Oracy to me is the right to speak freely, to share your ideas and thoughts without anyone stopping you.

Angela, Year 6 Pupil, Hazelbury Primary

Speaking confidently has become second nature to Angela. She regularly asks questions in class and makes the case for her point of view. It's even helping improve her coursework: her teacher recently asked her to explain a maths problem to a classmate, and Angela found her own understanding improved by talking it through.

She often finds herself using oracy skills outside the classroom too – like when she has to mediate between her younger brothers.

I’m actually really happy when I get to [use oracy] because it helps me to project my voice and practice for the future. If I ever got a job and did a presentation, I would know how to use my body language, how to project my voice, how to give context and expression. And I also get to share my ideas and get to inspire other people.”

Angela, Year 6 Pupil, Hazelbury Primary

Every young person should have the opportunity, like Angela, to develop their own voice. Oracy – the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding, and engage with others through speaking, listening, and communication – is increasingly considered a foundational skill for learning. It was recently recognised as on par with reading and writing in the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review for schools across England.

Impetus’ partner Voice 21 is driving the movement to secure high-quality oracy education for every child in the UK.

Building Momentum for Oracy

It's been really exciting to work with Voice 21 at this moment in time, whilst oracy is gaining that momentum in the public arena. Governments are interested in oracy, schools are interested in oracy, and there’s huge demand for Voice 21 programmes.

Bea Theakston, Investment Director, Impetus

The benefits of oracy education are clear: strong spoken language skills are linked to better academic attainment, increased employment prospects, and improved wellbeing. Oracy interventions can drive up to six months of additional progress in school, which is especially critical for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are statistically more likely to start school with less developed spoken language skills.

Since Impetus first partnered with Voice 21 in 2019, oracy education has gained significant recognition and momentum. With our support, Voice 21 has grown its reach from a handful of schools to more than 1200 nationally, with oracy now at the top of the education policy agenda.

Oracy in Practice

Angela is a pupil at Hazelbury Primary, which has been accredited as a Voice 21 ‘Oracy Centre of Excellence’ – an award that recognises schools’ achievement in delivering a sustained high-quality oracy education.

Harry Bowman, Hazelbury’s Science Lead, began his oracy journey by implementing small changes, such as getting pupils to listen to each other, rather than the teacher doing all the talking. Over time, Voice 21’s teacher training programme and expert support helped his school transform their curriculum and culture. Oracy is now woven through Hazelbury’s education, from classroom “talk tactics” to school-wide initiatives like a student podcast.

After five years, Mr Bowman has seen a profound impact on how his pupils approach learning through talk.

Oracy is so worth it. The confidence, the ability, the achievement that these children have shown over the last couple years is wonderful.

Harry Bowman, Science Lead, Hazelbury Primary

Proving the Impact

Despite the challenges and the complexity to this question of ‘how do you understand the impact of oracy?’, it has been a North Star for [Voice 21] throughout.

Bea Theakston, Investment Director, Impetus

The benefits of high-quality oracy education are clear to schools like Hazelbury. But to influence the whole education system, both Impetus and Voice 21 recognised the need for a robust evidence base. Alongside long-term funding and strategic support – including pro-bono legal, coaching, and strategy projects – Impetus has focused on helping Voice 21 demonstrate its impact and build the evidence base for oracy.

I think what Impetus has brought is a long-term frame: the ability to think in the long-term and start to put in place foundation stones for high-quality impact research that will stand the test of time. Too often, I think funders are looking for quick fixes around impact, but Impetus is in it for the long haul.

Kate Paradine, CEO, Voice 21

Evidence from organisations like the Education Endowment Foundation supports oracy’s influence on attainment. Impetus is assisting Voice 21 to prepare for an external evaluation, to quantify its impact and take any lessons learned to schools and policymakers.

A Bold, National Ambition

Voice 21 has done an amazing job to scale its delivery to so many schools, and I think the next phase is about really making the most of that scaling to grow our impact across the whole system.

Bea Theakston, Investment Director, Impetus

Even with good growth, simply continuing to scale Voice 21’s direct delivery in schools will not bring about much-needed systemic change. That’s why Voice 21 and Impetus focus in tandem on influencing national policy.

In 2023, when the Labour Party committed to embed oracy in the curriculum, Impetus and Voice 21 collaborated to respond quickly to the opportunity.

Impetus helped Voice 21 to establish, and then sponsored, the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, chaired by Geoff Barton, former General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). The Commission brought together education experts to produce the seminal report on oracy education in England, providing an evidence-led blueprint for how oracy education can be effectively implemented in schools. It also created a clear, shared definition of oracy that has been widely adopted across the sector, including by Ofsted.

This strategy that we’ve got going forward is that every child benefits from a high-quality oracy education, which is an incredibly ambitious aim. I don’t think we would have been quite so ambitious if we hadn’t have had all that support [from Impetus] to influence policy up until this point.

Kate Paradine, CEO, Voice 21

Now, major changes to the national curriculum are planned following 2025’s independent review, creating an opportunity for oracy. Impetus and Voice 21 continue to advocate for oracy as the “fourth R” in education – equal in status to reading, writing, and arithmetic – so that, like Angela, all young people are taught how to use their voices to thrive in education and beyond.

Learning through talk is really important for nearly everything. You have to be able to talk to do most jobs, and to be able say when something isn't right. You have to be able to use your words to make it right.

Angela, Year 6 Pupil, Hazelbury Primary