Whole school oracy culture built through four initiatives: assemblies, coaching groups, e-portfolios, and story of learning¶

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 design), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

A key feature of the School 21 approach is developing a whole school oracy culture. "The Oracy Curriculum, Culture and Assessment Toolkit includes four initiatives to support a whole school oracy culture": assemblies where students sit in the round and engage in interactive activities; daily coaching groups of twelve students and one teacher using talking points and open questions; e-portfolios where students present their best work to a panel of parents, coach and governor; and a 'story of learning' in which students recount their successes to visitors. The evaluation found this multi-stranded approach effective in generating commitment from students and staff.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

Requires whole staff training, cultural changes and dedicated curriculum time when adopted by new schools

Constraints¶

The multi-stranded approach may demand fundamental shifts in approach for any new school adopting it

Target Learners¶

Year 7 students in secondary school

Learning Goals¶

Embedding oracy skills and a shared language for oracy across the whole school

Claims¶

Committing to oracy in every lesson gave staff and students a shared language for oracy and familiarity with talk-organising approaches [+W]

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

Maxwell, B., Burnett, C., Reidy, J., Willis, B., & Demack, S. (2015). Oracy Curriculum, Culture and Assessment Toolkit: Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`design`
`id`	`whole-school-oracy-culture-four-initiatives`
`title`	`Whole school oracy culture built through four initiatives: assemblies, coaching groups, e-portfolios, and story of learning`
`description`	`A key feature of the School 21 approach is developing a whole school oracy culture.`
`status`	`review`
`generated`	by `process:settle-candidates` on `2026-11-02`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `maxwell-2015`

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