Speak Up: Empowering Pupils to Find and Use Their Voice in RE

A practical and thought-provoking blog from Kelly Keatley with strategies to use with children from 7 upwards. More about the work of Beth Eades can be found in our research spotlight.

Young people need to be:

‘equipped to ask questions, to articulate ideas, to formulate powerful arguments, to deepen their sense of identity and belonging, to listen actively and critically, and to be well-steeped in a fundamental principle of a liberal democracy – that is, being able to disagree agreeably.’

So said Geoff Barton the chair of the Oracy Education Commission (OEC) which in October 2024 produced ‘We need to talk.’, a report into why oracy is so important in education. I was immediately struck by how much the Chair, Geoff Barton, referred to aspects of oracy firmly rooted, although not exclusively, in RE/RVE/RME pedagogy. I remember reading this and thinking what a huge opportunity it was for our subject to be vocalising that this is the very nature of what we do.

My RE lessons have always included opportunities for pupils to express their ideas in a variety of different ways but also to talk. I want to hear from the young people I am teaching, and I am excited to know about what they want, what they think and what inspires and enthuses them. In my experience, that is very often true of RE teachers, and it can be one of the biggest reasons why we choose RE to be the subject that we teach.

Shortly after the OEC report, the Culham St Gabriel’s RExChange conference took place and one of the speakers was Beth Eades. Beth, an RE Subject Lead and Debate Coach, led a brilliant session on using debating to teach argument and evaluation at GCSE. Beth’s session was inspiring, largely because it put my mind at rest that I was already doing a lot of the groundwork needed to promote oracy within my classroom setting. Although I was not at the stage of using formal debate with my classes, I was utilising strategies that meant that formal debate was not as far away as I was originally thinking it might be.

Beth had used the charity, Voice 21 and Debbie Newman’s ‘The Noisy Classroom’ to support her already extensive experience as a debate coach. The Oracy Framework produced by Voice 21 is a great place to start when considering the different skills required to communicate our points effectively. Physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional aspects to the way we discuss, speak and communicate are highlighted and allow us as facilitators to work on these different areas, building towards developing confidence, presentation and delivery.

Debbie Newman outlines why oracy is important and separates ‘performance oracy’ from ‘critical oracy’ with the former being reading aloud, reciting a poem or performing lines from a play but the latter working alongside critical thinking. Performance oracy is obviously of importance and teaches crucial skills but critical oracy, within the education setting, provides opportunity for learners to think and speak simultaneously. It is this, Beth had in mind, when focusing on improving argument and evaluation at GCSE. As Newman says, within critical oracy there is ‘discussion, debate, advocacy, enquiry and role play’.

So, what am I already doing in my classroom?

Coloured cards to indicate opinions/responses – use different colour cards to agree/disagree/indicate uncertainty. This can be easily built on in different ways to start vocalising these opinions and the reasons behind them.

Silent debate – big bits of paper or on the tables, marker pens or whiteboard pens. Start with a stimulus e.g. a statement, image, picture, painting, news article, clip. Pupils can respond to the stimulus and can agree and disagree with each other. Pupils could then report back – developing confidence and not necessarily sharing their view at this stage. Line game/beliefs continuum – agree/disagree and develop further by banning the middle or asking pupils to defend the opposing viewpoint.

Hot seating – a pupil/the teacher assumes a particular viewpoint or be a particular person or character. All pupils have chance to research/prepare questions, including the pupil in the hot seat.

Rotating circles – divide pupils into two groups and have one inner circle facing towards an outer circle with pupils facing each other. This can be used for discussion, debate or revision activities.

Opinion snowflakes – write 8-10 statements on a topic in boxes with lines from them meeting in the centre. Pupils then need to decide how far they agree with those statements, putting an ‘x’ on the line, nearer to the statement if they agree, nearer to the centre if they disagree. Pupils then join their ‘x’s together to create their unique snowflake shape. They then find people in the class who disagree with them on each issue, and they must discuss their views, reporting back where their disagreements lay. (thanks to Stephen Pett from REToday for this strategy!)

Important take -aways

• There is no need to start immediately with a whole class debate – in fact, this might well be a disaster! This raises the stakes, instead start small and build up. For some pupils, even expressing their own view is huge. Think about how you can get pupils to talk and share possible ideas first.
• There are ways to include evidence of debate and discussion tasks so consider the research, planning and delivery that could show how individual pupils have been involved in the task and ways that ensure pupils are all engaged with a part to play.
• Not all pupils will love taking part but that does not mean that it should not be done. Debbie Newman uses a PE analogy here – some pupils will love oracy; some will just get through it but it is good for all.
• Oracy focused lessons can be inclusive and giving SEND and disadvantaged pupils space to talk is really important. Consider using sentence starters for oracy, just as you might for scaffolding written tasks. This is something that may well help all pupils to feel more confident to take part. Debbie Newman has some suggestions in the appendices of ‘The Noisy Classroom’

1) Oracy Education Commission (2024) We need to talk. The report of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England. London: Oracy Education Commission. Available at: https://oracyeducationcommission.co.uk/oec-report/.
2) Newman, D (2020) The Noisy Classroom, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.