The publication of the last October, and the in schools, have seen a resurgence in interest in oracy teaching and learning.
In some schools, however, it is nothing new. Back in 2017, staff at , then a failing secondary school, implemented speaking and listening as a key part of its curriculum.
Mel Carlin, strategic lead for school improvement, and oracy lead at the in West Yorkshire, explains:
鈥淎t the time the school was in special measures and a challenging place to work.
鈥淚 joined the school as head of teaching and learning and soon realised that behaviour was bad and attendance so low because students had no agency.
鈥淭hey had no voice, they weren鈥檛 listened to, and they didn鈥檛 understand how to use their voice in a constructive way.
鈥淔ocusing on oracy was a brave thing to do at the time because the emphasis was very much on written work and books being full of long pieces of writing, so moving away from that did raise a few eyebrows. However, it has been a game-changer for our most disadvantaged students.鈥
Students didn鈥檛 understand how to use their voice in a constructive way.
The challenge then was how to implement oracy across the entirety of the Abbey MAT, which comprises five primary and three secondary schools, serving more than 4,500 young people. A quarter come from disadvantaged backgrounds, and more than 15 per cent have special educational needs.
Staff developed a flexible four-year plan for the implementation of oracy which would see explicit teaching of oracy in the first year; speaking and listening embedded into the curriculum in the second year; developing a whole school culture of oracy in the third year and rolling it out to the school community by the fourth year. Pupils now receive feedback on their speaking and listening skills.
We placed 鈥榦racy champions鈥 in departments where there was the most cynicism.
However, there were challenges. Getting staff on board and ensuring there was appropriate professional development was crucial.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 want to overload staff with priorities, but we knew we wanted to focus on oracy and to do that really well,鈥 says Carlin.
鈥淲e deliberately placed 鈥榦racy champions鈥 in departments where there was the most cynicism about the need to talk. Maths was a good example, where teachers didn鈥檛 really believe it was appropriate for the subject 鈥 but now is at the forefront of some of our best oracy practice.鈥
Another difficulty was staff turnover. Bishop Young was accredited as an Oracy Centre of Excellence in 2022, but a year later a review found big gaps in speaking and listening skills. It turned out that the 15 new staff members, most of them fresh out of teacher training, had not being coached in teaching oracy.
Getting staff on board and ensuring there was appropriate professional development was crucial.
鈥淭hat was a big lesson for us and since then we鈥檝e ensured that all new staff have a full induction. We just assumed that they would know what to do but this wasn鈥檛 the case, and we saw a dip in the provision for our pupils because the staff hadn鈥檛 been upskilled and lacked confidence.鈥
Across the trust, schools have also implemented the following measures:
- Oracy became a distinct remit in the MAT鈥檚 improvement plans, under the strategic lead senior leader. This was to ensure delivery was consistent across the MAT.
- A high-quality oracy education was introduced for all pupils.
- Oracy became a key priority in individual school development plans, alongside a separate oracy implementation plan.
- A designated 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥 oracy lead for each school.
- Oracy network meetings held for two hours every half term during which staff discuss any research and existing evidence for the teaching of oracy.
The success of oracy teaching has also required a change in the conversation within the trust, with schools using evidence-based practice. This means each one presents an impact report each year, which feeds into the trust鈥檚 talk toolkit that supports teaching. The evidence gathered of 鈥渨hat works best鈥 is used to scale up interventions for the following year.
The impact has been significant. Among the pupils, 93 per cent agreed that learning through talk was a typical experience in lessons, and 92 per cent of staff said they planned lessons to enable pupils to focus on oracy. The trust is now predicting an increase in the number of pupils gaining top grades in English and maths at GCSE.
Attendance and behaviour have improved as pupils have more agency.
Carlin adds: 鈥淣ow that pupils can talk about how they are feeling, and get the support they need, it鈥檚 become more enjoyable to come to school. Attendance and behaviour have improved as pupils have more agency and have become more actively involved in their learning.鈥
The Abbey Multi-Academy Trust presented its approach at a recent conference organised by , an educational charity devoted to improving the teaching of speaking and listening.
