Oracy

Whole-school practices
Schools do not consistently provide meaningful opportunities for pupils to develop oracy outside
the classroom. Apart from inviting pupils to speak or present as part of assemblies, only a small
proportion of schools engage in practices such as reviewing the quality of teachers’ and pupils’ verbal
contributions during lesson observations, or communicating with parents about their children’s spoken
communication in school. xxix Whole school approaches to oracy are particularly rare in FE colleges. The
relative paucity of whole-school practices is surprising given teachers’ overwhelming recognition of
oracy’s importance.
What strategies does your school use to support oracy? 906
Invites pupils to speak or present as part of its assemblies
54%
Reviews or evaluates the quality of pupils’ verbal contributions as part
of formal lesson observations
27%
Has a debating club
25%
Formally communicates with parents about the quality of pupils’ verbal
contributions in lessons
20%
None of these
18%
Has a policy for ‘oracy’, ‘spoken language’, ‘oral communication’, etc.
16%
Collects assessment or tracking data about pupils’ oracy (beyond that
which is required for GCSE spoken language
Supports the use of oracy-related activities organised by external
organisations (ESU, LAMBDA etc.)
9%
12%
Holds ‘no pens’ days or other one-off days focused on oracy
8%
Don’t know
6%
Has a discrete curriculum for oracy
6%
Teachers from independent (46%) and
grammar schools xxx (69%) highlight
they are more likely than those in
local authority schools or academies
to have debating clubs. Such clubs
are more common in secondary
schools (38%) than primary schools
(8%). Independent schools are also
significantly more likely than state
schools to use external organisations
such as the English Speaking Union
(ESU) or London Academy of Music
and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to deliver
some form of oracy-based activity,
and to communicate formally with
parents about the quality of pupils’
contributions in lessons perhaps,
suggesting that independent schools
place greater emphasis on pupils’
ability to publicly express their
ideas and opinions.
0% 20%
40% 60%
Formal assessment of oracy is unusual and in interviews
teachers tend to describe their colleagues as sceptical
about both the possibility and desirability of assessing oracy
formally. This does not mean schools do not communicate
about oracy, particularly at primary and Early Years level,
where 30% and 38% of respondents respectively say they
formally communicated with parents about pupils’ verbal
contributions in lessons. On the other hand, such practices
are far less common in secondary schools.
Interviewees feel some ‘school-level’ strategies do not build
on or relate to the activities taking place in lessons, either
directly or indirectly. Furthermore, a number of interviewees
in different phases and school types feel strongly that
school-level strategies set the tone for a school’s culture
and ethos, but feel some schools miss out on opportunities
to bring pupils and staff together through these more highprofile
public activities. Such schools are potentially missing
out on ‘easy wins’ to raise the profile and status of oracy,
and providing pupils with novel opportunities to develop
their skills as public speakers.
xxix
Practitioners were asked about their school’s practices, with oracy defined as ‘the development of children’s capacity to use speech to
express their thoughts and communicate with others in education and in life, and talk through which teaching and learning is mediated’
(based on Alexander, 2012: 10).
xxx
The base sizes are below 50 for grammar schools (n=29). Reference to results in relation to grammar schools should therefore be
regarded as illustrative rather than representative.
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