KidCoach question cards

KidCoach have put together hundreds of conversation starters and questions designed to get students talking. The cards focus on developing young people's resilience, communication and critical thinking skills.

Try them out and get your 7-11 year old students talking, thinking and feeling.

Talking about difficult topics

The NSPCC have developed helpful guidance on talking about difficult topics with young people. 

They explain why its good to talk and provide useful tips on starting the conversation and the importance of listening. 

Click below the read the guidance.

Lockdown podcasters

Students at St. Ambrose Barlow School were challenged to talk about their lockdown experience and lessons learned from lockdown in the form of a podcast. 

Click below to listen to their podcasts. Get your students talking by recording a podcast!

Is COVID widening the language gap?

We partnered with Tortoise and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Oracy to continue the conversation on oracy education and discuss the impact of Covid-19 on student's speaking skills.  

We were joined by Emma Hardy MP, Shadow Education Minister and Chair of the Oracy APPG, Peter Hyman, Co-founder of Big Education Trust, and Paul Drechsler, former president of the CBI.

Click below to see a recording of the event.

Announcing our winner!

Inspired by academic and researcher Douglas Barnes, this prize celebrates the achievement of teachers who, following in Barnes’ footsteps, use their classroom to carry out small-scale research which furthers understanding of oracy.

We are delighted to announce Rachel Mayes as the winner of this year’s Douglas Barnes Prize whose Impact Project exploring the explicit teaching of discussion skills was felt by the judges to be solidly grounded in relevant research with a strong research design. 

​Click below to see Rachel's winning research. 

The virtual oracy event of the year!

Between 5-16 October we’ll be hosting the first ever virtual festival of oracy! 

Explore, experience and engage with the latest thinking, innovation and best practice in oracy teaching and learning. You’ll hear from leading voices in education and wider society, sharing their perspectives, ideas and hopes for oracy education.

Interested in sharing your experiences and oracy classroom practice? Email ben@voice21.org for more information!