Our mission

Voice 21 was launched in 2015, informed by innovative practice as well as research conducted with Cambridge University and the Education Endowment Fund.

In 2016 we commissioned The State of Speaking in Our Schools – which uncovered the need for resources and professional development for oracy in the UK.

Our Oracy Leaders Programme was then designed to build leadership capacity for oracy in schools, as well as to create a vanguard of educational leaders spearheading a movement to raise the status of oracy in schools across the UK. Since 2017 we have trained 95 National Oracy Leaders. 

 Our second EEF pilot which began in 2015 investigated the feasibility of Voice 21’s approach beyond School 21. The EEF’s independent evaluator saw promise in our approach, noting that participating teachers felt students’ oracy skills had improved as a result of the pilot.

Recognising the importance of expert oracy classroom practice, we began our Oracy Pioneers Programme to embed high-quality oracy teaching in every classroom. Since then we have trained 1225 Oracy Pioneers. 

Voice Liverpool, our first ‘Voice Area’ launched with the support of the SHINE Trust. A three year partnership with schools across the city to introduce lasting, locally-led change, improving students’ oral language, confidence and wellbeing.

We have also campaigned for the value of oracy education. We convene the Oracy Network, bringing together organisations that support children and young people to find their voice and support the Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group established in 2018.

With funding from Nesta’s Future Ready Fund and The Dulverton Trust, we started this important programme to support students excluded from mainstream education to improve their oracy skills, focusing particularly on developing emotional intelligence as well as perceptions of self. Within the first year we reached 767 young people. 

In October 2019 we launched the Oracy Benchmarks  which outline what constitutes a high-quality oracy education, providing a robust and realistic framework for teachers and school leaders looking to develop oracy in their contexts.

Voice 21 Oracy Schools is the culmination of everything we have learned over the last five years about how to effectively drive change and improve oracy provision across a school. Through our new model, we work strategically to develop leadership and practice of oracy across a school, empowering schools to provide a high-quality oracy education for their students and secure long-term change.