Team member Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson has recently been involved in a landmark report on the provision of oracy education in the UK, published by the 'Oracy All Party Parliamentary Group'.

The Oracy APPG, chaired by Emma Hardy MP, exists to coordinate research, promote best practice and push for a greater focus on oracy throughout children and young people's education.

In May 2019, the APPG launched the ‘Speak for Change Inquiry’ to investigate the provision of oracy education in the UK. The inquiry set out to explore three main themes: 1) the value and impact of oracy education, 2) the provision and access to oracy education, and 3) the barriers to improving oracy education.

The Oracy APPG is supported by education charity Voice 21 (which acts as the APPG’s secretariat) and a coalition of 20 organisations and experts through the Oracy Network.

As a member of this network, the Speaking Citizens project, via team member Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, has collaborated with the APPG on their ‘Speak for Change Inquiry’ and report. In January 2021, Arlene was awarded funding from the University of Oxford Strategic Priorities Fund for Policy Engagement (Research England) to share her research findings with the APPG. As an expert witness, she has submitted evidence based on her research into  oracy, rhetoric and critical skills. You can watch Arlene’s oral evidence to the inquiry on ‘international approaches to classroom talk’ here and read Arlene’s written submissions here.

Last month, the APPG held a special event to launch the report which documented the inquiry’s findings and presented recommendations for best practice.  

You can find out more about the Oracy APPG on its website, where you can also access the ‘Speak for Change’ final report.

Stay up to date with the project on Twitter: @drarlenehh, @AppgOracy, @SpeakingCitz