Terms of Reference

The Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group launched the Speak for Change Inquiry to improve oracy education for every child in every school. The Inquiry aimed to investigate the provision of oracy education in schools in England, assess its impact, and identify actions to enable all children to access the benefits of oracy.

The Inquiry set out three main areas of interest:

  1. Value and impact: What is the impact of oracy education at different life stages, from the Early Years through to employment, and how does the delivery of effective oracy education contribute to individual and societal outcomes?
  2. Provision and access: What is the current state of provision of oracy education across the UK, who is missing out and what factors create unequal access to oracy education?
  3. Barriers to improving oracy education: What are the barriers to the provision of a quality oracy education for all, and what is the role of government and other bodies in addressing these?

With the Covid 19 pandemic emerging part-way through the Inquiry, we extended the scope of the inquiry and issued a new call for evidence regarding the impact of school closures and disruption to teaching and learning on oracy.

We welcomed written and oral evidence from hundreds of contributors from the education sector, businesses, academia, teachers, parents, and children.