English Speaking Board (International) Ltd. (ESB) proudly endorses The Sutton Trust’s recently published report, Life Lessons 2024: The Development of Oracy and Other Life Skills in Schools, which highlights the vital importance of equipping students with essential life skills –  communication, resilience, motivation and confidence  – particularly focusing on the power of oracy (speaking and listening skills) for success in both schools and the workplace.

The report’s findings strongly align with ESB’s mission to empower individuals through real-life communication experiences that foster essential skills such as speaking and listening, confidence, and personal agency.

ESB’s Chief Executive, Tina Renshaw says:

We wholeheartedly support The Sutton Trust’s call for greater emphasis on oracy in the curriculum. It’s fantastic to see that the teaching of oracy is being recognised as a priority in education across many voices and organisations. 

We have been successfully providing oracy qualifications to learners for over 70 years with a unique, child-centred, group-based approach to speaking and listening and are confident of our impact on promoting oracy in schools.

Findings from ESB’s National Impact Report demonstrate that external oracy assessment taken in peer groups can play a valuable part in developing young people’s speaking and listening skills by creating communication-rich situations, which reflect best practice classroom group learning; signpost post-16 and higher education group projects and seminars, and model an interactive, discursive workplace.

Tina adds:

There is transformative power in applying oracy skills to real-life situations and simulated experiences. ESB’s accredited assessments provide students with these valuable experiences, helping to create confident, resilient communicators ready to navigate future challenges.

The Life Lessons 2024 Report also points to significant barriers in state schools, hindering the improvement of oracy education, including insufficient teaching time (48%), staff availability (46%), and teacher training or development (46%).

ESB oracy qualifications are designed with the intention that they can be utilised across the curriculum and can be easily embedded into a school’s current planning. ESB has been working to develop a range of high-quality schemes of work to remove some of the workload from staff. It also offers bespoke training to its centres, and for those who are part of its outreach campaign, the training is free of charge. Free induction webinars are also provided for all centres.

As part of its mission to stretch the most able, support the least confident and realise the potential of all learners to help close the disadvantage gap, ESB’s ambitious Outreach Programme financially supports organisations and groups whose learners face disadvantage due to poverty, migrant or asylum seeker status, or special educational needs and disabilities. ESB’s oracy qualifications are fully accessible, with reasonable adjustments made for neurodivergent learners or those with significant learning needs.

“We are proud to offer specialist oracy qualifications that remove barriers to learning, providing every student with opportunities to build self-esteem, foster positive self-identity, and participate in the full curriculum alongside their peers,” says Tina.

• Recommendations from the Sutton Trust’s Report
• The new government’s ongoing curriculum review should include a specific focus on improving life skills, such as communication, resilience, motivation and confidence, for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
• The new curriculum should ensure state school students at all ability levels have the opportunity to develop their oracy skills.
• During the curriculum review, government should also look to consult widely with schools on the pros and cons of existing approaches.
• Government should continue to fund the evaluation of activities aiming to improve life skills, including oracy.

You can read The Sutton Trust’s full report here: https://www.suttontrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Life-Lessons-2024.pdf.

Learn more about ESB’s accredited Oracy qualifications here: https://esbuk.org/web/why-choose-our-assessments/speech-2/.