The ‘Midlands Innovation: Inclusive Transformation Theme’ research project, seeks to understand the varying experiences and expectations of spoken language in education and workplaces. The project’s definition of oracy includes both the development of spoken language skills and the use of spoken language as a strategy for collaboration and learning. The notion of establishing a ‘Midlands Oracy Education group’ will also be investigated.
Project funder
Project overview
The project will build on existing, and identify new, interdisciplinary research that contributes to understanding oracy education across disciplines and its relevance in the widening participation discourse.
In this project ‘oracy’ is understood as both the development of spoken language skills and the use of those skills as a tool for collaboration. It plays a vital role in all students’ lives in post-16 education, whilst at university and beyond. Oracy also has a role to play in narrowing the attainment gap and enhancing employment prospects for widening participation students in the UK.
The research questions that drive the project are:
- Who are the key oracy stakeholders involved in across local FE colleges, universities, and employers?
- What oracy education is currently practised? What are the perceived gaps?
- What does the literature tell us?
- How might networks between FE colleges, universities and employers in site cities be better used to develop and promote oracy education?
- What is the potential role for a Midlands Oracy Education Group?
TalkingHE podcast
Dr Denise Sweeney discusses the importance of dialogue education, how oracy skills are developed in HE for staff and students, how students are explicitly supported to 'learn through talk', and gives top tips for educators in HE who want to start using more dialogic approaches in their disciplines.
Listen to TalkingHE podcast on Spotify - 7 June 2024
Project team
Principal investigator
Dr Rupert Knight
Associate Professor
School of Education
University of Nottingham
Principal investigator
Dr Denise Sweeney
Associate Professor
School of Education
University of Nottingham
Research Associate
Dr Ben Scott
Project advocates
- Jess Humphreys, Associate Professor, Acting Director, Warwick International Higher Education Academy, University of Warwick
- Danielle Hinton, Principal Educational Developer, Higher Education Futures Institute, University of Birmingham
Project activities
Two world café workshops will be hosted by Nottingham and Birmingham (case-site cities) where key stakeholders will be brought together. Stakeholders comprise university students, university teachers, professional staff, local employers and sixth form and college teachers from these case cities as well as existing oracy charities.
These workshops form the basis of the co-design and transfer of knowledge and expertise on oracy education teaching throughout the life of the project.
The two case-site cities will:
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host a world café workshop as a networking event and data collection opportunity.
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engage with a wide range of stakeholders to gain access to the thinking, practices, and expectations of oracy skills development.
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gather evidence to develop an understanding of the gaps and opportunities for enhancing oracy skills in post-16 education settings in preparation for university and whilst at university in preparation for employment.
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seek ways to strengthen the relationships between post-16 education, universities, and employers and provide opportunities for local employers to share their expectations of spoken language.
Interviews will be held with key stakeholders following the two workshops.
Further reading
Knight, R. (2024) Speaking with purpose: Douglas Barnes and oracy as ‘acting on the world’
Go to Oracy Cambridge blog
Sally Baker & Felipe Balatin Pinto (2023) Making the case for academic oracy: If it’s a game-changer for schooling, what about for university?
Go to BERA blog
Jonathan Doherty (2023) Why oracy matters evidence base for positioning oracy at the heart of the school curriculum, English Speaking Union
Go to report
Marion Heron, Sally Baker, Karen Gravett & Evonne Irwin (2023) Scoping academic oracy in higher education: knotting together forgotten connections to equity and academic literacies, Higher Education Research & Development, 42:1, 62-77
Go to article
Eliot Wilson (2023) Starmer wants to teach children how to speak.
Go to The Ideas Lab website
World Cafe Method
Go to World Cafe website
Participate in this project
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Project outputs
As the project proceeds, research project outputs will be made available here. Please revisit this site to see these outputs.