Oracy

Hello Colleague

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.

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.

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.

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.

You can access the oracy collections across subjects for secondary here and a reminder that we also have the Myatt & Co app! Download from Apple Store or Google Play.

Until the next update.

Mary