Oracy is the ability to use the skills of speaking and listening for a wide range of purposes and that includes teaching and learning. School-based research evidence shows that achieving the best learning outcomes for students depends on both teachers and students using their oracy skills to make classroom education productive.

The value of teaching students how to work effectively in groups

Exploratory talk is the kind of discussion which enables people to work together as a group
to understand and solve a problem. It requires participants to follow certain kinds of ‘ground rules’ (or ‘discussion guidelines’), so that everybody participates, builds on each other’s contributions, and engages in a critical but constructive way to try to reach agreement. But this type of effective, productive group work can’t be expected to happen automatically. It has to be explicitly taught and practised.

Mercer, Dawes, Wegerif and Sams (1) investigated whether children in primary schools learned science more effectively when their teachers taught them how to work well in groups. Essentially, the students agreed to follow the ground rules for Exploratory Talk. Comparing 109 children against a similarsized control group, they found that the programme enabled children to “work together more effectively, improve their language and reasoning skills and reach higher levels of attainment in their study of science.” (They also noted “Teachers have reported that participating children find it easier to resolve conflict in situations outside the classroom.”).

Howe and Mercer (2) reviewed the research available at the time on how children’s collaborative talk contributes to learning and concluded that group work can really help learning and the development of understanding – but that “For collaborative activity to be useful, teachers need to help children develop the necessary communicative skills for engaging intellectually with each other.” They also need to be offered suitable activities, with tasks generally designed to encourage cooperation rather than competitiveness. Some children may need more guidance than others on how to engage productively in classroom dialogue, and classroom culture matters. But developing the oracy skills for productive group work benefits all students.

Howe, Hennessy, Mercer and their colleagues (3), in the Cambridge Classroom Dialogue Project, observed 72 teachers and found that high quality group work (ie more Exploratory Talk) in their classrooms was linked to stronger performance of Year 6 students in Maths and English SATs. There is therefore very strong, school-based evidence that (a) students need to be taught how to talk and work well together if group work is to be productive; and (b) if they are, this improves both their oracy skills and their academic attainment.

The value of involving students in whole class dialogue

What about whole-class talk?

In the Cambridge Classroom Dialogue project, Howe et al also found that pupils progressed more in Maths and English when teachers:

• achieved high levels of participation in whole-class dialogue (numerous children contribute
  and discuss each other’s ideas)
• encouraged children to elaborate their ideas (for example, ‘Can you explain a bit more what you mean by that?’)
• encouraged the questioning of ideas by other students (‘Do you agree that Tom is right?’).

Another large-scale investigation, the Dialogic Teaching Project (4) involved training Year 5 teachers in 78 schools in the techniques of dialogic teaching and comparing the learning outcomes of their students with those of teachers in similar ‘control’ schools who
had not been trained. The result was “consistent, positive effects in English, science and maths for all children in Year 5, equivalent to about 2 months additional progress compared with a similar-sized control group. The intervention was highly regarded by headteachers, mentors, and teachers who thought that the Dialogic Teaching approach had positive effects on pupil confidence and engagement.”

Taken together, the findings of these two projects (the only two ‘big data’ studies of talk and learning carried out in classrooms) strongly support the conclusions that a ‘dialogic’ approach to teaching achieves the best learning outcomes and levels of student engagement. These are, of course, only studies of talk in primary schools, but smaller-scale research in secondary classrooms supports the same conclusion: that encouraging and enabling students to take an active role, through talk, in their own learning helps them achieve the best academic results.

In conclusion, effective teaching and learning doesn’t involve students talking all the time in
lessons: but it does require teachers to balance the amount of time they spend instructing and informing students with periods in which students are encouraged to express their thoughts, developing ideas, understandings and misunderstandings – and with organising productive group work. This means students will need encouragement and help to develop their skills in collaborating with other students, explaining ideas, asking questions and – no less important – listening attentively.

Employers tend to notice the oracy confidence gap during interview and assessment processes.
Data from over 1000 businesses who work with us to improve their school outreach efforts suggests employers struggle to help young people with interview preparation. Around 40% of Year 11s report they don’t feel ready either. Imagine replacing the classic “mock interview” with
a live brief from a local employer. Frame the task with clear prompts (“pitch a new product idea in two minutes”), then sit back as students receive instant coaching on tone, structure, and body language.

That’s exactly what companies like Mace Group are doing. Their modern work experience opportunities pair students with project managers to tackle genuine site-planning challenges and build real-life skills. Teachers get upskilled, too—through handson teacher encounters where they learn to weave authentic workplace scenarios into daily lessons.

And parents aren’t left out: Mace hosts and attends evenings in local schools to demystify their industry, show career pathways, and share online toolkits so students can keep practising at home.

Work experience—more than just a taster

With government plans developing for a guarantee of two weeks’ worth of quality work experience to be accessible to every young person [ST1] [NH2] , we’ve piloted a multi-experience model that treats each placement as a building block. One experience might be on a shop floor, the next shadowing a marketing team, followed by a reflective workshop, layering opportunities to access different workplaces.

By the end, students have explored sectors and sharpened core skills—team talk, client pitches, and problem-solving huddles—all under the guidance of industry mentors. That iterative feedback loop is exactly what turns timid speakers into confident communicators.

Curriculum meets career conversations

So, how do we build oracy into everyday pedagogical approaches? Careers conversations and applied learning tasks linked to every curriculum subject really present an opportunity to do this. Over the last couple of decades, educators have mainstreamed the concept that literacy is the role of all teachers; students can’t access stretching GCSE examinations without subject-specific technical literacy skills – why not apply the same theory to oracy, but link it to “futures,” using industry relevant application as an inspirational lever to pathways out of every curriculum subject.

For instance, take a history lesson on industrial change. What if students were asked to role-play a town hall, negotiating factory conditions on behalf of 19th-century workers? Or an English class that ends with a live podcast recording, complete with audience Q&A? When talk is tethered to tangible outcomes, oracy becomes a lived experience, not just a lesson plan. There are lots of examples of where employer-connected activity brings curriculum learning alive and where oracy is a central tenet.

Putting oracy at the heart of education

This isn’t about tacking on a “speaking week” or a one-off workshop. Oracy must be woven through every lesson, every project, and every career conversation. It’s the bridge between classroom achievement and career readiness. It’s both an economic and social imperative for students and employers to thrive.

Because here’s the bottom line: in today’s world, being able to think on your feet, connect ideas out loud, and inspire an audience isn’t a “nice to have”— it’s your ticket onto the career ladder.