We need to talk
We need to talk
Well hello there, and welcome to update #098!
With the Oracy Education Commission’s recent report, ‘We need to talk 2024’ it’s good to know that high quality talk in classrooms is high on the agenda.
High-quality talk has always been important, however what the report recommends is that oracy should be as important as literacy and numeracy. It means that speaking and listening skills should be developed throughout the curriculum, so that all pupils have access to quality oracy education.
The report also highlights a lack of teacher training in spoken language and calls for subject-specific oracy training to ensure all teachers can effectively integrate these skills into their lessons.
Developing oracy across our schools is more that sharing a few quick tips. It needs to be built from a place of belonging, where everyone is valued for the unique human being that they are.
Rachel Higginson has spent several years working with settings on embedding deep oracy thinking and practice. Rachel has written a powerful post about how to get the most from oracy and we’ll be doing a webinar on how Finding my Voice has developed a whole school approach to Oracy, Monday 4 November 4pm, link here.
As part of the Huh curriculum series, Lekha Sharma and I spoke to Ed Booth to find out how he and colleagues went about developing oracy across their primary school. It is a fascinating account of thoughtful school improvement over time, without chasing quick fixes! You can watch the conversation here.(£/free trial)
There’s also some great input from colleagues at Bransty Primary School who decided to ramp up expectations for oracy across the school: a curriculum built on words.(£/free trial)
For secondary, there are some helpful conversations with Simon Day the lead teacher for English at Trinity Academy Cathedral in Wakefield. Simon talks with Steve Willshaw about oracy as part of school culture and classroom based oracy pedagogy.(£/free trial)
Until next time
Mary