What We Found Out
Spoken communication skills are in crisis in modern Britain. Social media, AI and new technology are combining to create a generation often unable to speak in public. Speaking Citizens is a group of researchers who want to do something about this. We support the charities and organisations who are transforming skills education in the UK by presenting evidence for how oral communication skills can be nurtured in a socially-aware and equitable way.
The original Speaking Citizens project team comprised of Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Classics, Durham), Stephen Coleman (Politics, Leeds), Hester Barron (History, Sussex) and Stuart Dunmore (Linguistics, Edinburgh) and Tom F. Wright (English, Sussex)
We focused on the pedagogy known as ‘oracy’ education — an idea that has become one of the most eagerly debated concepts in contemporary education. ‘Oracy’ means for listening and speaking what ‘literacy’ means for reading and writing. It is best defined as the ability to articulate ideas, build understanding, and engage with others through speaking and listening. ‘Oracy education’ can refer to a wide range of approaches to put these oral skills at the heart of the classroom experience. Often presented as a solution to inequality, confidence, and participation, oracy education also raises questions about power, voice, and whose ways of speaking are valued.
Our team worked with a wide range researchers, teachers, and activists to ask difficult questions about the politics of oracy. This collaborative work led us to the following findings:
Oracy must be about shared voice, not just individual skill
The project concluded that oracy education must be more than how well an individual speaks. It is about who is able to speak, who is listened to, and whose voices count in institutions, and public life.Oracy education should prepare people for real-life communication
The project showed that oracy is most effective when it prepares people for everyday and high-stakes situations alike, from dealing with landlords or employers to navigating public services, civic participation, and workplace collaboration.How speech is taught can increase or reduce inequality
The project found that narrow ideas of “good speaking” can unintentionally reinforce social inequalities. Oracy education works best when it values different ways of speaking and avoids treating some voices as deficient.Listening is just as important as speaking
The project found that listening has often been overlooked. Effective oracy depends not only on confidence in speaking, but on whether people are heard, taken seriously, and responded to.‘Grassroots’ Oracy has helped people gain political voice in the past
Our historical research showed that organised speaking and collective listening were central to progressive movements of the past. In these movements, people taught one another how to speak, debate, and listen in meetings, halls, and streets, using oracy as a practical tool for collective political action.Oracy education cannot fix everything, but it still matters enormously
The project found broad agreement that oracy education cannot replace wider social or economic reform. However, without access to structured opportunities to develop speaking and listening, disadvantage deepens in education, work, and democratic life.
To explore these findings in more detail, visit the Publications page, watch our Conference Videos. For resources that can be used in the classroom check out our Educational Resources.