Best Practice

Using oracy to build belonging: Ideas and advice

Oracy education Curriculum Quality First Teaching Lesson planning
Oracy is a key skill for young people. It is also a crucial part of building students’ sense of belonging. Jo Arrow offers some ideas to help us put oracy at the centre of our teaching and students’ learning
Speak up: Giving students the chance to develop their speaking skills and to find their 'authentic voice' can build their sense of belonging in school - Adobe Stock

One of the biggest challenges facing schools today is the disconnection many students are feeling from their own school communities. Whether this disengagement manifests itself in poor behaviour, poor attendance, or underachievement, it is by far our biggest problem.

So, how can we get our students to feel a sense of belonging? To feel valued, included and heard? Surely before we can answer this, we must consider a more important question: how can students be heard and valued if they haven’t had the opportunity to establish and refine their own voice?

For some students, struggling to belong causes them to opt out of their school all together. Instead they choose the comfort (or even the discomfort) of their own homes.

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