Caroline Smith

Voice 21 UK

Voice 21 is the national oracy education charity. We exist to empower every child to use their voice for success in school and life. We work to transform learning and life chances through talk by increasing access to a high-quality oracy education for those that need it most. Children's spoken language skills are one of the strongest predictors of their future life chances. Yet too many disadvantaged children arrive at school with poor communication skills, already behind their more advantaged peers. Research shows that economically disadvantaged students can be as much as 19 months behind in language development by the age of five. Left unaddressed, this gap grows rather than diminishes as students move through school. Despite widespread recognition of the importance of oracy (e.g. for learning, attainment, confidence, wellbeing, employability, civic engagement) only a minority of schools have consistent, coherent or adequately resourced provision to give it the time and status it deserves. This is where Voice 21 makes a difference. Launched in 2015, we have since grown to work with over 1,200 schools and 10,000 schools across the UK. Voice 21 believes that oracy has been undervalued and overlooked within our schools for too long denying the majority of children and young people opportunities consistently afforded to an advantaged few. It is time for change.