My Lords, I am speaking to Amendments 171J and 171 K in my name, and I should declare an interest as a vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Oracy. I want to acknowledge the support I have received from I CAN, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Voice 21, just three of the 39 organisations which have circulated a comprehensive briefing on these amendments to noble Lords.
These are probing amendments to clarify how the Government intend to ensure that children are adequately supported in schools to develop proficiency in spoken language, or “oracy”. In framing these amendments, the aim was to ask questions of the Minister, specifically on how the Government will raise the status of spoken language in the education system to reflect its importance to children and young people’s outcomes in education, as per evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation, how they will support schools to address the ongoing impact of school closures on children’s spoken language across all ages, and how they will ensure that every teacher is equipped to understand how to develop children’s spoken language skills and ability and are trained to identify those who struggle with their speech, language and communication and are thus in need of further support.
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Spoken language underpins literacy skills and vocabulary development. As such, it is central to learning across the curriculum. It should not be necessary to state that the ability to communicate effectively and articulate well is an essential ingredient to success in both school and beyond. Oral communication skills are required in almost every job and in every walk of
life, yet we expect children just to pick them up rather than explicitly teaching them as we do reading and writing.
This puts many children at a significant disadvantage if they do not live in a language-rich home where conversation and discussion is the norm. All too often that is the case, which underlines the necessity for children to be able to access these experiences and develop their oracy at school as a key part of the curriculum. For some children, this will be their only chance to develop their confidence and competence in spoken language.
As noble Lords will be aware, two weeks ago the Times Education Commission published its final report. It included a paragraph that in itself speaks to the content of these two amendments, as follows:
“The independent sector has long understood the importance of the spoken as well as the written word. Communication skills—‘oracy’—should become mainstream in state schools too. Pupils need to learn to converse, to debate, to present, to persuade, to justify and to challenge. These tools are highly valued by employers, but they are not systematically taught in school.”
The final point will resonate with business leaders and recruiters, who continually raise the importance of oral communication skills, which are rated one of the key transferable skills—yet they are also among the workforce skills gaps most identified by employers.
The Education Endowment Foundation’s teaching and learning toolkit demonstrates that oral language interventions—teaching and learning with an emphasis on spoken language—enable an average of six months’ additional academic progress over the course of a year, and are listed as one of the highest-impact and lowest-cost interventions that can be made in the classroom. We have seen a significant focus on tuition and extending the school day within the Government’s programme for education recovery, yet the foundation highlights that these approaches enable four months’ and three months’ additional progress respectively at secondary and primary level. This is not an either/or solution, but it is legitimate to question whether the strength of the evidence on oracy is being acknowledged as it should be by the DfE.
Last year, the Oracy All-Party Group undertook a comprehensive review of the evidence in relation to the impact of oracy on children’s education and their lives. We heard from leading academics, education experts both here and abroad, school leaders, teachers and, most importantly, children and young people. The inquiry found that oracy has been a Cinderella discipline compared to reading, writing or numeracy and that a lack of a shared understanding and expectations for oracy in schools feeds the inconsistent, sporadic and, too often, inadequate focus on oracy. The inquiry demonstrated beyond doubt that oracy in schools cannot be viewed as an extracurricular activity for a self-selecting few—the preserve of those with the inclination or opportunity to be taught it or something only valued at the beginning of a child’s educational journey, rather than a golden thread running through it.
If that is not enough evidence for the Minister, there is more, this time from your Lordships’ House. The Youth Unemployment Committee report published seven months ago highlighted what it termed
“compelling evidence on the value of oracy, the skill of oral communication”,
and identified the detrimental impacts of the current lack of oracy provision in education on young people’s opportunities to progress into employment.
Amendment 171K refers to Ofsted inspections; on that we appear to be pushing at an open door because last month Ofsted published its review of the English curriculum, which gave spoken language significant prominence. It focused on raising standards in reading, writing and spoken language and said:
“Opportunities for pupils to develop their proficiency in spoken language require explicit teaching of the knowledge, for example vocabulary, and ideas necessary for effective communication. These opportunities should be planned carefully, both in English lessons and across other subjects.”
Given such unequivocal remarks, surely the Minister would agree that it would be neither responsible nor fair if a school found not to be offering such opportunities were to be graded either good or outstanding.
None of the emphasis in the various sources that I have referenced is currently reflected in our education system, which leans heavily towards reading and writing. There should be parity of esteem between literacy, numeracy and oracy, as in the new curriculum for Wales. Oracy in children’s education has always mattered, but it matters now more than ever. The Covid-19 pandemic has widened the already stubborn language gap and exacerbated the inequities facing children in our school system. In years gone by educationists would stress the importance of young people being taught the three Rs, stretching alliteration close to breaking point. In narrower terms, I suggest that English should comprise a slightly different three Rs: reading, ‘riting and ‘rticulation.
I hope that in her reply the Minister will indicate that DfE Ministers and officials now accept the strong evidence base for spoken language to be given equal prominence to reading and writing—and that they will do more than talk the talk, so to speak. I beg to move.
I would also like to say a few words—this is the only opportunity I have to do so—on Amendment 171L in the names of my noble friends Lady Chapman and Lady Wilcox. I do so not just because I fully support the amendment but because there are clear links with the two amendments that I have tabled, particularly in relation to the children’s Covid-19 recovery plan. There are calls within the amendment for
“extra-curricular activities for every child”,
including book clubs and drama clubs, which are clearly appropriate for oracy, as well as
“small group tutoring, with no more than six pupils in a group, … ongoing learning and development for teachers”,
to which I referred, and an education recovery premium, to include
“increasing the Early Years Pupil Premium to match the premium rates for primary school pupils”.
This is very important because if children who show from an early age that they are behind in their speech development can be given additional support, a significant barrier can be crossed and dealt with before the child enters formal schooling.
On the education recovery premium, it is exactly a year since Sir Kevan Collins resigned as the Government’s education recovery tsar over what he called the lack of a credible recovery plan, due to the Government providing just 10% of the £15 billion that he had calculated was necessary. I know that more resources have been made available since then, but I think most noble Lords will agree with me when I say that it is still well short of what is required. The past year has seen that the Government’s attempts at helping children who have lost out on their education during the pandemic to make up some of the deficit has been characterised more by failure than by success. I offer just one word on that: Randstad.
I will not labour that point but finish by saying that the recovery plan outlined in Amendment 171L shows what could be done to make a real difference. It is of course not all that needs to be done and I would not expect the Government to adopt it all. It is clearly badged as Labour Party policy—I do not think there is any need to disguise that fact—but there are some very strong points in there that I ask the Minister to take account of. Having said that, I beg to move.