“Few schools design or follow a curriculum to develop pupils’ spoken language.”

This line from Ofsted’s recent report on the teaching of English in primary and secondary schools in this country is a worrying finding - but sadly not a surprise.

At Speech and Language UK we know from our own research that there are some 1.9 million children currently struggling with talking and understanding words across the UK, with some schools reporting that as many as 50 per cent of children start school struggling with these skills.

This is a disaster - not having these skills will affect their socialisation, mental health, educational and employment outcomes as well as their likelihood of ending up in the criminal justice system.

Ofsted’s report noted that too many educators are aware of this issue, but that “teachers often attribute pupils’ weaknesses in speaking to a lack of confidence rather than realising that they have not been taught what they need to know”.

A lack of training

However, the reality is that many teachers say they themselves need better training and more tools available to them, with more than half of teachers believing they have inadequate training to help children develop their speech, language and communication skills (spoken language).

Without teachers having the proper training and tools, pupils will continue to fall behind, and the consequences will go far beyond the subject of English.

Given that the government’s own inspectorate has highlighted these issues, it seems clear it must ensure that the importance of these skills is far better understood and that more focus is given to their teaching.

One way to do this would be to ensure that the teaching of spoken language is at the heart of initial teacher training and the early career framework, while schools should incorporate it into continued professional development work too.

Tools to help

Furthermore, for teachers already in the system, there needs to be greater awareness of the tools available to help them and that they have something that can track and measure pupils’ progress.

For example, when children start in Reception, if their speech and language challenges are identified early, low-cost programmes can be put in place, allowing most to catch up with their peers.

This enables children to improve their outcomes and saves money on costly public services.

Evidence shows that, on average, pupils who take part in programmes to support their speech, language and communication skills make approximately five additional months’ progress over a year, with some studies showing progress of up to six months for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Low-cost programmes have an additional benefit as they serve as a screening tool too.

We know that those children who are still struggling after receiving help through a programme will need longer-term help, which can then be planned and delivered at an early stage, preventing the escalation of need.

Measuring what we should treasure

Sadly, though, there is little guidance available for schools about what is available to them, meaning that many children can go without support for months or years.

What’s also needed is a measuring and tracking tool to enable primary classroom teachers to track children’s progress with their speech, language and communication skills at each key stage.

This would be similar to the early language identification measure, used as part of the 2- to 2.5-year review by health visitors.

The tool would be similar in format to those available for teachers to track literacy and numeracy progress but would be freely available, and anonymised data would be collected nationally.

This would help national and local governments, Ofsted and other bodies to understand the prevalence of speech and language challenges, to plan the right provision of support and to evaluate the success of different programmes.

Boosting early years focus

And all of this would be improved if we put an even greater focus on the importance of speech, language and communication skills in the early years - an area that many believe could be developed further.

This should include continued funding of the Early Years Development Programme, so that it reaches more early years staff, providing all early years settings and childminders with evidenced programmes. Amending the Ofsted criteria so that a focus on supporting speech, language and communication skills is considered part of a “good” rather than an “outstanding” judgement would help too.

Ultimately, ensuring that all teachers have the skills to support speech, language and communication skills at each stage of the curriculum would help all children to do better throughout education - something we should all be vocal about.

Jane Harris is chief executive of Speech and Language UK

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