This article explores the pivotal role of oracy in developing confident, articulate learners. Drawing on research and classroom experience, it highlights how purposeful talk enhances thinking, collaboration, and student engagement. Building the foundations of learning and preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow.
During my formative teenage years, I endured the great tragedy of combing through The Scottish Play (to utter the “M-word” is still a no-go for thespians across the globe, or indeed at the Globe). Line by line, we trudged through a moving forest, witches on the heath, and endless annotations in the margins. I was left confused, uninspired, and perilously close to abandoning literature forever.
And yet, just around the corner from those drab English classrooms, in a dusty drama studio filled with the smell of old curtains and the echoes of passion, I was utterly enthralled. There, Pentheus and Dionysus battled hubris and irrationality in The Bacchae, and I was hooked.
Why?
Because talk, not text, was what first drew me to the greats. Shakespeare, Ibsen, Chekhov, Tennessee Williams … their worlds came alive not through worksheets or annotation, but through voice, rhythm, discussion, and exploration. Before I could ever understand their meaning, I had to feel their language.
Four years at drama school only deepened that revelation. I discovered that oracy wasn’t merely a skill to master, it was a bridge to imagination, empathy, and understanding. It was how we made meaning together, how we learned to listen as well as speak.
Fast forward twenty years and a career in education, and that same relationship with oracy has become the heartbeat of my practice as a teacher and leader. It has evolved from a personal passion to a professional mission, to give talk its rightful place as the foundation of learning, ‘the sea on which all else floats’ (Britton).
Like many others, I grew frustrated by how the British Curriculum often sidelined oracy, this became a focus point for study and research. Thankfully, my wife and I found inspiration in the pioneering work of School 21 in Stratford, London; a through-school that placed talk at the centre of its educational philosophy. Voice 21 soon followed, a national charity advocating for oracy-rich classrooms, and I watched with immense pride as my wife joined the team that helped craft the very Oracy Framework now guiding schools across the UK.
When I moved internationally and first encountered the IB framework, I felt something close to liberation. Here was a philosophy that valued inquiry, collaboration, reflection, and yes, talk. It recognised that language is not a by-product of learning, but the very means through which learning happens.
So, am I preaching to the converted? Not necessarily…
Our role now, as leaders and educators, is to keep that flame alive, to place oracy not as an afterthought, but at the heart of our classrooms. To inspire others across curricula and continents to follow suit.
For me, oracy will never simply be a skill.
It will always be a bridge: To imagination. To empathy. To understanding.
The Silent Classroom Problem
“A quiet classroom is not necessarily a learning classroom.” Mary Myatt.
As educators, we’ve been conditioned to equate quiet with control, and control with learning. Educational policy over the last decade has too often perpetuated the belief that silence signifies progress (Bennett). But is a quiet classroom always a learning classroom?
When students are discouraged from reasoning aloud, questioning, or using talk as a tool for thinking, we risk creating compliance rather than curiosity. My own research identified how this culture of quiet is amplified by accountability pressures. Teachers are too often measured on visible outcomes in reading and writing, not on how well students can think and articulate ideas aloud.
Yet, the evidence continues to tell a different story: when children talk more, they learn more. Oracy strengthens writing, deepens comprehension, and boosts progress across every subject area (Alexander; Mercer). The Education Endowment Foundation reinforces this, showing that oral language interventions typically lead to over six months of additional progress in reading comprehension and literacy.
More recently, the Oracy Education Commission Report (2024) warned that oracy remains the “missing piece” in education reform, noting a growing gap between what we know about the power of talk and how consistently it is taught. For schools, particularly international and multilingual ones this represents both a challenge and an opportunity.
Talk as the Foundation for Learning and for Life
Oracy is not just a classroom strategy; it is a life skill. Research consistently demonstrates that spoken language underpins literacy, cognition, and social development (Alexander; Millard and Menzies; Gaunt and Stott). Through structured, purposeful talk, students learn to listen, reason, collaborate, and reflect. Skills essential in an age defined by communication and connection.
In IB schools, these competencies align directly with the IB Learner Profile, which champions learners who ‘communicate confidently and creatively in more than one language.’ Oracy, then, is not peripheral to the IB mission. It is central to it. The International Baccalaureate Organisation itself reaffirmed this in 2023, emphasising that oracy is, ‘ a skill that can be acquired just as you are taught to read or add up.’
Oracy is deeply connected to international-mindedness, the ability to listen empathetically, articulate perspectives, and engage respectfully across cultures. In multilingual classrooms, spoken language becomes the great equaliser, allowing every student, regardless of background, to access learning and express identity.
And the benefits go far beyond academics. An oracy-rich curriculum enhances confidence, wellbeing, and social-emotional skills (Chartered College of Teaching). Outcomes every IB school aspires to cultivate.
