Oracy should be more integrated into the curriculum as the current “neglect” leaves some pupils struggling to communicate, a major exam board has warned.
Responding to the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, OCR said oracy should be more integrated from early years onwards.
In a statement published today, it said that “a neglect of spoken language in education is leaving some young people struggling to communicate”.
It also added that a narrow focus on formal written work in GCSE English language at the expense of speaking and listening is contributing to the subject becoming less popular.
OCR called for media analysis to be added to GCSE English language to teach young people how to evaluate information from online influencers, fake news and bias in the media.
Oracy ‘loses out’
“Teachers do a great job in promoting oracy education where they can, but until it is treated with the same importance as literacy and numeracy, it will continue to lose out in crowded timetables and stretched budgets,” said Jill Duffy, OCR chief executive.
“We can’t afford to ignore oracy. Greater speaking and listening skills go beyond the classroom: they help young people to critically analyse videos they come across online, making them better able to spot divisive rhetoric and misinformation.”
OCR said speaking and listening are treated as less important than written and literary sources because they are not represented in GCSE and A level English language assessments.
The subject currently includes a spoken language presentation, but it does not count towards the GCSE grade.
The Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England is chaired by former Association of School and College Leaders general secretary Geoff Barton.
The commission is hosted by charity Voice 21, and comes after Labour announced last year in its ”education mission” there would be a focus on oracy.
‘Widespread demand’ to integrate oracy into curriculum
OCR is currently conducting a review into 11-16 education chaired by former Labour education secretary Charles Clarke.
Extensive consultation with teachers and experts as part of this review found a widespread demand for oracy to be integrated into the curriculum, OCR said.
In its submission, OCR also said evidence suggests children who came of age in the pandemic are more likely to struggle with small talk and appropriate body language. The exam board said this makes support for oracy more important.
OCR’s submission also stated that “poor language skills in the early years is a common theme for disadvantaged students, with a 19-month gap across the language skills of five-year-olds in the lowest and highest income groups”.
A Department for Education spokesperson has said: “Spoken language is already part of the national curriculum for English for 5- to 16-year-olds, and in 2021 we introduced landmark reforms to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) to improve early years outcomes for all children, especially disadvantaged children.”
The DfE is investing more than £20 million in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention Programme to help reception-age children impacted by the pandemic.
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