2025年英国儿童与青少年听说能力状况报告

Christina Clark, Josef Oliver, Irene Picton and LizzieJones December 2025 The ability to speak and listen effectively is central to how we learn, buildrelationships and participate in society. From everyday conversations with friendsto formal debates or public speaking, these skills shape the way we express ideas,understand others and respond thoughtfully. Educational researchers and policymakers often group these skills under the term‘oracy’ – a concept with roots stretching back to classical Greece and Rome whenthe art of rhetoric was seen as a vital civic tool. More recently, organisations likeVoice 21 and the University of Cambridge have developed an oracy framework thatidentiĜes four strands of these skills: Physical skills (tone of voice, pace, body language)Linguistic skills (choice of vocabulary and expression)Cognitive skills (reasoning, structuring arguments, using evidence)Social and emotional skills (working with others, listening actively, respondingconstructively) In the UK, interest in strengthening children and young people’s oracy has gainedmomentum. The Oracy Education Commission and other advocacy groups havecalled for a greater emphasis on supporting oracy in schools, and this featuredprominently in theĜnal report on the Curriculum and Assessment Review1, with thegovernment response including proposals for a dedicated primary oracy frameworkand combined secondary oracy, reading and writing frameworks2. In this report, we use the more familiar phrase ‘speaking and listening’ rather than‘oracy’ because that is how many parents and educators encounter these skills inpractice. Speaking and listening also form a core part of the National LiteracyTrust’s deĜnition of literacy:The ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way thatlets us communicate effectively and make sense of the world. While our research and programmes have long explored elements of speaking andlistening, in 2025 we set out to examine them more closely, particularly how wellchildren and young people feel they are developing and using these essential skills. BeneĜts of strong speaking and listening skills Strong speaking and listening skills bring wide-ranging beneĜts, shaping howchildren and young people learn, how they relate to others, and how they thrive inadult life. Research links them to: Academic progress: The Oracy Education Commission describes threedimensions of oracy in education:learning to talk, learning through talk, andlearning about talk3. Through discussion and dialogue, students deepen theirunderstanding of subjects and build the reasoning skills needed acrossdisciplines.Social and emotional development: By listening attentively and articulatingideas clearly, young people strengthen their conĜdence, empathy and abilityto collaborate, skills that are fundamental for relationships inside andoutside the classroom4.Workplace readiness: Communication and interpersonal skills consistentlyrank among the most in-demand by employers. The National Foundation forEducational Research forecasts that in 2035communicating with colleaguesandbuilding relationshipswill remain two of the top three workplace skills, apattern unchanged since 20105.Civic engagement: The ability to speak up, listen and respond constructivelyunderpins participation in democratic life and active involvement incommunities. Despite these beneĜts, there is currently no national guidance on the componentsof oracy or how it should be taught6. While some students gain experience throughdrama, debate or school councils, opportunities remain patchy and inconsistentacross schools. This report explores how children and young people view their own skills ineveryday, practical and civic contexts. Children and young people’s speaking and listening in 2025 We asked 105,583 children and young people aged 8 to 18 from 497 schools acrossthe UK who took part in our Annual Literacy Survey how they felt about speakingand listening in 2025 (see Appendix for more information on methodology andsample). Children and young people were presented with a series of statementsrelating to speaking and listening skills and were invited to rate their self-perceivedability in relation to each. These statements were grouped into three categories:day-to-day communication, practical applications and civic engagement. Children and young people’s speaking and listening skills Children and young people are relatively strong in one-to-one and advocacy-related speaking and listening skills, but they feel they are less competent in formalor public-speaking contexts: Children and young people rated themselves most highly in everydayinterpersonal skills – the skills we describe as the day-to-day speaking andlistening skills. 81.4% said they could listen to othersand understand theirpoint of view, and 75.3% felt comfortable having one-to-one conversations.Self-rated ability was somewhat lower when it came to expressingthemselves. 62.9% felt comfortable sharing id