Debating debating: a reflection on the place of debate within secondary schools

Abstract

This article is based on the authors' reflections on observations and interviews with students and staff involved in a debate competition in London secondary schools. Taking the data we collected as our starting point, we seek to draw on research from a range of perspectives, including political education, political philosophy and debate as a teaching method, to clarify the role of debate within a pedagogy for democracy. We consider the case for promoting debate in general terms, and then go on to discuss the role and form debate should take in such a pedagogy. Here we contrast models based on adversarial and deliberative democracy and consider the need for teachers to be aware of the benefits and shortcomings of each. We then draw on the concept of students' public voice to discuss some of the issues that need to be borne in mind when developing these strategies in class. Finally we pose a number of questions for future investigation, which may help teachers reflect on their own practice as well as inform our own ongoing research in this area.

Keywords:

• Debate
• Discussion
• Pedagogy
• Citizenship education
• Secondary education
• Democracy

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Harold Raitt at the English Speaking Union for comments on the article and support through the project. We would also like to thank colleagues at Anglia Ruskin, Professor Graham Badley, Stephen Harris, Paulette Luff, Daniela Mangione and Elena Zezlina-Phillips who commented on an earlier draft.

Notes

1. The English Speaking Union is an international educational charity founded in 1918 to promote ‘international understanding and friendship through the use of the English language’. The ESU's London Debate Challenge (2003–6) aims to ensure that all 415 secondary schools in London have the opportunity to develop an active debating tradition, accessible to any pupil.

The London Debate Challenge incorporates three main strands of activity: (a) direct teaching for young people through non-competitive debate workshop days. These are led by ESU staff and university debaters who volunteer as mentors; (b) in-service training (INSET) for teachers; (c) a competition, including championships in each borough and a pan-London finals day.

The main focus of the project is to develop debate in the classroom and as an extra-curricular activity in schools. Additional information is available from the website: www.londondebatechallenge.org or by contacting Harold Raitt on 020 7529 1550 or at [email protected]