oracy

As one cabinet minister put it to the Sunday Times this weekend: “The first rule of politics is that if you listen to Charles Moore and do the complete opposite of what he says, you won’t go far wrong.”

Johnson really cares about creating new jobs – especially if your name is Paul Dacre | Marina Hyde | The Guardian

Charles Moore is a journalist, the biographer of the first female PM of the UK and a lord: 

Charles Moore

He has just commented on a speech from the leader of the opposition in the UK parliament: 

Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘oracy’ is in trouble thanks to British education’s hostility to elitism

The point the politician would make is that it is very much about 'elitism':

Class? Labour was once too wary of the mine-strewn territory to use the word. Tony Blair talked of meritocracy – “we are meritocrats”, he declared in his first keynote speech of the 2001 general election campaign... Keir Starmer strode into that minefield on Thursday outlining the fifth of his “missions”, and the one that may prove the most politically defining: he calls it “my personal cause”. He would “shatter the class ceiling”.

Class is economic, but it has many ingredients. Starmer and Phillipson’s approach is a school programme of cultural and emotional enrichment, giving all children experiences and skills the middle classes take for granted. “Oracy” – a new word on me – will thread through a curriculum stressing speaking, confidence and communication skills, those great social dividers.

Keir Starmer has finally used the C-word: acknowledging the barriers of class that still divide us | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian

So, what is 'oracy'?

Keir Starmer said teaching oracy – often defined as developing skill in using spoken language – would be a central part of Labour’s educational priorities if the party took office after the next election. “It’s not just a skill for learning, it’s also a skill for life. Not just for the workplace, also for working out who you are – for overcoming shyness or disaffection, anxiety or doubt – or even just for opening up more to our friends and family,” Starmer said.

Keir Starmer has finally used the C-word: acknowledging the barriers of class that still divide us | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian

His argument is that young people need the skills to express themselves, writing in the Times that ‘an inability to articulate your thoughts fluently is a key barrier to getting on and thriving in life.’ He also thinks that teaching them will get children off their screens, which is more ambitious even than the targets Sunak has set his government.

Anyway, private schools routinely teach these oracy skills, but they aren’t emphasised as much in the state sector, and so Starmer is arguing that all children should have the same education in confidence and articulacy. This is personal for him – you may not have heard him mention before that his father was a toolmaker – as he sees class and social mobility as being a core part of what he stands for. Together with Bridget Phillipson, who he referred to this morning as the ‘current shadow education secretary’, Starmer has shaped this particular policy himself...

Starmer commits to oracy classes for children | The Spectator

Here are a couple more definitions: 

Oracy is to speaking what numeracy is to mathematics or literacy to reading and writing. Discover more about why it’s so important

What is oracy and how can you teach it? | English-Speaking Union

What is oracy? - YouTube

Oracy is as important as reading and writing. That’s our claim at School 21. Why do we think this? The research base is strong. (I recommend seeking out any work by Neil Mercer and Robin J. Alexander. You can start here: Mercer and Littleton, 2007 and Wolfe and Alexander, 2008 [PDF]). The theory is that purposeful dialogue focused on the exploration of complex ideas extends student thinking. Deep thinking creates the conditions for retaining and then mobilising important knowledge. Through informed debate, argument, and persuasion, students are cognitively stretched.

Oracy: The Literacy of the Spoken Word | Edutopia

Oracy in the Classroom: Strategies for Effective Talk - YouTube

The term oracy was coined by Andrew Wilkinson, a British researcher and educator, in the 1960s. This word is formed by analogy from literacy and numeracy. The purpose is to draw attention to the neglect of oral skills in education.

Oracy - Wikipedia

From the FT:

Private school students tend to be better at talking because, in their homes, Labour’s education policies are being discussed over dinner. But it is also because the schools set out to teach them. Debating and public speaking are taken almost as seriously as football and cricket: Eton even employs debating coaches.

State schools can’t be blamed for this as they have enough to do dragging students through written exams. And, on top of that, they are feeding their charges, acting as social workers and entering data into spreadsheets. Teachers are so stretched that now is not a great time to suggest they take on anything else. However, it must still be possible, with some additional funds, to teach children to converse, debate and persuade. The emphasis should start at nursery and continue to the end of university.

Starmer is right to speak up for the dreadfully named ‘oracy’ | Financial Times

Here's a trailer from a French film where the teacher is trying to get the students to express themselves:

The Class - The Class: Trailer | IMDb

It's important for young people to be able to express themselves:

“We talked about things you wouldn’t usually consider. It was good to be able to express your opinions and say how you feel.”

Young mens practical exercises.pdf

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