Steps to Writing Success is a structured approach that breaks down writing into seven key techniques that professional authors use. Students focus on one Step at a time, which allows them to understand, practise and master each individual skill before they write a whole text. Taking small, manageable steps builds students’ confidence and makes writing fun and achievable for all ability levels.
Because Seven Steps is rooted in authorial writing techniques – such as planning, drafting, and engaging an audience – it complements any curriculum. While it is not tied to a specific set of standards, its core principles align with many educational frameworks worldwide. Educators often ask how Seven Steps addresses the requirement of their curriculum, so we’ve outlined those alignments below.
To learn more about the program and the research and principles it’s based on, click here.
Seven Steps and international curricula
Australian Curriculum | New Zealand Curriculum
English National Curriculum | Scottish Curriculum for Excellence
Australian Curriculum
Seven Steps to Writing Success aligns with the strands and substrands in the Australian Curriculum by providing structured writing techniques that help students plan, compose, edit and publish texts across different genres. It also develops students’ reading comprehension and oral language skills, helping to boost literacy results.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Creating texts | Enables students to create engaging texts that inform, entertain and persuade by developing key writing skills. |
| Text structure and organisation | Helps students understand the similarities and differences between narrative, persuasive and informative text structure and language features. |
| Expressing and developing ideas | Supports students in expanding their vocabulary and encourages the use of visual language in a text to enhance meaning. |
| Revising and editing | Develops students’ ability to edit and refine their writing to improve structure and expression. |
| Reading comprehension | Analysing how authors create meaning and engage the reader helps students respond to and examine texts more effectively. |
| Speaking and listening | Encourages collaborative discussions, verbal storytelling and presentations, supporting oral literacy development. |
| Differentiated learning | The program’s flexibility ensures that all learners, including EAL/D students, can access the curriculum effectively. |
|
Critical and creative thinking |
Encourages students to think critically and creatively about texts both as a reader and a writer. |
New Zealand Curriculum
Seven Steps to Writing Success aligns with the refreshed New Zealand Curriculum by enhancing students’ creativity, critical thinking skills and literacy outcomes.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Composition | Supports students in creating texts to communicate ideas, experiences and information. |
| Writing craft | Explores an authors’ choice of language, style and techniques and the impact they have on the reader. |
| Writing process | Helps students plan, draft, revise and edit their writing, ensuring coherence and clarity. |
| Reading | Analysing how authors create meaning and engage the reader develops students’ critical thinking skills and leads to a deeper understanding of texts. |
| Oral language | Encourages verbal communication, collaboration and discussion, promoting oral language development. |
| Critical thinking and interpretation | Develops comprehension and analytical skills, aligning with curriculum goals. |
| Student engagement | The program’s engaging methods help foster motivation and a positive learning experience. |
English National Curriculum
Seven Steps to Writing Success closely aligns with the English National Curriculum by fostering creativity and promoting critical thinking while meeting key literacy objectives across Key Stages 1–4.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Writing composition | Helps students write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. |
| Writing process | Encourages students to plan, revise and evaluate their writing, supporting the curriculum’s emphasis on developing and refining work and writing for different audiences and purposes. |
| Vocabulary and sentence structure | Enhances students’ use of ambitious vocabulary and varied sentence structures, aligning with the curriculum’s goals for strong language use. |
| Reading comprehension | Develops students’ ability to analyse the techniques authors use to engage the reader which enhances their understanding and enjoyment of the texts they read. |
| Spoken language | Promotes discussion and sharing of ideas in order to learn and improves students’ oral storytelling, presenting and debating skills. |
| Engagement | The collaborative approach keeps students motivated and actively involved in their literacy development. |
| Creativity |
Develops students’ creative thinking skills and their ability to create unique and original texts. |
Scottish Curriculum for Excellence
Seven Steps to Writing Success aligns with Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence by promoting structured and creative writing practices.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Expressive and imaginative writing | Encourages students to create texts of increasing complexity using more sophisticated techniques and language to engage the audience. |
| Planning and organising ideas | The program’s structured approach helps students organise ideas coherently and develop engaging texts for different purposes and audiences. |
| Writing process | Students learn to review and edit their work to improve the structure and expression. |
| Critical thinking and reading comprehension | Supports skills such as inference, analysis and evaluation of texts which develops students’ critical thinking and reading comprehension skills. |
| Listening and talking | Encourages students to engage in discussions, presentations and storytelling, improving listening and talking skills. |
| Inclusive learning | The adaptable strategies cater to diverse learning needs and styles as well as increasing students’ enjoyment and choice in writing lessons. |
American Common Core Curriculum
Seven Steps to Writing Success aligns with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts by developing their writing and language skills, as well as enhancing their reading comprehension and oral communication skills.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Text types and purposes | Supports students in composing narratives, informative/explanatory and opinion texts. |
| Production and distribution of writing | Helps students plan, edit and publish clear and coherent writing through structured steps. |
| Research to build and present knowledge | Supports cross-curricular writing to enhance students’ understanding of different topics. |
| Range of writing | Encourages regular writing practice over different timeframes for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes and audiences. |
| Vocabulary acquisition and use | Enhances students’ understanding and use of vocabulary, including common words, topic-specific words and figurative language. |
| Reading comprehension | Encourages analysis of key ideas and details, text structure, features and techniques to enhance students’ understanding and enjoyment of texts. |
| Speaking and listening | Engages students in verbal storytelling, collaborative discussions, presentations and debates, supporting CCSS speaking and listening objectives. |
| Differentiated instruction | Allows for flexible teaching approaches that meet diverse learning needs. |
IB Curriculum
Seven Steps to Writing Success supports writing development in both the Primary Years Programme (PYP) and Middle Years Programme (MYP), particularly the emphasis on effective communication, creativity and reflection.
| Key Alignments | Description |
| Inquiry-based learning | Encourages students to explore and investigate through structured writing activities. |
| Transdisciplinary approach | Supports writing across subjects, linking to IB themes. |
| Analysis | Develops students’ understanding of authorial choices and their impact on the reader. |
| Organising | Helps students select and organise ideas, opinions and information and communicate them effectively in different forms. |
| Producing text | Encourages students to experiment with authorial techniques to produce engaging texts for different purposes and audiences. |
| Using language | Enhances students’ use of accurate and varied language to communicate thoughts, ideas and information. |
| Thinking skills | Encourages critical thinking and reflection by teaching students how to evaluate and improve their writing. |
| Communication skills | Enhances students’ ability to express themselves clearly and creatively. |
| Global contexts | Encourages exploration of diverse topics and perspectives. |
A globally adaptable writing program
Across all these curricula, Seven Steps to Writing Success aligns with key writing objectives, particularly in planning, structuring, engaging audiences and refining writing through feedback and editing. It also improves students’ reading comprehension, oral communication and creative thinking skills. The method is adaptable across different education systems, making it a powerful tool for improving students’ writing skills worldwide.
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