ESB International responds to Curriculum and Assessment Review

ESB International has been an oracy leader since 1953 and we are thrilled to see the review’s position that oracy is a vital skill for learning, employment and life, as well as the review’s call for more coherence and guidance to support good practice across all phases of education, including post-16.

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1. An Oracy Framework

The recommendation to introduce an oracy framework alongside those for reading and writing is a significant and positive step. At ESB International, we have consistently seen the benefits of structured opportunities for pupils to plan, practice, perform and reflect on their spoken communication. Our collaborative research with Whitgreave Primary School, published in the Chartered College of Teaching’s Impact journal, found measurable progress in learners’ confidence, prosody and active listening skills (amongst others) when oracy was taught and assessed in a deliberate way.

Our external assessment model was recognised by the Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group’s Speak for Change report (2021, pg. 43) as an established framework for oracy assessment. Our oracy qualifications, available from Early Years all the way through to adult learners and accredited at Level 1 and above, assess learners with consistency and fairness, while preserving the authenticity of live and varied communication, providing teachers and learners with impartial feedback while celebrating a wide range of strengths and styles. We welcome a future framework that recognises spoken language as equally significant to reading and writing, reflecting the principles that have long underpinned ESB International’s approach.

I think this has given them the chance to realise they do have knowledge… and what they have in their head is also just as important being spoken as it is written.

A quote from the lead teacher at Whitgreave Primary School

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2. Oracy within 16-19 Education

The review also notes that current opportunities to develop communication, teamwork and leadership in the post-16 phase are uneven. We welcome this recognition. Strong spoken communication is central to learners’ confidence as they prepare for work, further study and independent living.

ESB International’s experience working with sixth forms and colleges shows that externally assessed communication qualifications can provide valuable evidence for the practical, interpersonal skills young people develop in this phase. ESB International’s Oracy assessments encourage reflection, dialogue and adaptability, skills identified in the review as increasingly important for future-proof employability. We believe that oracy offers a potentially game changing pathway for learners who struggle with traditional English resit pathways, with enjoyable assessments grounded in real-world communication and with a strong focus on employability.

We look forward to contributing to the wider conversation about how oracy can be meaningfully embedded within 16–19 routes, ensuring that all learners have opportunities to develop and demonstrate their critical thinking, leadership, and communication skills.

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3. an Inclusive Understanding of Oracy

We are particularly pleased to see the review adopt an inclusive definition of oracy that recognises non-verbal communication, sign language and Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC). This definition reflects the diversity of learners’ voices and aligns with assessment approaches grounded in universal design, a principle long embodied by ESB’s qualifications.

We are passionate about enabling learners with a range of communication profiles to access oracy education and qualifications that reflect their strengths and their authentic voices. Our ‘Building Confidence in Communication’ suite of qualifications, for example, designed specifically for 16+ learners with significant learning needs offers adaptable pathways that recognise every form of communication as meaningful and valuable.

By embedding these inclusive principles across our wider portfolio, ESB shares the Review’s vision of ensuring that every learner regardless of background, ability or mode of communication has the opportunity to develop, demonstrate and be recognised for their voice.

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Thank you to the Oracy Community

This moment belongs to a whole network of advocates, researchers and practitioners who have worked tirelessly to raise the status of oracy. We extend sincere thanks to:

• Colleagues across the oracy network, including Voice 21 UK, Oracy Cambridge, the The English-Speaking Union, the National Literacy Trust, The Day, Speakers Trust and many others, who have ensured that oracy remained in the recent national conversation.
• The Review’s Chair, Professor Becky Francis CBE, the expert panel and contributors for foregrounding oracy in a world‑class curriculum, and to DfE for accepting the framework recommendation.

• The Oracy APPG, its Chair Emma Hardy MP, its officers and all contributors who fed evidence into the final report.
• Geoff Barton and the Oracy Education Commission, who have continued to strengthen the call for oracy on the education agenda.
• Our founders Christabel Burniston MBE and Jocelyn Bell who in 1953 as innovators and educators created a form of Oracy assessment  experience that was so valuable it has been able to bend and flex over that time as our society has changed and whose value today has been validated by the positioning of Oracy in this curriculum and assessment review.
• The schools and colleges who have been innovators themselves and given children and young people an opportunity to have an Oracy education with ESB International.

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Together, we can ensure that the framework becomes more than a document, that it lives in lessons, empowers every learner and strengthens the social fabric of our classrooms and communities. ESB International stands ready to support the development of the framework and offers its skills to the Department for Education.