The Commission Conversations

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Clare Sealy about why it's oracies, not oracy, which aspects of oracy students might need to be taught explicitly and why we should think carefully about assessing oracy.
Clare Sealy is Head of Education Improvement, States of Guernsey. Previously, she was a headteacher of over 20 years in Tower Hamlets with a particular interest in curriculum. She is the editor of 'The Curriculum: An Evidence-Informed Guide for Teachers'

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Oli de Botton about why oracy matters, the craft of teaching and the dialogic classroom and the importance of talk at the transition from school to college.

Oli de Botton is the CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company – the national body for careers education. Before that Oli was Head Teacher and co-founder of School 21. He also co-founded Voice 21, the national oracy education charity. He has also worked in education policy and strategy as a government education advisor.

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to Robin Alexander about dialogic teaching and how classroom talk can enhance learning, including the importance of 'elaboration', the 'third turn' and how dialogic pedagogy can enhance teacher agency.
Robin Alexander is Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) and the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), past President of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE), and former Director of the Cambridge Primary Review and Chair of the Cambridge Primary Review Trust.

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Pie Corbett about why talk underpins children's ability to read and write, the importance of storytelling at every phase and how creative subjects can help you understand yourself and the world around you better.
Pie Corbett is a former teacher, head teacher, lecturer and OFSTED inspector who has published and edited over 250 books. He developed ‘Talk for Writing’, a teaching framework which supports children to imitate the language they need for a particular topic orally, before reading and analysing it, and then writing their own version. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters for services to poetry, storytelling and creative teaching by the University of Winchester.

In this 'Commission Conversation' Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, talks to Michael Rosen about...talk, including his own family history, how children talk about books and the way teachers use talk in the classroom.
Michael Rosen is Professor of Children's Literature. Since the late 1960s, Michael Rosen has been writing books, articles, plays and various kinds of scripts; performing poetry for audiences of all ages; and broadcasting on literature related subjects on radio and TV. From 2007-2009 he was Children's Laureate.