English Speaking Board (International) Ltd

Category: Oracy

  • ESB launches its ‘Oracy for All’ Campaign to help empower learners with significant learning needs to achieve with its ambitious and inclusive Oracy qualifications

    Research indicates that 80% of learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) experience anxiety and face significant challenges with social interactions and future independence. Without strong communication skills, these individuals risk isolation and limited opportunities in both education and employment. (Report by the Children’s Commissioner for England)

    At ESB, we support all learners to develop their Oracy skills and over the next five weeks we’re going to showcase how we support learners with significant learning needs to do just this.

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB) is proud to announce the launch of its new campaign, “Oracy for All,” designed to empower learners with significant learning needs to achieve with its ambitious and inclusive Oracy qualifications. 

    This exciting five-week campaign will feature a series of engaging videos that highlight the critical role of oracy – the ability to express oneself and communicate effectively – in fostering confidence, independence, and life skills for learners with significant learning needs.

    Each week will focus on specific themes, including the power of Oracy, Oracy for independent living and social interaction and Oracy for education and employment.

    This initiative aligns with the recent Oracy Education Commission’s report, “We Need to Talk,” which highlights the importance of inclusion in oracy education. You can read more about our response to the report here.

    ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw says:

    At ESB, we believe that developing effective oracy skills is a fundamental right for everyone. For over 70 years, our mission has been to unlock the potential of children and young people through their speaking and listening skills. Our oracy qualifications are for everybody – they’re ambitious and inclusive, but we know some of our learners with significant learning needs in specialist provision require additional support. These remarkable individuals deserve equal opportunities to access life-changing oracy skills.

    That’s why we’ve developed qualifications specifically for this group of learners, enabling them to thrive and flourish with real-world confidence-building, communication-rich opportunities and experiences which result in an ESB Ofqual Regulated qualification. Over the coming weeks, insights from learners, schools, colleges, assessors and experts will be shared to showcase the transformative impact of ESB’s Oracy qualifications.



    Join Us in Promoting Oracy for All

    Educators, parents, and SEND specialists are encouraged to join ESB on this journey to ensure Oracy for All. Whether you’re a specialist school interested in registering for ESB qualifications or a parent looking to support your child’s communication development, this campaign will offer valuable insights, resources and practical solutions.

    Be sure to join our webinar on Tuesday, 26th November, at 4.00 pm for an in-depth look at how these qualifications can make a real difference to the lives of individuals. 

    For more information about ESB’s qualifications and to register your interest, please click here.  

    If you are unable to attend the webinar and would like further information, please contact our Business Strategy Team via business@esbuk.org. We would be delighted to hear from you. 

  • Notice to Centres: revised specifications for ESB Level 3 Certificate in Speech (Grades 6 & 8)

    Notice for all ESB Speech UK and International centres:

    Following a review of our Level 3 Speech qualifications, we have made some changes to the grade descriptors at Grade 6 and Grade 8. It is no longer necessary for learners to memorise their texts for the Literature Interpretation at Grade 6 or the literary recommendation at Grade 8.

    Furthermore, the wording of seven grade descriptors at Grade 8 have been amended to make them clearer, more consistent and fairer for learners. This is following feedback from tutors, learners and assessors and reflects our commitment to continuous improvement and ensuring that our learners gain the vital communication skills that will enable them to thrive in education and work.

    These changes apply for all assessments from October 2024. Please see the specifications and the teacher resources on our website https://esbuk.org/web/our-teacher-resources/speech-resources/teacher-resources-for-graded-examinations-in-speech-advanced/ .

  • ESB welcomes author Meena Kumari Wood as its new Patron

    Headshot of Meena Kumari Wood
    Meena Kumari Wood

    English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB) Is delighted to announce that author Meena Kumari Wood has agreed to become a Patron of the organisation. 

    The news comes as ESB, an award-winning Awarding Organisation with over 70 years of expertise in offering Oracy and English Language qualifications, looks to expand on the number and diversity of its Patrons. Meena joins as a Patron in the year that the organisation was named as Awarding Organisation of the Year, by the Federation of Awarding Bodies. The award recognised and applauded that as a not-for-profit business, ESB also promotes a thriving Outreach Programme which helps learners facing disadvantage.   

    Consultant, trainer, author, Honorary Fellow in Educational Leadership (Univ. Birmingham), Board Member of Chartered College of Teaching and former HMI (Ofsted), Principal Secondary Academy Principal Adult College and LA Education Adviser, Meena is passionate for ALL young people to succeed in education. She is author of the inspirational book, “Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve”, which highlights the excellent work that ESB does.

