Recently, Voice 21 published an open letter urging the Prime Minister to honour his commitment to oracy education. With over 60 signatories, including former education secretaries Charles Clarke and Estelle Morris, writer and campaigner Alastair Campbell, and children’s author and academic Michael Rosen, the letter received prominent coverage in The Guardian. It also sparked further comment, including a supportive editorial in the same paper. 

A central aim of the letter was to generate national conversation about the role of oracy in education. And it has done exactly that. But beyond the headlines, what stands out is the diversity of the letter’s signatories which include leaders of organisations representing parents and employers as well as those working with children who have speech, language and communication needs or differences. This reflects a shared conviction that oracy education is fundamental to a well-rounded education – one that equips all children to thrive in school, work and life. 

The public response has been positive, but a question we have been asked is “why campaign on this issue to government when it’s teachers who determine what happens in their classrooms?” Our view is that it’s not one or the other – we need to work with both teachers and government to achieve change.

Schools are leading the way – policy must catch up

The reality is that many schools across the country are already prioritising oracy. In the last year alone, Voice 21 has worked with over 1,100 schools and since 2015, we have supported more than 2,500 schools to develop their oracy provision. Our polling shows that half of schools now have a designated staff member responsible for oracy, and that 1 in 10  have a named Oracy Lead. 

And yet, despite this momentum, oracy is not meaningfully embedded in national policy. The term “oracy” doesn’t appear in the national curriculum, and while spoken language is referenced in its overarching aims and in the English programme of study, as well as in subjects like maths and science, it lacks the coherence, progression and status given to reading and writing. Indeed, recent Teacher Tapp polling commissioned by Voice 21 found that fewer than half of teachers feel confident that their school is meeting, or exceeding, the statutory requirements for spoken language in the current national curriculum.

The result is an uneven playing field. Some schools develop rich oracy provision. Others do not. The Curriculum and Assessment Review presents a vital opportunity to address this imbalance and ensure all children benefit from a high-quality oracy education. It should clearly define the oracy skills, experiences and modes of talk that all students are entitled to develop and encounter throughout their time at school. Clearly, schools should determine how best to put this into practice, just as they do for other subjects.

That’s why Voice 21 and the open letter’s signatories are calling for the government to make oracy the fourth ‘R’, alongside reading, writing, and arithmetic, and to establish it as a core part of the national curriculum and assessment system.

When this is addressed, we can focus on ensuring schools have the guidance, resources and support they need to deliver on this commitment.