Education Secretary Lucy Powell has announced that oracy will be given equal status with reading and writing as a new strand of the English curriculum, telling school trust leaders that the ability to speak with confidence must become "the right of every child".
Speaking at the Confederation of School Trusts conference, Lucy Powell said speaking, listening and communicating would become a core part of every child's education, in both content and assessment, from primary school to GCSE and beyond. The change will be developed with Ofqual as part of the curriculum review.
Lucy Powell: 'A marker of privilege'
She said the ability to articulate yourself confidently was central to success in work and life, "but for too long it's been a marker of privilege". With artificial intelligence on the rise, she argued schools needed to go harder on the skills that make us human.
Lucy Powell also set out plans to end what she called the damaging cycle of repeated GCSE maths resits, pointing out that only 14% of young people passed their resit this summer, and confirmed new foundation qualifications alongside new vocational GCSEs.
SEND and exclusions
She reaffirmed her commitment to reforming support for children with special educational needs, backed by £4 billion over the next three years, and launched a call for evidence on improving how exclusions work.
Describing her approach as leading "the department of hope", she promised to work with school leaders on evidence and what works rather than "beaming policies in from Whitehall", and said she wanted accountability to give greater weight to context and genuine inclusion.