From Policy to Practice
Despite the National Curriculum’s claim that spoken language is ‘essential to participating fully as a member of society’ (DfE), it offers little practical guidance on how to embed talk meaningfully in teaching. In contrast, the IB framework, through its emphasis on inquiry, naturally lends itself to dialogic pedagogy, the very environment in which oracy thrives.
But are those of us operating in IB and international settings truly capitalising on these opportunities? Are we providing students with authentic talk experiences, spaces for reasoning, questioning, and purposeful collaboration, throughout their academic journey? And crucially, is this happening consistently across the curriculum?
The educational landscape is shifting, and it is clear that the IB approach can lead the way in redefining the role of talk in learning. Both the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (2019) and the Oracy Education Commission (2024) signal a move towards valuing creativity, communication, and critical thinking as core outcomes of education, not optional extras.
Yet, with the emphasis on digital literacy skills and increased online learning we must provocatively ask, “Is the significance of oracy in schools just empty words?” (Pearson Education) It’s a fair question, because unless talk is deliberately planned, scaffolded, and assessed, its power remains potential rather than practice.
As Alexander ( Developing Dialogic Teaching) reminds us, ‘Education is an ethical endeavour.’ To speak, to listen, to be heard, these are moral acts as much as intellectual ones. Within an IB context, they are also acts of global citizenship, the foundation on which international-mindedness is built.
Setting New Standards for Oracy in an International Context
International IB schools are uniquely positioned to set new standards for oracy. Our classrooms are diverse, multilingual, and rich in perspective. Every discussion and debate serve as an opportunity to celebrate differences and deepen understanding. The IB provides the platform to move beyond teaching oracy as a discrete skill and instead embed it as a unifying principle, a way of thinking, learning, and connecting across languages and cultures. In doing so, we can redefine what it means to be a confident communicator in the 21st century: someone who can listen empathetically, speak with purpose, and engage meaningfully with others, no matter where they are in the world.
A Call to Action
So, are we giving our students enough time to talk? To think aloud? To listen deeply?
Every teacher, regardless of subject, can start by re-imagining talk, not as noise, but as knowledge in motion. Oracy is not a distraction from learning, it is learning.
Let’s model it, scaffold it, and celebrate it. Let’s make talk visible in every classroom, across every discipline. Because when our students find their voices, they don’t just speak. They learn to think.
Reference List
Alexander, Robin. Developing Dialogic Teaching: Genesis, Process, Trial. Dialogos, 2018.
Alexander, Robin. Improving Oracy and Classroom Talk in English Schools: Achievements and Challenges. University of Cambridge, 2013.
Bennett, Tom. Creating a Culture: How School Leaders Can Optimise Behaviour. Department for Education, 2017.
Britton, James. Language and Learning. Penguin Education, 1970.
Department for Education (DfE). The National Curriculum in England: Key Stages 1 and 2 Framework Document. HMSO, 2014.
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Oral Language Interventions – Teaching and Learning Toolkit. EEF, 2021.
Gaunt, Alice, and Caroline Stott. Transform Teaching and Learning Through Talk: The Oracy Imperative. Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.
International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). “Hate Public Speaking? You’re Not Alone. But Being Good at It Can Change Your Life.” International Baccalaureate, 2023, https://www.ibo.org.
Jay, T., et al. Dialogic Teaching: Improving Classroom Talk for Learning and Teaching. Education Endowment Foundation, 2017.
Lee, O., et al. The Potentials of K–12 Literacy Development in the International Baccalaureate PYP and MYP. International Baccalaureate Organization, 2015.
Mercer, Neil. Exploring Talk in School: Inspired by the Work of Douglas Barnes. SAGE, 2018.
Millard, William, and Loic Menzies. The State of Speaking in Our Schools. Voice 21 /LKMco, 2016.
Myatt, Mary. The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence. John Catt Educational, 2018.
Ofsted. Education Inspection Framework. Ofsted, 2019.
Oracy Education Commission. We Need to Talk: The Future of Oracy Education. Oracy Education Commission, 2024.
Pearson Education Ltd. “The Big Debate: Is the Significance of Oracy in Schools Just Empty Words?” Pearson, 2025, https://www.pearson.com.
The Chartered College of Teaching. “Oracy: The Why and the How.” The Chartered College of Teaching, 2024, https://my.chartered.college/research-hub/oracy-the-why-and-the-how.
Steven Helliwell has over 15 years’ experience as an educational practitioner and leader. After graduating from East 15 Acting School with a BA in Acting, he worked with the National Theatre of Great Britain and the Royal Shakespeare Company before beginning his teaching career in London. He is now in his fifth year at North London Collegiate School Dubai, where he currently serves as Deputy Head of Junior School, following four years as Head of Lower School. Steven was awarded a Distinction for his MA in Educational Leadership, and brings a deep-rooted belief in the power of communication and performance to the classroom. His passion for lifelong learning is reflected in his status as a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and his current application for Fellowship of the Chartered College of Teaching.
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