The education secretary is right that her job is not to ‘polish the status quo’. Next, she must decide what to change first

There is a good case to be made for the increased importance of speaking skills in our new age of machines. With the UK economy’s stronger-than-expected recent performance widely linked to AI investment, it is vital that people are equipped for the kinds of in-person, public-facing jobs that are least likely to be automated. A concerning decline in children’s language development, both in the UK and internationally, has been linked to high screen use. There is a grim irony in a situation where tech companies both compete with humans for contracts and undermine our ability to talk to one other.

The Guardian has previously backed efforts to more strongly embed speaking skills, or oracy, in British schools. In a speech on Thursday, Lucy Powell promised to give them equal status to reading and writing in English (education is devolved, so her main responsibility is for England, but there are parallel initiatives in the other nations). Yet with promised updates to the national curriculum postponed, and plans for special educational needs reform causing deep anxiety to families, schools and councils, the hardest questions for the education secretary are about priorities. Following negative feedback from schools, she has also asked Ofsted to look again at its new inspection framework.

The education secretary is right to focus on what students need most: the ability to express themselves. As for maths, grab a calculator

At last the fourth R is born. Articulation – speaking – is to join reading, writing and arithmetic in the education canon. What has become the mighty struggle against the dictatorship of the screen can begin in earnest. The spoken word, human-to-human communication, must finally be recognised by the gods of reactionary schooling. The pundits call it oracy.

On Thursday, the education secretary, Lucy Powell, called the academics’ bluff. She wants a radical reform of the national curriculum in England to reduce “desktop” working in favour of verbal fluency and practical skills. This will take courage. For decades, education’s senior leaders have been ramming easily forgotten “subjects”, such as maths and French, into children’s brains so they can be judged and measured in league tables. These tables have grown ever more dominant as ministers seek to climb “global rankings”.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist

Nine in 10 school heads who responded say inspections still ‘negatively affected’ staff mental wellbeing

School inspections in England continue to damage the mental wellbeing of teachers and senior leaders, according to a survey commissioned by Ofsted that casts doubt on efforts to reduce the stress caused by inspectors’ visits.

The independent survey of school leaders who had undergone the revised inspections since last year found that 88% said it had “negatively affected” the mental wellbeing of school staff, including 29% who said it affected them “a lot”.

Campaigners and Send parents including Chris Packham, Carrie Grant and Sally Phillips urge ministers to work with families and organisations to preserve individual provision and improve accountability in the system

The legal rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are still under threat. The government’s proposed Send and education otherwise than at school (Eotas) reforms would significantly reduce existing legal rights to enforceable education, health and care plans (EHCPs), parental choice of educational settings and independent routes of appeal.

We support the government’s ambitions for a more inclusive education system. Better teacher training, earlier identification of need, greater specialist expertise and a properly staffed workforce are all necessary. But none of these initiatives require children and families to surrender the legal protections they currently have.

Exclusive: Letter to government says changes will unfairly remove legal protections for children in England

• Letter: Legal rights must be retained for children with Send

Campaigners are calling on Andy Burnham to abandon the core elements of the government’s overhaul of special educational needs provision in England, arguing they unfairly remove children’s legal protections.

A group of children, parents and experts, led by the broadcaster Chris Packham, have written a letter calling for the prime minister to gut the plans laid out under his predecessor Keir Starmer.