If oracy is to be given proper attention in schools (State schools should set up debating clubs, says senior Eton leader, 16 September) several things need fixing. In the kindergarten years (ages three to six) staff need to focus on children’s spoken language development, without feeling pressured to start teaching reading, unless the children show the inclination for it.
Then, in primary schools, oracy needs to be given equal status with literacy and numeracy, and not, as is too often the case, treated as part of literacy and subordinate to it. Speaking and listening skills are crucial and valuable in their own right, and not just as precursor to literacy. At secondary level, it is sad but true that curriculum areas are valued if they are assessed, otherwise they risk being sidelined or neglected.
In the 1980s, colleagues at the National Foundation for Educational Research and I developed systems and tasks for assessing a range of oracy skills; these were used successfully in surveys in year 6 and year 11 children in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As a result, there was a compulsory oracy component in GCSE English from the start, and after a few years the marks for oracy were integrated as contributing to overall grades for English language.
Since then, there has been shilly-shallying by governments over the oracy component; sometimes the marks contributing to the overall grade, but more often separately certificated and on a different scale. It is high time the marks for oracy were again integrated into calculation of overall grades. That said, the oracy activities need to cover a wider range than just debating skills. Not all year 9 pupils are budding politicians, and we all know people who can talk confidently for minutes on end and purvey only taurine excrement.
Greg Brooks
Emeritus professor of education, University of Sheffield
• The Sutton Trust Life Lessons report shines a spotlight on the need for high-quality oracy education for every child. Our charity, Voice 21, supports state schools to build oracy into the curriculum, teaching and wider school life. Oracy is the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language and listening. In our schools, you will hear students solving problems collaboratively in maths and dissecting arguments in history, talking through conflicts in the playground and leading assemblies. We call this a whole-school approach.
State schools don’t need to follow a model set by private schools. The whole-school approach to embedding speaking and listening into all elements of school life is being shaped by teachers across the country. This year, the Voice 21 Oracy Schools Programme is reaching more than 1,100 schools and we have already established 44 Oracy Centres of Excellence, like Halifax Academy (featured in the Sutton Trust report).
Schools like this are demonstrating that their model of embedding oracy education in every element of school life is the future: enhancing children’s learning, attainment, confidence, wellbeing and sense of community so that every child feels their voice has value and they can use it to thrive in school, work and life. It may turn out that Eton has more to learn from these schools about how to educate the leaders and citizens of the future than the other way around.
Dr Kate Paradine
CEO, Voice 21
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