Pendle Primary School is a Voice 21 Oracy Centre of Excellence.
Dr Thomas Cousins, a teacher at Pendle, has been exploring oracy in his classroom for several years through practitioner research that highlights the innovative practices developed by schools deeply committed to embedding oracy. His research demonstrates how Pendle has moved beyond a highly scaffolded approach to classroom talk. Students first acquire oracy skills using structured strategies and supports, and then progress to more independent, confident, and meaningful dialogue — applying the skills they have internalised in authentic, purposeful discussions.
At Pendle Primary, oracy is a central part of our school’s curriculum; it is woven through every aspect of school life, from classroom practice to the curriculum to the school culture. The focus of this project was to give the students autonomy in an informal environment with the aim of providing them with the tools to engage in exploratory talk outside of the classroom and move beyond the need for scaffolds to support discussion.
As part of the project, students were invited to voluntarily guess the contents of the ‘question cube’ — a box placed in the middle of the playground containing a mystery object, either unfamiliar or partially hidden. The goal of the question cube was to act as a catalyst for conversation between peer groups.
All 60 pupils in Year 5 were chosen to take part in this project. At the outset, they completed an activity that involved guessing a mystery item. Working in pairs, they recorded an audio commentary in which they discussed and reasoned through their ideas. These recordings were assessed using the school’s oracy assessment tool, which rates various aspects of spoken communication on a one- to three-star scale. In the final week of the project, pupils repeated a similar activity and were reassessed using the same criteria, allowing for a clear comparison of progress. To further evaluate the impact of the project, students also completed a questionnaire at both the beginning and end, capturing changes in their self-perception and confidence in speaking.
The findings from the project provided clear evidence of improvement in students’ ability to engage with and discuss unfamiliar content. There was a noticeable increase in purposeful conversation around the question cube, with students actively exchanging ideas about its contents and engaging in respectful debate when encountering differing opinions. Such comments demonstrate that the students engaged with the activity at playtime and also that they thrived in a context for talk where they were given complete autonomy
Child A: ‘I think this is a stamp because of the handle sticking out.’
Child B: ‘I don’t think so, that’s not a handle, it’s too short.’
Child C: ‘I agree with child A, you can see that there is ink on it.’
Child B: ‘Is there?’ [looks at box closer] ‘ohh I didn’t see that, is it ink though, maybe we should ask Child D.’
What is striking about this conversation is that the students were able to apply the oracy skills that they had learned in the classroom to other contexts, without scaffolding. Such discussions were in stark contrast to the types of discussions and approach that had been seen before the intervention. This suggests that providing students with a clear focus for discussion outside the classroom encourages natural group enquiry and dialogue, demonstrating the lasting impact of years of explicit oracy teaching
The results of this project indicate that a more open, autonomous and relaxed environment can be helpful to support students to effectively engage in group discussion and debate. This setting helped the students understand the value of oracy beyond the classroom. Following the project, students demonstrated a better understanding of why oracy skills are explicitly taught, practised, and used within school. By stepping back from explicit teaching and scaffolding, students were able to genuinely apply the oracy skills they had learned to engage in meaningful, peer-led discussions.
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