The relationship between oracy education and improved confidence in mathematics is increasingly evident in Voice 21 Oracy Schools – particularly in schools adopting a Mastery approach to maths. 

This year, we’ve been visiting schools – speaking with teachers and shadowing lessons to learn more about how oracy supports students’ reasoning, problem solving and mathematical fluency. 

St Thomas’ Church of England Primary School in Blackburn has placed oracy at the heart of its curriculum and they have particularly noticed the impact of oracy in maths, where students regularly engage in rich whole class and peer-to-peer dialogue. We spent the day with School Lead for Oracy, Samantha Priestley, who outlined the steps the school has taken to harness oracy for learning in maths. 

Developing a talk-first approach

At St Thomas’, teachers follow a mastery approach and lessons tend to open with a problem-solving task where students will talk through their ideas, challenge one another and clarify their own thinking before anything goes in their books.

 “It’s rare now that a lesson doesn’t start this way. We’re not focusing on pages and pages of work – it’s the quality of discussion that we’re most interested in.” 

Teachers have noticed that the quality of what is written in books following whole-class or group discussion is much higher.

Supporting extended dialogue

Simple shifts in how teachers structure talk in the classroom have led to students expanding their ideas and sharing more of their reasoning in discussions with peers. For example, by moving from talk partners to trios for talk, students encounter more ideas and different perspectives that in turn invite greater opportunities to hear others’ thinking – while developing their own. Over time, teachers build more complexity into these discussions – expecting students to not just agree, but to challenge, probe and summarise their group’s ideas too.

Building independence

Routines for talk in maths are embedded across year groups meaning that by the time students reach Key Stage 2, they already know how to engage in purposeful dialogue. 

As students progress through school “teachers find that they’re doing less of the talking in class and that students are doing more of that critical thinking together.” 

Teachers also think carefully about what to scaffold and when so that students have tools for mathematical talk when they need them. The school recognises that whilst scaffolds can be particularly helpful for students who have SEND or English as an additional language, it’s important that students aren’t restricted in how they choose to communicate those early ideas. 

In a Year 5 lesson, we heard the teacher say “it’s OK to drop the scaffold.’ and ‘forget your discussion roles for a second, let’s all think about this for a moment.” signalling the value of flexibility and encouraging students’ own ways of expression.

At St Paul’s Catholic High School in Manchester, teachers have begun integrating structured talk opportunities into lessons to deepen conceptual understanding and to foster a more collaborative approach to learning. During a visit to St Paul’s, William Hedge (Acting Head of Maths) shared the school’s approach to developing purposeful talk in maths.

Anchoring talk in engaging tasks

Maths teachers in the school noticed that students were struggling to articulate mathematical ideas and began using  anchor tasks at the beginning of lessons. These open-ended problems provide authentic opportunities for exploratory talk; the kind of low-floor high-ceiling challenges that create the space for students to notice patterns, make connections between previous and new learning and listen to different perspectives on how to solve them. 

Through these activities, students are able to communicate their mathematical thinking processes in a low-stakes way and, since adopting this approach, the team has noticed that students are far more willing to share ideas, take risks, and challenge each other’s thinking.

 “In these tasks, we encourage students to think about all the different problem solving elements they can use. Ultimately, we’re teaching students to express themselves in these problems – the more they lose themselves in them, talk to their peers and enjoy the process – the more learning will happen.”

Teachers identify that some of the most powerful moments in these lessons occur when students express ideas that they weren’t anticipating. In Katherine Smith’s Year 7 maths lesson, she responded to a student’s idea saying: “I’ve never thought about it in that way.” creating a sense of shared learning and curiosity – not just between peers but between teachers and students alike. 

Scaffolding mathematical talk

Scaffolds that support exploratory talk promote inclusion and enable students to participate more actively in lessons. At St Paul’s, teachers use scaffolds such as sentence starters to support reasoning and Talk Tactics to prompt students to ask probing questions – something teachers have noticed students often don’t instinctively do.

Modelling is also key; teachers walk students through their own thinking processes, teaching them the metacognitive skills that develop greater independence with problem solving.

“We’re not just pouring information into students, we’re teaching them to think mathematically by encouraging them to speak mathematically.”

Supporting assessment for learning

Oracy also plays a crucial role in assessment for learning. When students explain their reasoning aloud and test out mathematical vocabulary, teachers gain valuable insights into their understanding and are able to identify misconceptions. This allows for real-time intervention and clarification, often before misunderstandings are entrenched. 

An increasing number of both primary and secondary schools are placing oracy at the heart of maths education, exploring what it means to create a positive and inclusive culture of talk in maths lessons and connecting oracy to disciplinary skills to support learning, attainment and – crucially – enjoyment of the subject at every key stage.