Spoken language in the new secondary national curriculum
- an overview for No Pens Day Wednesday schools
What does the new national curriculum say about spoken language and what’s changed?
The new secondary curriculum for maintained schools became statutory in England in September 2014. The role of spoken language is highlighted in
an introductory section on language and literacy; spoken English is a defined part of the English programme of study and oral language skills are
further integrated within other areas of the new secondary curriculum. You can access the curriculum document in full here.
Level descriptors outlining progress towards attainment are not specified and schools will use their own ways of monitoring and reporting on progress
in spoken language within the curriculum.
Changes have been made to how spoken language should be taught:
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The English programme of study for each key stage is divided into reading; writing; grammar and vocabulary and spoken English
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Spoken language continues to be assessed as part of GCSE English, although does not contribute to the overall grade and is reported
separately (consultation is underway on how this aspect will be marked and graded)

Oral language skills have been more integrated within other areas of the new secondary curriculum, especially Science and Maths which each
have a specific paragraph describing how spoken language skills are required as underpinning skills for these subjects
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The curriculum states that “Teachers should develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing and vocabulary as integral aspects of the
teaching of every subject. English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching; for pupils, understanding the language provides
access to the whole curriculum” (paragraph 6.1)
Key issues for schools around spoken language in the curriculum
As the spoken language statutory requirements cover all ages in key stage 3 and, separately, all ages in key stage 4, schools will be
working out appropriate expectations for these skills for students of different ages. This will help schools to plan content, demonstrate
progression and identify pupils who aren’t making expected progress in spoken language.
Linking the statements in the programme of study to developmental expectations for spoken English and grammar and vocabulary can
actually be quite a challenge. Additionally, we know that many students’ spoken English skills aren’t where we would expect them to be,
making it even more challenging for schools to set out expectations and build on skills which may not yet be solidly in place. The
Communication Trust has produced information to help schools plan for spoken language in key stage 3 you can access that here. This is
based on our publication Universally Speaking 11-18 which show where young people should be with their communication skills across
these age ranges. The Universally Speaking booklets are available to access for free on our website and are also available for ages 0-5 and
5-11- www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/universallyspeaking
There are also wide-ranging changes to the role of spoken language skills as part of GCSE programmes and how these are assessed and
reported and we are currently looking at ways in which we can support schools in this area.
Across the curriculum, the importance of spoken language skills is clear: including justifying ideas with reasons; negotiating, evaluating
and building on the ideas of others; speculating, hypothesising and exploring ideas, for example. However, it’s really important that
these skills are explicitly taught and developed and that they aren’t assumed or perhaps overlooked.
Importantly, students must also have good development of speech, language and communication in order to Access teaching which is provided verbally
 Develop their learning through sharing information verbally
 Demonstrate their learning through sharing information in written form
No Pens Day Wednesday provides a really great opportunity to put spoken language skills at the top of the agenda all day.
How can No Pens Day Wednesday support you to meet the changes in the curriculum?
No Pens Day Wednesday provides:
 A chance to spend time specifically developing the skills which are part of the new ‘grammar and vocabulary’ and ‘spoken English’
programmes of study – with lots of ready-made lesson plans and activities to help
 An opportunity to try out and share lots of different ways you could include a focus on spoken English, not just today but every day.
 A mechanism to consider how you weave grammar and vocabulary and spoken English skills through the whole of your curriculum
 An incentive for discussing spoken language as a whole staff team – looking at how this area of the curriculum can be supported by
everyone in the different aspects of their work

The occasion to support reading and writing through focusing on the oral skills essential for underpinning written language