With a mixture of pride and sadness, Voice 21 founding CEO Beccy Earnshaw has decided to leave the charity in October.

In 2015, Beccy answered an advert from the founders of School 21 (Peter Hyman, Oli De Botton and Ed Fidoe) for a Director to lead a new campaign to promote the value of oracy education.  From a repurposed broom cupboard in a school in Stratford, East London, to a national organisation with a team of 60 staff working with 1000 schools for Dundee to Devon, Beccy has led Voice 21 as it has become the leading oracy organisation in the UK, making a difference to the lives of over 200,000 children and young people every year.

Commenting on the announcement, Beccy said:

“When I started at Voice 21, most of my time was spent explaining what the word oracy meant! Roll forward eight years, and the recognition of the importance and value of oracy education has soared. Working with partners from across the education sector, Voice 21 is making the case for oracy and, through our movement of teachers and schools, programmes, resources, advocacy and research, demonstrating that we can transform children’s learning and life chances through talk.

“It has been an honour to lead Voice 21.  I am grateful to all the schools, partners, supporters and my wonderful colleagues who have made it such a fulfilling experience. The organisation is in great shape with a fantastic team, a strong reputation and record of success, and a wealth of opportunities ahead to make even more progress on our mission. With the development of the 2025-2030 strategy in mind, this feels like the right time for me to move on to new challenges and hand over to a new CEO to write the next chapter in Voice 21’s story.”

Voice 21 Chair Sarah David said:

“Voice 21 has evolved from a start-up to a highly-regarded force through Beccy’s creative, dynamic and inspiring leadership. As Beccy moves on later this year, we look back with real pride on all her achievements in leading Voice 21 to where it is today.

The Board are now looking for someone with a similar visceral connection with our mission, who cares and thinks deeply about impact and who would enjoy bringing their energy, experience and expertise to steer Voice 21’s future success.”

The Voice 21 Board has now launched the search for our next CEO.

Working with recruitment partners, Starfish, we are looking for a champion of positive change, with the insight and experience, alongside a social focus and commercial outlook, to ensure Voice 21 continues to deliver outstanding outcomes for children in our schools today and the generations to come.

If this sounds like the opportunity you have been looking for – please read the recruitment pack and get in touch (closing date for applications – 29 May 2023).