Oral tradition and oracy

Oracy - the ability to express oneself fluently - has been included in plans to modernise the national curriculum, with a new focus on equipping young people with the skills they need for life and work. In Radio 4's round-table discussion programme, Anne McElvoy and guests look at how you teach oracy and explore the value of passing on traditional knowledge using methods like songs and poems. Joining Anne are

Reetika Subramanian, who's based at the University of East Anglia and is one of the current researchers in residence with BBC Radio 4. She's a host of the Climate Brides podcast and has been conducting interviews with women in India who use songs to share their experiences

Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University who champions the use of Classical rhetoric to foster oracy in schools

Stephen Batchelor, secular Buddhist teacher and writer

Philip Collins, former speechwriter to Tony Blair

Tom F. Wright, historian of rhetoric at the University of Sussex

Producer: Eliane Glaser