{"id":213899,"date":"2024-09-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=213899"},"modified":"2025-09-19T12:18:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:18:12","slug":"the-knowledge-how-can-labour-ensure-oracy-delivers-on-its-promise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/the-knowledge-how-can-labour-ensure-oracy-delivers-on-its-promise\/","title":{"rendered":"How can Labour ensure oracy delivers on its promise?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Success today requires more than just good grades. Young people need wider life skills too – like communication, motivation and confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These skills can help them advocate for themselves in university, apprenticeship or job interviews, and get on in the world of work. Too often, however, young people from poorer homes don\u2019t have the same opportunities to build them as their better-off peers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government is looking to update the curriculum to boost these skills, with a particular focus on communication skills, and speaking specifically. Promoting a focus on oracy<\/a>, Keir Starmer stated:\u00a0\u201cconfident speaking gives you a steely core, and an inner belief to make your case in any environment.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But speaking and oracy are broad concepts that are understood and applied in different ways in schools. The Sutton Trust\u2019s new research<\/a> looks at what schools are doing on oracy, and where best to direct government\u2019s efforts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost all teachers (96 per cent) think life skills are as or more important for how well young people do in adulthood than formal academic qualifications. However, one in five teachers in the state sector think their school doesn\u2019t provide good opportunities for pupils to develop them, compared to just 1 in 10 in private schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not to say there isn\u2019t good work going on. Lots of state schools have made a start on oracy, and some now have well-developed programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our research, 37 per cent of senior leaders in state schools said oracy is embedded in some lessons (e.g. English or history), 31 per cent said oracy was embedded in most, and 30 per cent said teachers had training in oral language interventions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were also some interesting differences in provision between state and private schools. Twenty-eight per cent of state-sector senior leaders said their school has a whole-school oracy strategy, compared to just 17 per cent in private schools.  In fact, 26 per cent of state schools have an oracy lead, compared to 15 per cent of private schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Improving oracy education could make a big difference<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The only place private schools are out-pacing the state sector is debate clubs, reported by 53 per cent of private senior leaders but just 18 per cent of their state counterparts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These findings are particularly interesting given the perception that private schools are good at producing confident public speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We interviewed Eton\u2019s director of teaching and learning, Jonathan Noakes for this research. In his experience, he said, few private schools explicitly deliver oracy programmes. However, \u201cthey are encouraging the use of oracy all the time\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ability levels of the students Eton and the state schools Noakes has worked with are similar, he added, but \u201cbecause their context is different, it makes sense\u201d for the state schools to have chosen to take a whole-school oracy programme approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every school will be operating in a different context. Noakes points out that boys coming to Eton are often already very confident, and they benefit from small class sizes.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the comprehensive Halifax Academy in West Yorkshire, by contrast, assistant headteacher Dani Burns stresses the importance of their focus on making sure \u201call students find their voice, are confident, skilful communicators and feel proud of who they are\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us,\u201d he adds, \u201coracy is very much about identity and how empowering it is to understand the word choices you make\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While this sentiment is a constant, our interviews with schools revealed differences in approaches between different types of school, but also similarities including staff training to encourage discussions.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to evidence on the best way to improve oracy and speaking skills, there is still more to do. There is evidence that oracy interventions can be effective, but most existing evidence looks at their impact on reading, rather than on oracy itself or wider speaking skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improving oracy education in schools, alongside the development of broader life skills, has potential to make a big difference for students, and particularly those from the poorest backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to make a real difference, government will need to be clear with schools about exactly what it expects, and build the evidence base so that schools are empowered to do the best they can to achieve this ambition.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full report, <\/em>Life Lessons 2024, <\/em><\/strong>here<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Sutton Trust research reveals variation in schools\u2019 approaches and a lack of evidence on how best to maximise oracy\u2019s impact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311124,"featured_media":213752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"post-theme":[3730],"class_list":["post-213899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","post-theme-the-research-leader"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t