This report, commissioned by assessment provider GL Assessment, exposes a sharp decline in children's speech and language skills, driven by less conversation at home and more screen.
The report shows that teachers are grappling with increasing numbers of children starting school who have poor talking skills. 44% of primary school teachers say up to 1 in 5 children struggle to communicate at the expected level for their age, and a further 37% say up to 2 in 5 do.
Nine in ten primary school teachers (89%) say the problem has worsened since 2020 and three-quarters (76%) believe parents are often in denial about any speech and language issues their children may have.
Most primary school teachers say that speech and language issues tend to become apparent as soon as children start school (48%) or beforehand (33%). However, almost half of them (46%) say they are easy to mistake for reading and maths problems and a quarter (27%) say they are often misidentified as behavioural issues.
Half of primary school teachers (49%) say that too many of their colleagues think oracy is just talking without needing structured teaching. However, 8 in 10 (79%) worry that if oracy becomes a government target it will affect how much time is spent on other priorities.