Oracy and P4C

The Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England understands oracy as: ‘articulating ideas, developing understanding and engaging with others through speaking, listening and communication.’

We take the view that thinking is an essential component of oracy.

And thinking is at the heart a thoughtful approach to oracy.

It is natural to think of speaking, listening and communication as the product of thought (i.e. we think in order to speak). But they are also what produces thought, or what makes thinking possible (i.e. we often speak in order to think). This idea is revealed in E. M. Forster’s aphorism: ‘How do I know what I think until I see what I say?’. By speaking their thoughts, students externalise their ideas, treating them as data to be observed and analysed, often discovering or revising their position in the process.

We think that speaking, listening, communication and thinking are inextricably linked and that philosophical enquiry successfully unites these elements.

As outlined in We Need to Talk, oracy education comprises three interrelated, overlapping, and mutually reinforcing elements:

• Learning to talk, listen and communicate – the development of speaking, listening and communication skills.
• Learning through talk, listening and communication – the use of talk or dialogue to foster and deepen learning.
• Learning about talk, listening and communication – building knowledge and understanding of speaking, listening and communication in its many contexts.

Through regular, well-planned and skilfully-facilitated dialogue and enquiry, P4C advances each of these goals.

Yes – either as a standalone session, as a curriculum-embedded pedagogy, or both.

In schools that practise high-quality P4C:

Students learn to talk through the explicit teaching of skills as articulated in Oracy Cambridge and Voice 21’s Oracy Skills Framework and in Thoughtful’s metacognitive framework: The 4Cs of Method which articulate how we talk and think philosophically, and The 4Cs of Content which articulate what we talk and think about.

Students learn through talk by participating in rich, rewarding philosophical dialogue that is expertly facilitated by teachers trained in P4C. As a form of dialogic teaching, P4C combines several drivers of effective oracy education including exploratory talk rooted in a community of enquiry, and cognitively challenging talk about complex ideas.

High-quality classroom dialogue is central in P4C and embodies Professor Neil Mercer’s concept of ‘interthinking’, whereby students think better by talking and thinking together. But in P4C it’s not just the philosophical method that supports student’s learning, it’s also the philosophical content. At the heart of P4C are conversations that are meaningful and that matter to students. In a complex and divided world, philosophical conversations like this are crucial.

Students learn about talk by experiencing how talk works in pairs, trios, small and large groups; by recognising the diversity of communication styles and strengths; by developing a critical awareness of language and its power; and by making deliberate and informed choices about how they communicate.P4C can also support students to analyse, evaluate, and question talk itself, through regular reflection

Yes!

In schools that offer P4C as a stand-alone lesson, and in schools where philosophical enquiry is embedded throughout the curriculum, P4C develops each of the strands outlined in the Oracy Skills Framework developed by Oracy Cambridge and Voice 21:

• Physical strand: The physical elements of speaking and listening – your gestures, body language, facial expressions, as well as how you vary your tone, pitch, pace and volume of speaking.
• Linguistic strand: The words we choose to use and how we bring these together through speech.
• Cognitive strand: Relates to organising thoughts and ideas – selecting content, structuring responses, and building on other people’s ideas. (Here, the critical and creative dimensions of P4C are especially powerful).
• Social and emotional strand: Concerns confidence and interpersonal interactions, including how we conduct ourselves within a group, present ourselves to an audience, and listen effectively to others. (Here, the caring and collaborative dimensions of P4C are most relevant.)

Thoughtful Oracy is assessed using Thoughtful’s metacognitive framework: The 4Cs of Method which articulates how we talk and think philosophically, and The 4Cs of Content which articulate what we talk and think about.

These tools can be used alongside The Oracy Skills Framework where the knowledge and skills acquired through philosophical dialogue and enquiry can be mapped against all four strands of effective oracy education: physical, linguistic, cognitive and social and emotional.

In the current National Curriculum for England, oracy sits mainly within spoken language in English, alongside broader aims like critical thinking and social, moral, spiritual and cultural (SMSC) education.

But a refreshed National Curriculum, due by 2028, has many more opportunities for oracy:

• All schools following the CfE will be required to focus on oracy across all stages and subject areas and new primary oracy framework and a new combined secondary oracy, reading and writing framework will support this.
• The inclusion of Religious Education (RE) in the CfE offers opportunities to embed philosophical dialogue around issues such as faith, evidence and respect.
• A revised Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum will allow P4C to be used to confidently explore sensitive and controversial topics such as consent.
• Citizenship Education is becoming compulsory in primary schools, and this is key area that can be tackled through P4C
• The removal of the EBacc and reforms to Progress 8 will encourage students to study a greater breadth of GCSE subjects including the arts and humanities – subjects where Thoughtful Oracy thrives
• An emphasis on mental health and wellbeing and the cultivation of a sense of belonging make a sensitive and community-centric pedagogy like P4C a perfect fit.
• A new core enrichment entitlement for every pupil – covering civic engagement and life skills – motivates more of the conversations that count.

• Thoughtful Oracy is central to the ‘Four Purposes’ of the CfW (which cross over substantially with Thoughtful’s 4Cs of Method).
• Thoughtful Oracy fits especially well in the Languages, Literacy and Communication Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE) supporting the development of critical thinking and problem-solving which are identified as integral skills in this AoLE.
• The CfW is skills-based and flexible, allowing teachers to prioritise the conversations that count.

• By fostering critical and creative thinking,Thoughtful Oracy is central to the ‘Four Capacities’ of the CfE, especially: successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens.
• Oracy has strong links to Literacy and English (listening and talking) and Health and Wellbeing (respectful relationships, empathy) as well as other subject areas.
• Thoughtful Oracy actively encourages pupil voice and agency.

• Thoughtful Oracy supports the NIC’s strong emphasis on Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities (TS&PC) which help students think critically and creatively (echoing Thoughtful’s 4Cs of Method). In-line with TS&PC, Thoughtful Oracy supports critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making; working with others, reason-giving and questioning, collaborative dialogue and reflection.
• Thoughtful Oracy also operationalises the five principles that have emerged out of the 2024 Northern Ireland Curriculum Review, by making spoken language both a subject of knowledge and a tool for inclusive, purposeful, and progressively structured thinking.

P4C creates a space where all contributions are valued. With time and skilful facilitation, all students can grow in confidence and begin to participate more fully. Philosophical Enquiry provides meaningful opportunities to practise language in context – developing vocabulary, confidence and understanding through dialogue, which can be of enormous benefit to language learning. P4C is also used successfully in SEND schools where students use augmentative and alternative methods of communication.

In this ‘Commission Conversation’ Geoff Barton, Chair of the Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England talks to co-Directors Dr Grace Lockrobin and Emma Swinn about Philosophy for Children and Communities (P4C) and how this approach can support learners to think with others and to think for themselves, across the curriculum.

And this blog Why we need to talk about thinking, Grace outlines Thoughtful’s response to We Need to Talk, the oracy commission report.

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