Debating

Like the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) and all the major debating competition between British universities (known as Inter-Varsities or IVs) the Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition is run in the British Parliamentary (BP) style. This is modelled on what takes place every day in parliament. It involves four teams – each of two speakers - in every debate. Two teams argue in favour of the topic (or ‘motion’) and two against, with each speech lasting five minutes. During the first and last minutes of each speech nobody may interrupt, but in the middle three minutes, speakers on the opposite side may offer short ‘points of information,’ (or POIs) which the person speaking can either accept or deny. Teams compete with all the other teams in the debate (including the other team arguing for the same side of the motion with which they must be consistent) and are ranked 1st to 4th by an independent judge or judges.

The Rules

At the Regional Rounds each team will take part in two separate debates and the adjudicators will select the best teams from the Round as a whole to go through to Finals’ Day.

All the debates in this competition are 'short prep' which means that teams will be given their positions in the debate and the motion they will have to discuss 15 minutes before the debate begins. During this time teams are not allowed to talk to anyone else (including teachers, parents, other debaters, the other team on their side of the debate etc.) nor are they allowed to use any electronic resources (mobile phones, laptop computers etc.) to help them prepare. Teams may bring with them as much in the way of printed material as they wish (such as newspapers, journals, prepared files of cases etc.) but many very successful teams have relied solely on their ability to think up arguments in the 15 minutes of preparation time.

Obviously debating gets more complicated than this, particularly as debaters become more experienced, so come along to one of our workshops and have a look at the resources below for more information.

We are also offering a very competitively priced guide to debating as part of the competition, which we hope will be of use to everyone from the complete novice to the advanced schools-level debater, and is designed to provide a comprehensive coaching guide specifically geared towards British Parliamentary style debating.


Sample Motions

Sample motions taken from previous years:

This house would ban all zoos
This house believes that we should stop using nuclear power
This house believes that gay couples should be allowed to adopt children
This house would torture terrorist suspects
This house would detain its asylum seekers
This house would allow sex selection for IVF
This house would go to war without the UN


Debating Resources

In addition to the comprehensive debating guide we are offering for sale, the following resources are available for download free of charge:

‘The role of debating in the National Curriculum’ information sheet
‘How Oxford can help you start debating’ information sheet
‘Preparation for the Oxford competition’ information sheet
‘A guide to hosting’ information sheet
‘An introduction to British Parliamentary Debating’ information sheet
‘Setting up a Debating Society in your School’ information sheet

We are deeply indebted to Sarah Jones, former Convenor of this competition who is now a Teachfirst teacher in London, for writing these resources and continuing to make them available to schools.


Books

‘Pros and Cons: A Debater's Handbook’, Trevor Sather (ed.) (18th Edition, 1999)
Contains arguments for and against a large number of issues as well as a basic guide to debating. Despite the authors’ boasts about winning their first competition using only an earlier edition of this book, it should be viewed as a starting point ideal for beginners rather than an exhaustive list of all the possible arguments. Good debaters should be able to come up with the arguments in ‘Pros and Cons’ simply by brainstorming.

‘The Oxford Union Guide to Successful Public Speaking’, Dominic Hughes & Benedict Phillips, (2000)
Whilst written about public speaking rather than debating per se it does have a whole host of useful information and tips on how to make a debating speech more stylish (and thus more likely to persuade a judge and audience). Everything from eye contact to modulation to structuring a speech are covered.

‘Bad Thoughts: A Guide to Clear Thinking’, Jamie Whyte (2003)
Although not specifically designed for debaters, this highly readable and entertaining book discusses the use and misuse of logic: much of it is relevant when considering debating technique.

‘More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues’, Joel Best (2005)
Joel Best’s second book on statistics and their misuse (his first is ‘Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians and Activists’) it provides a series of pithy examples of where statistics have been used to support public policy decisions without them being truly applicable. A useful guide for debaters who get flummoxed by opponents throwing numbers at them and want to know how to show that numbers aren’t everything.


Links

www.britishdebate.com
The website for British debating, run by the English Speaking Union, contains the only national tournament calendar as well as more guides and resources for debaters.

www.esu.org
The English Speaking Union (ESU) which runs the International Schools’ Mace Debating Competition, the London Debate Challenge, the annual Debate Academy and the England Schools’ Debating Team.

www.londondebatechallenge.org
The London Debate Challenge (LDC), a government supported scheme run by the ESU which will bring debate coaching and competition into every London state secondary school between 2003 and 2006. Many Oxford debaters that you will meet at workshops or rounds also work for LDC.

www.icyd.com
The website for the International Competition for Young Debaters (previously NCYD and formerly the Oxford Junior Schools’ Competition).

www.njdc.org.uk
The website for the new Northern Junior Debating Championships which is run with support from the Oxford Union Society.

www.idebate.org
The International Debating Education Association (IDEA) which runs its own camps and workshops primarily aimed at English as a Second Language (ESL) debaters.

www.debatabase.org
Run by IDEA this website contains arguments for and against literally hundreds of issues. Whilst using this alone will not make you win the competition, it is a useful resource and contains more cases and is more up-to-date than ‘Pros and Cons’. Many of the topics have been written by Oxford debaters so don’t be surprised if they start smiling if you use an argument from the website.

www.schoolsdebate.com
The World Schools Debating Competition (WSDC) wesbsite. Many former winners of this competition have represented their country at the World Championships, as have many of the Oxford debaters who judge and lead workshops for this competition.

www.oxford-union.org
The Oxford Union Society which runs this competition as well as many other events for Oxford students.

www.oxford.ac.uk
Consistently the strongest debating institution at the World Universities Debating Championships and one of the top 10 universities in the world.