The Commission Conversations

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Melanie Cross about the intersection of oracy and social, emotional and mental health needs.  Melanie is a speech and language therapist and author with decades of experience. She developed the Mind Your Words course for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists an...

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Darren Chetty about cultivating dialogic and knowledge-rich classrooms, conceptualising teaching as an intellectual pursuit and the impact of Prevent on classroom dialogue. Darren Chetty is a writer, teacher and researcher. He has published academic work on philosophy, educa...

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Oli de Botton about why oracy matters, the craft of teaching and the dialogic classroom and the importance of talk at the transition from school to college.  Oli de Botton is the CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company – the national body for careers education. Before th...

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Leigh Wolmarans about oracy and the arts, the classroom as a ‘studio’ and bringing language to life through expressive arts. Leigh is CEO and joint Artistic Director of performing arts charity, Silhouette Youth. Before that, he was a teacher, Deputy Head Teacher and Head Tea...

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Hywel Roberts about ‘botheredness’, building a ‘community’ in the classroom and the power of drama and storytelling. Hywel Roberts has taught in secondary, primary and special settings for almost 30 years. He contributes to university education programmes and contributes reg...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Jean Gross about the importance of developing early language, the impact of Sure Start and how we can ensure teachers have the time, oppportunity and knowledge to develop their students' spoken language skills.  Jean Gross is an education expert who has led m...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Carol Atherton about how books can spark conversations with students about pertinent issues and why teaching students to challenge accepted ideas, put forward alternative viewpoints and sustain a line of argument confidently is important in the English classroom....

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education talks to Rupert Knight about the initial teacher education landscape, teacher agency and what it takes to embed oracy education across a school.  Rupert Knight is currently associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, teaching on a primary initial te...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, speaks to Esther O'Connor about oracy in the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) including the role of the adult and the importance of high-quality interactions and serve-and-return conversations,  sustained shared thinking (SST) and modelling language.  Esther O&...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Robin Alexander about dialogic teaching and how classroom talk can enhance learning, including the importance of 'elaboration', the 'third turn' and how dialogic pedagogy can enhance teacher agency. Robin Alexander is Fellow of Wolfson College a...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Bill Lucas about multi-modal assessment, the learner profile and the potential of assessment through talk.    Bill Lucas is Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester and Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning (CRL) . Bill is co-founder of Rethi...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Jessie Ricketts about the link between oracy and reading, the importance of vocabulary knowledge and why approaches to developing oracy and reading skills should be tailored to different Key Stages. Professor Jessie Ricketts is based in the Department of Psycholog...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Ian Cushing about the defecit foundations of oracy education, including why a focus on improving children's 'oracy skills' draws attention away from wider structural inequalities, locating the problem in the child rather than the system, as well as r...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Deborah Cameron about why there is a recurring, problematic narrative about oracy in education, the trouble with articulating standards for spoken language and why 'accountability culture' creates problems for implementing oracy education.  Deborah Camer...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Pie Corbett about  why talk underpins children's ability to read and write, the importance of storytelling at every phase and how creative subjects can help you understand yourself and the world around you better. Pie Corbett is a former teacher, head teacher...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Warda Farah about racial and cultural bias in speech and language therapy,  her own experiences of linguicism at school and why it is powerful to teach children and young people about standard language ideologies.  Warda Farah is a speech and language therapist an...

It's been 10 weeks since we launched the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England. So, this week, Geoff Barton, Independent Chair of the Commission, gives us an overview of 10 themes the Commission has been exploring in these past weeks.

In this 'Commission Conversation', Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, talks to Kirsten Howells about why 'fluency' isn't a marker of being a good speaker and we can ensure a focus on oracy in schools is inclusive of children who stammer. You'll also hear from some children who stammer about their experiences at school. K...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, speaks to Arlene Holmes-Henderson about what we can learn about oracy education from the ancient world, why more young people should be studying 'rhetoric' and the myths about oracy and citizenship we should be challenging. Arlene Holmes-Henderson is Professor of...

In this 'Commission Conversation, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, talks to Julia Snell about expectations for classroom talk, including the problem with blanket expectations for students to speak in standardised forms of English and the importance of dialogic pedagogy, including giving teachers the time and autonomy to develop this in their c...

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Michael Rosen about...talk, including his own family history, how children talk about books and the way teachers use talk in the classroom. Michael Rosen is Professor of Children's Literature. Since the late 1960s, Michael Rosen has been writing books, articl...

Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, talks to Tom F. Wright about the history of grassroots oracy education which stretches right back to the Victorian era. Tom F. Wright is Reader in Rhetoric at the University of Sussex. He is a cultural historian of nineteenth century Britain and America. His research focuses on rhetoric and spoken communication and...

Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, talks to Neil Mercer about talk for learning, disciplinary approaches to oracy, how we can support teachers to become effective oracy practitioners and whether we assess students' oracy skills.  Neil Mercer is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Cambridge, where he is also Director of Oracy Cam...

Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, speaks to Louisa Reeves about the importance of early language development, the role of the teacher in children's language development as they move through school and ensuring that oracy education is inclusive of all children.  Louisa Reeves is Director of Policy and Evidence at Speech and Language UK. She lead...

Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, Geoff Barton, speaks to Martin Robinson about bringing healthy and interesting debate into the curriculum and supporting students to explore different people's perspectives through talk After 20 years working in London in state schools - as teacher, head of department, AST, senior leader and QCA associate with a focus on cre...