Students are honing their debating skills as part of schools’ involvement with the English-speaking Union (ESU), which works up and down the country to promote oracy. Oracy means being able to speak eloquently, express ideas and thoughts, and influence others through talking. It involves speaking as well as listening.
The importance of this key skill has been acknowledged by the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group. The report on its inquiry into oracy claims that despite there being a spoken language programme of study within the national curriculum in England, “evidence suggests that this is not being realised in schools.” It found seven in 10 teachers said that teaching online had a negative impact on opportunities for developing pupils’ oracy, and called for the status of oracy in education to be raised.
The ESU is currently helping state and independent school to do just that. Through three national competitions, students from years 7 to 13 from more than 400 schools are getting the chance to engage in public speaking. ESU branches also organise regional competitions, and there are Discover Your Voice workshops in public speaking and other skills that students at primary and secondary schools can participate in.
“The subjects challenge students to engage with wide-ranging cross-curricular topics, while helping to meet national curriculum speaking and listening targets. They also help students to build empathy and to better understand different ways of life and points of view.”
Gavin Illsley, ESU, head of programmes, outlines some of the numerous benefits of participating in public speaking. “It builds confidence, critical thinking and communication skills, helping young people to broaden their horizons and achieve their true potential. The subjects challenge students to engage with wide-ranging cross-curricular topics, while helping to meet national curriculum speaking and listening targets. They also help students to build empathy and to better understand different ways of life and points of view.”
Sarah Peacock, English teacher at De Aston School in Lincolnshire, which has been involved in ESU programmes since 2014, described why she was keen for her pupils to take part: “I was eager to give students the opportunity to have their voices heard on important topics as well as improve their confidence and self-esteem by taking part in public speaking, often in prestigious locations in front of peers and adults.”
The school has a debating society for those from years 7 to 13. Students meet every Monday lunchtime to discuss the news, undertake research and craft mini debates against their friends or staff. “We also work on making students ‘word-rich’ – increasing their vocabulary to empower them with their rhetoric,” said Peacock.
“It’s great to see the little ones grow up, get more confident and end up competing in the official ESU competitions!” she added.
A number of those who have taken part in the public speaking programmes at De Aston School, including less extroverted pupils, have gone on to university: “We had a student who was so quiet and gradually got more and more confident – he ended up studying politics at university and getting involved in their debating team,” explained Peacock. “Many students, past and present, have credited their involvement in debating to their successes.”
Students at the Madani Schools’ Federation, two Muslim faith-based schools in Leicester, benefit from an approach that embeds debating across the curriculum. Chaitan Rajania, assistant head and teacher of modern foreign languages, said: “We use oracy in our teaching, so there are a lot of opportunities to learn the skill of talking. And we’ve created space in the curriculum as well as in other areas of school life, like assemblies, for students to have that opportunity.
“It’s a useful skill for when students go out into the world – it helps them see the world from a different perspective and enables them to develop leadership qualities.”
“Oracy is a distinct skill where you’re learning how to moderate the tone of your voice and how to speak to difference groups of people, to change your body language or to use a different type of vocabulary depending on your audience. It’s a useful skill for when students go out into the world – it helps them see the world from a different perspective and enables them to develop leadership qualities.”
Students are asked to watch a range of great speakers, such as Amanda Gorman, who delivered a poem at the inauguration of US president Joe Biden. Rajania stated: “She just uses her voice in a really melodic way, and she pauses for emphasis at certain points. The students really thought about the drama that creates in a speech.”
Rajania was also keen to see her students involved in a competitive element: “Competition is part of life, and we thought the ESU offered that to our students,” she added.
Children across the school from years 7 to 9 have been involved with the ESU for three years, first participating in the Performing Shakespeare competition, where they recited a monologue or duologue from one of Shakespeare’s works. They were encouraged to develop their recitation during lessons and to participate in a talent show, where the finalists, who would go on to compete at regional level, were chosen.
Part of the reason for entering the competition was to enable students to mix with others. Rajania stated: “We are two schools – a girls’ school and a boys’ school, and we are also faith designated schools. So quite often, one thing that we are conscious of is that some of our students don’t get to mix with a lot of students from other backgrounds until they go to college. One of the great things about these competitions is that the students get to meet a lot of students from other schools in the local area and beyond. They get to see themselves as world citizens. It’s not just a national competition, we show them work from the ESU from other countries, so it really helps them feel like they are part of this worldwide oracy movement.”
Reflecting on what public speaking has done for him, a former student from Taunton Academy, the grand final winner of 2021 in the ESU-Churchill public speaking competition, said: “It helps you think on the spot. Before I did this, I felt like I had to plan everything I said, and I think I’ve become a lot better at just speaking my mind. I think it’s helped me grow my confidence.”
“I really feel like even if you’re not the most confident person – it’s not about confidence; it’s about conveying a point of view. So even if you aren’t the person to raise your hand every time, it’s a really great opportunity, and it leads to so many things.”