Oracy

Noisy Classroom

Oracy is Learning to Talk

Oracy is what the school does to support the development of children’s capacity to use speech to express their thoughts and communicate with others, in education and in life.

Learning to talk is a skill in itself. How do you learn to be a compelling speaker, to hold an audience, to interest people with how you’re talking?

Speaking is a huge priority. Educators are very much aware of the importance of speaking not just within the four walls of a classroom but across almost all facets of life, yet little has been done to intentionally teach pupils to talk, to teach pupils how to express their feelings, ideas or opinions. We are used to thinking that if we let children talk, they'll just naturally be able to talk, but actually, we need to teach them how to talk in a confident, appropriate and sensitive way.

Oracy is Learning through Talk

"We explain oracy as the overlap between ‘learning to talk and learning through talk’, and I think that’s crucial... Learning through talk is how talk gives pupils better writing, better thinking, a better understanding of key concepts.”

- Peter Hyman

The mistake we make is that we think that children want to be babied all the time. Children want to grow up and be fully involved in the world, to be able to add their own thoughts to the discussions happening around them. They don’t just want to be given “kids books” and have conversations about “kid-friendly topics”.

When oracy is embedded into classroom learning, it sparks deep learning, critical and collaborative thinking, and self-expression in pupils. With oracy, classroom lessons become platforms for pupils to discuss, question, collaborate and engage.