Nursery World - Call for more focus on children's speech and language in Schools Bill

Campaigners are calling for spoken language to be given importance to reading and writing in the Schools Bill.

More than 35 organisations are backing amendments to the bill, which was debated in the House of Lords on Monday.

Ahead of the debate, Voice 21, I CAN and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists co-ordinated a campaign to call for a much greater focus on speech, language and communication in schools.

Lord Watson of Invergowrie, vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Oracy, had tabled the amendments.

Speaking during the debate he said, ‘Spoken language underpins literacy skills and vocabulary development. As such, it is central to learning across the curriculum. It should not be necessary to state that the ability to communicate effectively and articulate well is an essential ingredient to success in both school and beyond. Oral communication skills are required in almost every job and in every walk of life, yet we expect children just to pick them up rather than explicitly teaching them as we do reading and writing.

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