    ESB’s CEO Tina Renshaw, says:

    We are delighted that Meena is joining ESB as our Patron. We have been endeavouring to find new patrons to better represent the reach of our many accredited qualifications that we offer. I hope our new Patrons will help to raise our profile and assist us with our philanthropic and fund-raising to support and grow our Outreach Programme. 

    “With her educational and literary background, Meena will particularly focus on our Oracy work with schools, colleges and third sector organisations. This has become even more relevant with the new Labour Government pledging to prioritise Oracy as a crucial part of a child’s education and to ensure that all young people have access to the opportunities they deserve. 

    “Oracy is about learning through talk and learning to talk. The power of spoken language is transformative and larger than developing communicative competence and access to knowledge.  

    “In addition to Oracy as ‘learning through talk’ there is transformative power in applying speaking and listening to real-life situations and simulated experiences. ESB’s accredited assessments provide such experiences. We give learners communication-rich opportunities and a platform on which their voice and their passions are not only heard but valued, delivering confidence and agency.  

    “Meena will help ESB establish itself as a thought leader, with our unique contribution of offering accredited qualifications in the Oracy space in government-funded primary, secondary and post 16 education and in the independent sector. I look forward to her getting involved with our centres to see first-hand their challenges and achievements that they encounter with their ESB learners’ oracy journeys”. 

    Says Meena:

    It is an honour to be a Patron of ESB and I greatly value this opportunity to champion its sterling work. I strongly believe that structured learning for all children and young people to develop their oracy skills should be embedded across the curriculum. These form the foundations for strong reading and writing skills and lead to an inclusive curriculum. 

    In her enlightening book, “Secondary Curriculum Transformed: Enabling All to Achieve”, Meena says: “It is clear that disadvantaged children are the ones most in need of public speaking skills, especially those from homes, where there is not much talk. As we have seen in a world where entrepreneurial skills and communication skills are paramount, all our students must have the confidence and the ability to articulate their opinions; these are attributes that last a lifetime.”  

    Connecting this thought to what ESB offers, she adds: “The ‘Connect, Inform, Perform and Employability’ Pathways in ESB assessments contain specific oracy skills for each context. ‘Connect’ allows students to develop their literacy and analytical skills, through a biographical talk, a chosen poem or drama piece and includes being able to respond to audience questions. ‘Inform’ can be focused on a KS3 topic in any subject. Students may give a personal interest talk, review a news piece and give a persuasive speech, within a political, economic, environmental or social context. ‘Perform’ allows students to unlock their creativity through the performance of a self-composition or performance of an established work. ‘Employability’ supports those who wish to deepen their understanding of a career and to prepare for the job market”.  

    Tina adds:

    Meena joins our other new Patron Disability Rights and Race Equality Champion and award-winning social entrepreneur Dr Kush Kanodia. Kush’s phenomenal work in creating systematic change for the inclusion of disabled people is a perfect fit for our work in giving more learners with significant learning needs the chance to find their voice and empowering them to achieve with our ambitious and inclusive Oracy qualifications.  

    Kush was recently awarded the  Campaigner of the Year Award 2024  by the prestigious Sheila McKechnie Foundation in recognition of his significant contribution to social change through campaigning and advocacy. He has just returned from Paris to attend the Paralympics’ Blind Football Final and the Closing Ceremony, having been a Torch Bearer for the Paralympic Games in London 2012.  

    If you would like to learn more about ESB’s confidence-boosting Oracy and English language qualifications, please get in touch with a member of our Business Strategy Team at  business@esbuk.org. We would love to hear from you.  

  • ESB International to help shape the future of oracy education in England

    The Oracy Education Commission represents a pivotal moment for the oracy movement. Chaired by Geoff Barton, the Commission aims to provide a framework for national entitlement to oracy education at all stages of the curriculum in England.

    Commission Chair @RealGeoffBarton tells us why the Commission matters for students

    The Awarding Organisation of the Year, English Speaking Board (International) Ltd., has long been a leader in the national conversation for mainstream oracy adoption. As both a member of The Oracy Network, and contributor to the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group’s inquiry ‘Speak for Change’, ESB International has been at the forefront of the oracy movement since 1953 and will continue to be for many years to come.

    Through its National Impact Report, we recognise beyond any doubt the importance of assessing acquired oracy skills in young people. Teachers spoke to us of the huge impact our qualifications have at both Primary and Secondary level, with notable factors including drastically improved confidence, the ability to work well in a group and collaborating strongly with others as well the ‘real-life’ transferable skills that learners could take home, to the next step phase of their education and eventually to the workplace.

    With the Commission’s final report due in September 2024, ESB International looks forward to providing the Commission with its full input as we look to collectively shape the future of oracy education in England.