ERS0009
Written evidence submitted by Voice 21
About Voice 21
Voice 21 is the UK’s oracy education charity. Our mission is to transform the life and learning chances of young people through oracy and spoken language so that all children can use their voice for success in school and life beyond school. Voice 21 works in partnership with schools and teachers to deliver and increase access to high-quality oracy education in classrooms. Since launching in 2015 we have directly supported more than 1300 schools and 10000 teachers across the UK.
Summary of our submission
Our evidence relates chiefly to the third term of reference: ‘if it’s [Department for Education] achieving value for money from the other funding it has provided to support education recovery in schools’. We are concerned that value for money is not being achieved as most funding has not been allocated to the most impactful, evidence-based interventions. Very little of the funding has been spent on catch-up support for spoken language skills, which - given the well-evidenced links between these skills and academic progress, more so than other programmes - has hindered young people’s ability to catch up with their learning.
Context - the impact of the pandemic on speaking and listening skills
Evidence shows not only that the pandemic impacted young people’s spoken language development, but also that those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds were most greatly affected.
● Research by the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group in 2021 showed that two thirds of primary teachers and nearly half of secondary teachers said school closures had had a negative effect on the spoken language development of students eligible for pupil premium, compared with 1 in 5 teachers for their most advantaged pupils.
● Ofsted’s annual report for 2021-2022 concluded that pandemic restrictions had ‘delayed some children’s speech and language and slowed their social development’. This was particularly pronounced in early years, but the impacts felt throughout school.
● Research from Speech and Language UK in 2022 found that an estimated 1.7 million children are now behind within talking and understanding words, an increase of 22% from 2021.
Education recovery programmes
Very little of the funding for education recovery has addressed spoken language development, despite the evidence showing that this is one of the most effective interventions for student progress in school.
Oral language interventions are ranked third-highest in the EEF’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit, with an estimated 6 months’ additional progress. This is higher than one-to-one tuition (5 months) and summer schools (3 months).
The only language-specific part of the recovery programmes is the ‘Learning language and Loving it’ element of the Accelerator Fund for Early Years. This comprises a tiny portion of the funds available and is limited in reach: while Early Years language development is crucial, gaps between pupils’ spoken language skills widen throughout school and currently there are no targeted measures for children over five. Ensuring guidance for schools on how to spend the recovery premium and pupil premium emphasises oracy and recommends evidence-based interventions.
Questions
February 2023