Mathematical talk as a mechanism for learning: oracy in the maths classroom

Jane Hawkins, NCETM Associate Deputy Director for Secondary, recently spoke with primary teacher, maths lead and oracy specialist Suzi Telford about the thinking behind her approach to teaching maths. She then visited Suzi's classroom to observe that practice in action. Here, Jane reflects on what she learned.

In a recent conversation with Suzi Telford from South West London Maths Hub, I was struck by way she frames oracy in the maths classroom. Rather than focusing on oracy as an end in itself, Suzi begins with a simple premise: 

‘I like to call it mathematical talk… the whole point being is to learn through talk that the oracy is a mechanism through which you're learning.’

This distinction is important. We are not talking about generic ‘turn to your partner’ moments, instead, as Suzi puts it, we are focusing on ‘depth of reasoning, depth of understanding’. The purpose is always mathematical: to reason, justify, negotiate meaning and make sense of structure.

Equity through participation profiles

Suzi went on to share her focus on participation profiles rather than demographic labels. She describes three participation profiles that teachers should pay particular attention to, based on practitioner research undertaken as part of her MSc in Learning and Teaching at the University of Oxford. She believes these profiles can be found in every classroom:

• the silent solver, who ‘knows the maths… will just quietly do it… not sharing their understanding’
• the passive passenger, who ‘doesn’t really understand what’s going on and is a bit passive… will just agree or nod or disengage’
• the wanderer, who ‘might be off task… going off on a complete tangent’

These are not fixed traits, nor are they tied to background or attainment. As Suzi explains, ‘It’s not attached to the child… it’s a participation profile.’

Her oracy prompts are designed deliberately to bring each of these learners into the mathematical conversation. Questions such as ‘What do you notice?’, ‘What does your partner notice?’ and ‘Point to [an angle] you feel sure about and explain’ create accessible entry points while also deepening conceptual understanding.

Slowing down to go deeper

A recurring theme was the need to slow maths down. Suzi describes intentionally reframing tasks so that pupils attend to the structure of the maths before calculation:

‘I want them to be able to look at it and think, “Okay, what elements can you see in there? What do you notice?”’

This slowing down is not about reducing challenge. It is about creating the conditions for sense making. As she puts it, ‘Once you understand that structure… then you can go on.’
Suzi’s classroom is characterised by many short, purposeful episodes of paired talk, often seven or eight within a single task. These episodes are not left to chance. Each one is carefully planned:

‘Each opportunity to talk is very much guided by the kind of question I’m asking… it has to be flexible, and it has to be interesting.’

Surfacing understanding in real time

Suzi’s description of assessment in the moment also highlights one of the real strengths of oracy:

‘Because they're talking, it's surfacing their understanding… you can get a very good idea of where the children are, way before you get to that independent task at the end.’

This immediacy allows misconceptions to be addressed before they take hold. It also means pupils build a shared toolkit, including vocabulary, structures and strategies, that they can apply to new problems.

Intentionality at the heart of lesson design

Nothing in Suzi’s lesson design is accidental. Throughout our conversation, she emphasised the importance of making deliberate choices about when, why and how pupils talk:

‘All of the decisions you're making are really deliberate and really intentional… matched to your intention for that task.’

This includes curriculum sequencing, the choice of task, the prompts used, the timing of talk, and the orchestration of whole class discussion. As she says, ‘If the task is wrong, it's not going to [work]… you can't do it with all things.’ But when the task is right, and the talk is purposeful, the learning can be profound.

I was lucky enough to watch Suzi teach a maths lesson a couple of weeks after this interview, and saw first-hand the impact of decisions like these on the learning of pupils in her classroom. I asked some of her pupils about the talk they do in their maths lessons.

‘It helps us expand our knowledge, if I know something my partner doesn’t or the other way around, we can help each other know.’

‘Our teacher puts us in partners that will help us develop our thinking.’

‘I notice the impact of talking to each other.’ 

Oracy: more than just talk

Suzi’s practice is a reminder that oracy in maths lessons is not just an add on. It is a mechanism for learning, one that supports equity for all pupils, deepens understanding and strengthens pupils’ ability to articulate and justify their thinking.

As she put it so simply and so clearly: ‘Our whole maths lesson is based around oracy… it’s a really efficient use of time to deepen their understanding.’