Let’s talk about Oracy – How to Promote Purposeful Talk and Improve Student Outcomes and Wellbeing in Your School Setting

If a pupil says "I know what I mean, I just can't say it", they probably can't write it either. Spoken language gaps widened during school closures, especially for disadvantaged pupils, and young people themselves say schools don't give talk enough priority.

The Cambridge Oracy Framework breaks talk into four strands you can teach: physical, linguistic, cognitive, and social and emotional. You'll see what each looks like in a lesson. Display and define key words, then expect pupils to use them out loud before they write. Give sentence stems for discussion, as you would for an essay. Plan a mix of talk across the year, from debates to peer teaching.

It's led by a secondary head of school and former English teacher, who shares what's worked in her own school, including a club where shy pupils practise speaking somewhere safe.