What is shorthand?
Shorthand is a method of speed writing and is used by most court reporters and local journalists when interviewing to save time on transcription and record accurate quotes in real-time.
It is an optional module on some of our courses and trainees take the module depending on their desired role in journalism.
Shorthand is a compulsory module on the following courses only:
• NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism (full-time, fast-track/22 weeks, London & Manchester)
• NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Sports Journalism (full-time/35 weeks, London & Manchester)
• NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism (in-person part-time/40 weeks, London & Manchester)
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Why is shorthand optional?
You will get the opportunity to try shorthand at the start of your course and decide whether it is a module you want to it.
It is a useful tool for those who want to go into court reporting or local journalism as interviews can be conducted on the go and transcribed quickly which is extremely valuable in a world where speed is everything.
According to the British Institute of Verbatim Reporters – it’s three times quicker to type out shorthand notes than to listen back to audio recordings.
It’s also illegal to make audio or video recordings of most proceedings in UK courts.
However, lots of newer roles in journalism don’t require shorthand and our industry consultation found that some employers value broadcast and social media skills over shorthand.
It is also a very time-consuming module as we recommend two hours of shorthand practice after every class to achieve the highest speeds.
All trainees can achieve a gold-standard NCTJ diploma with or without shorthand.
How do we teach shorthand?
We don’t expect you to know any shorthand before joining us, and recommend you start from the very beginning on a course so you don’t develop any bad habits.
In many ways shorthand is like learning a new language in 20 weeks – it can seem like a daunting task and we expect you to put in plenty of work at home.
On a full-time course, it takes six long, hard weeks to learn the theory – the Teeline alphabet, deciding which letters you need, special forms of words and how and when to join words together. After that we’ll really crank up the speed building.
One of our alumna wrote this blog about learning shorthand with us!
We don’t want to ruin the surprise but we have plenty of tricks up our sleeve to ensure our trainees enjoy learning what can at first seem a formidable subject.
Our teachers have decades of experience to ensure you achieve the best possible speeds – and this formula has been paying dividends, with some ground-breaking results.
We schedule daily shorthand classes from 9-10:30am on the full-time and sports journalism courses, and on a Monday evening on our part-time course. Those choosing to sit the shorthand module would be committing to additional study time alongside their other modules.
How do you do shorthand practice?
Watch the football, of course. pic.twitter.com/XGd2kUWFDV
— Andrew Dowdeswell (@a_dowdeswell) June 15, 2021
See more about how you are assessed here.