The Fair Education Alliance is delighted to announce that the English-Speaking Union has joined the Fair Education Alliance, a coalition made up of leading UK organisations to address the persistent educational achievement gap between young people from the poorest communities and their wealthier peers.
The English-Speaking Union has over 5,000 members in England and Wales which are organised into 35 branches, each of which maintains its own programme of events and supports schools in its local area. They run a wide range of educational and cultural programmes to support learning and development including scholarships, speech training and school competitions.
Leela Koenig, Head of Oracy at the ESU, said: “We are delighted to join the Fair Education Alliance and to have the chance to work together with other organisations which share our commitment to developing empowered citizens. The ESU has fostered dialogue between people from different backgrounds through harnessing communication skills for nearly 100 years. We believe that a focus on oracy in schools can play a big part in developing key skills to support high aspirations.”
Lewis Iwu, Director of the Fair Education Alliance, said: “The ESU is a unique educational charity that does fantastic work to provide people in the UK and internationally with the communications skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their full potential. We’re very excited to have them join the Alliance.”
The Fair Education Alliance will publish their state of the nation report on April 13.