Children and young people’s self-perceived ability in speaking and listening dips notably in the early part of their secondary education, according to research from the National Literacy Trust (NLT). Their report, Children and young people’s speaking and listening in 2025 , is based on findings from 105,583 children and young people aged 8 to 18 who responded to the NLT’s annual literacy survey in early 2025. It found that while self-perceived ability in speaking and listening increased with age, there was a notable drop at transition to secondary school. For example, while 53.0 per cent of 8 to 11 year olds believed they were good at giving a presentation, this decreased to 45.7 per cent of 11 to 14 year olds, before recovering back to 56.4 per cent by ages 16 to 18.
The report also drew on insights from 2426 teachers from different phases of education on how they supported their children and young people’s speaking and listening in school. Teachers reported changes in support for some speaking and listening activities by phase. For example, while 3 in 4 primary teachers encouraged debates and presentations, this fell to 2 in 3 early secondary teachers before rising to 3 in 4 again in post-16 education.
More broadly, the NLT’s findings showed that children and young people rated themselves most highly in relation to one-to-one and advocacy-related speaking and listening skills, but felt less competent in formal or public-speaking contexts. However less than half (44.8 per cent) felt they were good at expressing their own feelings. In the classroom setting, 63.6 per cent felt they were good at asking their teacher questions, but fewer felt confident speaking up in class (48.2 per cent) or giving a presentation (47.4 per cent). Meanwhile just 40.2 per cent felt confident speaking in front of an audience.
More boys than girls rated themselves as being ‘good’ or ‘very good’ across most speaking and listening skills, with slight differences in expressing feelings (46.7 per cent of boys vs 43.7 per cent of girls felt they were good at this) and bigger gaps in relation to speaking up in class (53.9 per cent of boys said good vs 43.2 per cent of girls), giving presentations (50.7 per cent boys vs 44.7 per cent girls), and taking part in debates and discussions (62.0 per cent boys vs 53.0 per cent girls).
Responding to the report Geoff Barton, chair of the Oracy Education Commission, called for more to be done to develop young people’s spoken language and listening skills. He said: ‘Oracy needs to be given higher priority in early teacher training and ongoing professional development. This will enable young people to deepen their engagement with subjects through high-quality speaking and active, critical listening. It will make teaching more rewarding.’
Full report: https://tinyurl.com/2uhpr3xc