These days, whenever we hear about teaching and the work that teachers do, the language far too often sounds technocratic and managerial. We hear words like 'accountability' and 'targets' and 'performance'.
If we'd wanted all of that, we'd have become management consultants. I much prefer the insights of that ground-breaking media guru Neil Postman, who said: "Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see".
Wow. That's the purpose of education. For all of us in the teaching profession - by which I mean teachers and teaching assistants and education leaders - it's quite a responsibility. We are doing nothing less than preparing our young people to take their place on this beautiful but fragile planet for a time when we may have left it.
We are creating for them a link to their future, and therefore hoping to instil in them the knowledge and skills and values and attributes that will help them to shape a challenging world. Which is where this report comes in. Because what we hope for in the future is fermented in the present.
And I know from my past year as chair of the independent Commission on Oracy in Education that the rich foundations of language - helping children to learn how to talk, to learn through talk and to develop their skills via active critical listening - have never mattered more.
The research underpinning this report makes that case. And the report itself sets out solutions. Plus, it brings us some important new insights into the significance of talk and listening in schools. We learn, for example, that 46% of primary teachers and 53% of secondary teachers agree that it's easy to mistake speech and language issues for reading and maths problems.
Language, in all its forms, matters. And in an age when everyone is cross about everything, high quality talk and active listening have never mattered more. We don't want children to be victims who are 'lost for words'. We want to give them agency in their learning, a voice in their future. And, based on this report and its associated research, that's what employers, parents and wider society want too.
I couldn't commend this Renaissance report more strongly. Let's help all of those young people who are lost for words to find their voice.
Geoff Barton
Former Headteacher & General Secretary, ASCL
Chair, the Oracy Commission for Oracy Education
I couldn't commend this Renaissance report more strongly. Let's help all of those young people who are lost for words to find their voice.
