Patrice Baldwin discusses the implications for drama as a subject in light of the recently published report from the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England.
Sir Keir Starmer announced in June 2023 that he would ‘commit a Labour government to make oracy a priority at all stages of education’. One of his senior advisors was Peter Hyman (co-founding headteacher of School 21, and co-founder of Voice 21). In October 2024, the report ‘We need to talk’ was published by The Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England (co-hosted by Voice 21 and Impetus). The chair was Geoff Barton CBE, (former secondary headteacher and until 2024, the Association of School and College Leaders’ (ASCL) general secretary).
The report advocates for oracy to become the fourth ‘R’. Oracy is very likely to appear in the forthcoming ‘refreshed’ national curriculum for state schools in England. It is likely to become a focus across the curriculum. Independent schools have never lost their oracy focus. Eton has a new, purpose-built, 300-seat debating chamber, which could be theatrically construed as a parliamentary stage set – a rehearsal space for future leaders.
Oracy is more than debate, though. The report defines it as: ‘articulating ideas, developing understanding and engaging with others through speaking, listening and communication’. The document insists that oracy skills ‘transcend subjects’. However, their definition fits neatly with what drama already offers, both as a subject and as a cross-curricular teaching and learning medium.
The report accepts that ‘oracy education and arts education are mutually supportive’ and that ‘arts education offers unique conditions and contexts for students to engage in dialogue, express themselves and develop their oracy skills through creative processes’. Surely this is particularly true for drama, as it's the most ‘spoken language’ focused arts subject.
As yet, drama is not a national curriculum subject in England. The good practice case studies in the report, are mainly from national curriculum subject lessons. However, the case study from All Saints Catholic College, London (p.17 of the report) explains that weekly oracy lessons for Year 7 students were introduced because high-performing academic students ‘struggled to talk confidently’. Drama teachers taught the oracy lessons and then more children engaged in performing arts, and school attendance improved for certain groups.
The report says that oracy education has three dimensions:
- Learning to talk, listen and communicate: the development of children's speaking, listening and communication skills
- Learning through talk, listening and communication: the use of talk or dialogue to foster and deepen children's learning
- Learning about talk, listening and communication: building knowledge and understanding of speaking, listening and communication in its many contexts.
‘Drama pedagogy’ is later mentioned, under ‘Learning through talk’, as a ‘talk-based teaching approach which emphasises storytelling and story-making’. Geoff Barton says oracy ‘plays a part in helping our young people to understand and tell the great stories of our culture, to find their own voice, to get a deeper joy from learning’. The report separately mentions ‘theatre-based pedagogy – which employs techniques and principles from theatre’ (although drama does this too).
We can look at the three dimensions through a drama development lens. Young children talk and play dramatically (sometimes with an adult). They imitate and mimic speech from stories, and speech they've heard in daily life, for example a shopkeeper's. When an adult joins in their dramatic play, they might intentionally introduce contextually relevant vocabulary, model appropriate ways of talking, and will stimulate and respond to the child in role.
Young children recount and enact stories they know. They create and enact their own stories together too and sometimes create performances for real and/or imagined audiences, all the while, using and developing their oracy, social and early drama skills. Dramatic play is the root of drama and theatre, and children could further develop these skills (including oracy) through drama lessons, at all Key Stages.
Schools are starting to pay more attention to oracy, making teaching more dialogic, giving more time for talk, and teaching about talk, for example during ‘Talk Time’ (page 16 of the report).
Voice 21 and University of Cambridge published an Oracy Framework, comprised of four sets of oracy skills: physical, linguistic, cognitive and socio-emotional competencies. Drama uses and develops all four, although the reverse order might better fit drama. The ‘hook’ for drama is often socio-emotional, which grabs and holds students' attention. Their critical and creative thinking is triggered, leading into the class exploring and communicating meaning. Drama relies on both verbal and non-verbal communication, i.e. the use of language, gesture, movement and facial expression. Drama also pays significant attention to the use and interpretation of tone, pitch and pace of speech.
Drama teachers who are familiar with the work of Voice 21 might notice that the configurations presented are similar to those also used for certain drama strategies, for example Conscience Alley (two lines of students). Also, every drama strategy has ‘talk protocols’. Voice 21 also suggests allocating specific ‘roles’ to students during discussions, for example clarifier, prober etc.
‘Talk for writing’ is mentioned in the report, under oracy and literacy. I worked termly with Pie Corbett for several years (2012–2015), co-presenting at our ‘Talk and Drama for Writing’ conferences for primary teachers across England and Wales. We usually used the same text as the focus of our workshops. I approached the texts through a drama session, framing drama strategies in ways that would generate specific types of talk. Words and phrases from the drama were jotted down and then handed to Pie to use as a writing resource during his ‘talk for writing’ session. Drama is sometimes being used during ‘talk for writing’ training and lessons.
Drama is mentioned in the report but less than drama teachers might have expected. Rufus Norris, Artistic Director of the Royal National Theatre, was a commission team member. National Drama contributed to a round table discussion, and among the 50+ recorded conversations with Geoff Barton, some were with ex-secondary drama teachers, for example Martin Robinson and Hywel Roberts. Geoff Barton also talked with Jacqui O'Hanlon, Director of Creative Learning and Engagement at the RSC.
Read the report We Need to Talk, 2024:oracyeducationcommission.co.uk/oec-report
Listen to the conversations (podcast): oracyeducationcommission.co.uk/listen