Two years after a Salford school decided to prioritise talk/oracy, I carried out a second Talk Audit. Here is a taste of what they achieved:
2017 Talk Audit: Most pupil answers were very brief, usually between one and five words. Pupils were not generally encouraged to expand or give reasons. Pupils rarely looked at the pupil who was speaking.
2019 Talk Audit: The ratio of teacher talk to pupil talk has significantly changed. There is now much less superfluous teacher talk e.g. repetition, lengthy explanations and reading out from the board. There is much more productive and purposeful pupil talk. Across the school pupils were encouraged by staff to give reasons. Children gave extended responses due to the emerging culture of reasoning, skillful teacher questioning and pupil thoughts being valued.
“I would take an umbrella because if my rocket is broken, I could fly down back to earth holding up the umbrella!”
