Calling all teacher researchers and oracy leads!

Astra would like to hear from oracy leads, teacher researchers and those with a professional interest in oracy in their school who would be prepared to share their work with trainee teachers from across Buckinghamshire.

Plans are well underway for our flagship Educational Priorities Conference in Aylesbury on Friday, 13 June  and we are now looking for input from schools to complement the research-led programme.

Held at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre and Buckinghamshire New University, this day long conference builds on the success of a last year's event that focused on mental health in young people. We’re expecting over 140 delegates from across Buckinghamshire and surrounding areas, with trainees coming from primary and secondary schools of all types.

Potential speakers might have engaged with classroom based research, led a project to develop oracy within their school or be completing higher study in the field (e.g. NPQ, MEd, PhD etc). Potential topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Whole school approaches to oracy
• Using oracy to tackle disadvantage
• Oracy and character education
• SEND, adaptive teaching and oracy
• Subject or phase specific approaches to oracy
• Raising achievement through oracy
• Dialogic teaching

We are hoping to be able to run sessions of specific interest to primary and secondary trainees, as well as a number of cross-phase sessions. We’re looking forward to two keynote speakers as well as research-led input from the Education Department at Buckinghamshire New University. The final programme will be published in May.

Supported by Astra Teaching School Hub, the Bucks Educational Priorities Conference is a collaboration between Astra SCITT, Buckinghamshire New University, the Buckingham Partnership and Chepping View SCITT. Payments to cover the cost of release from school will be available fo speakers.

For more information on presenting at this conference, please get in touch with Andrew Millar, Co-Principal of Astra SCITT, via hello@astra-alliance.com. We’d love to have a great range of speakers from across different schools in Bucks.