James Moffett's "Teaching the Universe of Discourse" set out an agenda for the study of development in writing, which influenced James Britton's work in the UK. Subsequently, however, the work of both these thinkers was largely set aside in the approach to writing taken by national strategies in England. In this article, we trace the history of these developments, and seek to rescue Moffett's and Britton's work from being characterised as no more than a "failed progressivism". We argue for return to a focus on thinking and abstraction, as fundamental considerations for a writing pedagogy.