Running a debating competition for your feeder schools is an amazing educational opportunity for both your current and future students. These events are vibrant, fun, cheap and loved by parents.
There’s no denying that running a debate competition takes a bit of time and effort. But not nearly as much as you might think and, once you have run one, it’s a very easy annual event to replicate.
This is how to do it:
Pick a date and time
Don’t conduct a poll. Pick a date that works for you, your school and the students you’ll be using to help you run the event. Pick it as far in advance as possible. I recommend the event last between three and four hours, and that you try to find a day or time where the school is relatively quiet or empty.
Make sure you have a staging area and enough classrooms. You need one classroom for every two teams that sign up. Email as many local primary schools as possible to let them know the time and date.
Use a tried-and-tested format
This is how we do it: each debate has two teams, one supporting the motion and one opposing it (chosen at random).
Each team has three speakers and each speaker gives one speech, lasting a maximum of three minutes, alternating between the proposition and opposition teams.
Teams are given 15 minutes from hearing the motion to the debate starting. They cannot use the internet or teachers during preparation time, only their brains, notebooks and teammates.
Three rounds are best. In each round, every team debates. That means if you have eight teams, there will be four debates happening concurrently in four different classrooms each round.
Recruit helpers
In debates, there is always a chair, who is sometimes also the judge. The chair is responsible for keeping order, introducing the speakers and timing them. Sensible and kind senior school students are perfect as chairs and judges.
Use a lunchtime or two to do a practice with them, where some of them can pretend to be doing a debate and others can practice chairing and judging.
Give them an incredibly simple judging metric, marking holistically on three or four simple criteria, such as:
- Arguments: were arguments relevant and well explained?
- Engagement: did the team respond to the other team’s argument?
- Clarity: was it easy to follow the speakers? Did they structure their ideas and headline their points?
You don’t even need to have a numeric score, it’s fine just to have a winner and a runner-up in every debate. The team(s) that win the most debates win the competition.
You also need to find a tabmaster, who is in charge of creating the draws (where everyone speaks and in which position) and collating the results. Maths teachers or people good with Microsoft Excel are your best bets.
Sign people up
Create a simple sign-up form. The information you need to collect is the school name, the lead teacher’s name and email, the number of teams they want to bring and any dietary or access requirements. You do not need the names of the pupils.
Don’t have a “first come, first served” policy. Set a sign-up deadline after which you can evenly allocate team spots.
Create a schedule
Each round takes about 45-50 minutes: five to show the draw and motion, 15 for preparation, 20 for the debate and five to 10 for feedback.
Allow 15 minutes at the start of the competition for you to explain what’s about to happen, and where rooms and fire exits are. Allow 10 at the very end to say thank you to everyone and perhaps to give out some certificates and chocolates.
Come up with your motions
Have three simple motions ready for your competition. Motions typically start with “This house…” (which is just debate speak for “we”). For example:
- This house would ban school uniforms.
- This house would ban private cars in city centres.
- This house would ban zoos.
- This house believes children under 16 should not be given smartphones.
- This house would ban homework.
- This house would rather grow up in a city than the countryside.
After you have displayed the draw, show the motion. Display it, read it aloud several times and encourage pupils (including your judges) to write it down in their notebooks before they leave the staging area for their debate rooms.
Embrace the chaos
Things will go wrong. There are a lot of moving parts and small children are involved. Stay outwardly calm and smile.
These events are amazing. Kids love getting a chance to express an idea or opinion and be listened to. They love trying to rebut the other teams. They love the excitement of meeting pupils from different schools and the tension when the topic is about to be released.
Teachers and parents see the value instantly and these events are rare, so yours will be appreciated. Every time you run one it gets easier. Trust the process and trust yourself.
Michael Hepburn is the director of Debate Hub at South Hampstead High School
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