Our key outcomes in schools: readiness, oracy and character
After measuring impact with our school partners for years, we’ve settled on the key outcomes that provide the framework for our programmes in schools.
We sat down with a list of questions: What do we do best in schools? What problems do we want to solve? What do children need in order to be successful in a changing world? In the middle of the brainstorming process, every member of the schools team independently wrote a list of what we want our top three outcomes to be moving forward, and the results were remarkably (and encouragingly) aligned:
Readiness
Being prepared for academic tests and success after school
Oracy
Skills of speaking, listening and understanding
Character
Skills of self-reflection, identity, values and goals
Why readiness?
Having spoken to a range of school leaders who have worked with Oppidan, it became clear that one of the things that they value most about the partnership is the way that their pupils are given confidence to tackle their next steps head on, whether that is taking their upcoming 11+ school interview, becoming a leader within their school or even heading off to life beyond school.
We toyed with the idea of choosing 'confidence' as the outcome, but felt that confidence alone doesn't quite go far enough. Yes, we want the children we work with to be confident, but we also want that confidence to be justified and based on firm foundations and preparation. Readiness is defined as 'the state of being fully prepared for something'. An athlete's readiness for the Olympics is about confidence but also so much more: training plans, honing of key skills, regular practice, warming up before a race and their response to challenges and setbacks. In the same way, we want to make students confident to tackle their next steps, but also fully ready and prepared to do so.
This will look different in different contexts. For example, our Prep School Journey will make students ready to take on the process of applying to future schools and to arrive at those schools, while our Sixth Form Journey will make students ready to be student leaders and for their next steps after leaving school. Whatever, the context, ultimately we believe in the power of character education and mentoring to make children 'life ready' in a changing world with changing workplaces.
Why oracy?
Over the past year, we have partnered with the Skills Builder Partnership, a global movement of employers, educators and impact organisations working together to ensure that one day everyone builds the essential skills to succeed. Of the eight essential skills in their Universal Framework, we see the most value in (and believe we can have the most impact in) developing those skills related to oracy: not only speaking eloquently, but also listening, understanding, influencing and presenting.
The Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group summarises why oracy matters: it improves academic outcomes, underpins literacy and vocabulary acquisition, supports wellbeing and confidence, enables young people to access employment and thrive in life beyond school, and develops citizenship and agency. That is why all of our programmes in schools take oracy education seriously, whether it is on our Communication Day on the Prep School Journey or by providing opportunities to develop these skills as mentors to younger students on our Sixth Form Journey. We believe that oracy matters.
“Taking oracy education seriously is perhaps the most powerful thing a teacher can do to positively impact the future life chances of their pupils.”
– Extract from ‘Fear Is The Mind Killer: Why Learning to Learn deserves lesson time - and how to make it work for your pupils’ by James Mannion and Kate McAllister
Why character?
Interestingly, Oppidan’s schools team all wrote down slightly different things as one of our outcomes which all seemed closely related: the ability to self-reflect, understanding our own identity, setting clear goals, understanding our values and a greater understanding of self. All of these fall under the same umbrella term which has been an Oppidan favourite since the beginning: character.
Much of our theory has been informed by organisations such as the Oxford Character Project and the Association for Character Education, with the latter concisely setting out why character education matters: “The choices an individual makes determine their future, and the purpose of developing good character is the ability to make good choices. Character allows us to flourish as individuals, and as a wider society. This is why the development of character, as well as achieving academic attainment, should be the purpose of education.”
We believe that character matters. That's why our mentors aren't just there for the next exam. They're for all the tests childhood throws, big or small.