Two years ago, the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke about the importance of oracy and committed to embedding it in the national curriculum. Now, in the lead up to the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment review, a coalition of parliamentarians, education charities, academics and schools have written an open letter, calling on him to make good on that commitment. The coalition is led by the charity Voice 21.
What does this have to do with the civic movement?
Many young people care passionately about their local places, their streets, parks, towns and facilities. They can feel a mix of pride, disappointment and anger about them. They can frequently feel completed isolated from decisions which affect their places and their lives. This can result in a loss of pride and of ownership.
To succeed, civic societies and the movement as whole need to re-engage with young people, and empower them to have a voice in the shape and design of their local places.
So a campaign to embed oracy skills at the heart of a #SkillsForLIfe ‘not just exams’ curriculum is something the civic movement should be championing.
Indeed, Civic Voice has already had initial discussions about a potential schools programme, which we’re calling Our Place, Our Voice (for now), which would support speaking skills development through the topic of local places, linking oracy with citizenship, geography, sustainability and health, and developing partnerships between civic societies and local schools.
Read the Guardian’s coverage here with a quote from Voice 21 CEO Dr Kate Paradine.
Read the full text of the letter here.