The Lost Art of Debate

Classroom debates can have so much value, especially at A Level, but students often don't understand how a 'proper' debate should work. It's up to teachers to take the time and show them the way.

Are your classroom debates littered with sweeping generalisations, 'facts' and internet 'research' that are not even remotely based in reality?

Have you ever had a student so animated by a debate topic that they stormed out of the classroom when someone countered their passionate, but flawed argument?

Have you ever had a well-planned debate turn into a screaming match that has lost all sight of the initial topic?

Unfortunately, all three of the above have applied in my classroom at one time or another, some of them more recently than others, but none of them have ever caused me to rethink debate as a core part of my A Level teaching. Debating not only helps students engage with controversial topics and content, but also teaches a plethora of valuable other skills such as public speaking, research and active listening.

In a 'post-truth' world, students' ideas about debating are drawn from the modern media. With masses of information at their fingertips, I've found that even my brightest and most informed students often don't know how to see the wheat from the chaff when compiling their research on a topic. At the top end of the media spectrum, we have one-sided mass media reporting, where 'alternative facts' have become common justifications for dubious governmental action. At a more personal level, we have social media comment battles, where dubious claims are made and whoever hurls the most insults or blocks the most people 'wins' each debate. None of these things are really conducive to developing the higher levels of critical thinking required by students in the modern age.

Springing into debates can be interesting and might help you establish a baseline for student skills and understanding, but what are students really gaining from the experience? I've generally found that the key to good debating is in the set-up and structure. Taking the time to build the foundations will help secure students' skills and will also feed into the development of essential critical thinking and essay writing skills.

My first port of call is to set the stage, making students aware of how debate skills link into vital assessment skills. If this is neglected, students tend to overlook the benefit of the debate and disengage, thinking that you're doing it for the novelty value, or worse, so you don't have to teach them for part of a lesson!

As part of A Level Media Studies, students are assessed on their research and evaluative skills during our coursework module, in the external examination they're assessed on their ability to construct a well-reasoned argument, drawing from a number of theoretical sources and exemplar texts to support their ideas and discount alternative views. Many of these skills are required for debate success, so overtly making this link is a simple way to ensure that students see the value of debate.

My second port of call is to look at what makes a good argument. For this, I often ask students to mind-map some initial ideas, before taking key phrases from our exam mark scheme to support and build upon their ideas.

Often, one of the key points that students will make is the importance of knowledge and understanding of the topic. However, when researching ahead of a debate, students tend to be more concerned with relevance than reliability.

To quote Peter Adams of the News Literacy Project, digital natives are often blighted by 'digital naïveté' when it comes to sorting reliable sources. Spending the time to address how students can check their sources' reliability is really valuable, and there are numerous online resources to help this. My personal favourites are this blog article from Edutopia and this lesson plan from the New York Times.

The next stage for me is the structure of the debate itself and the etiquette associated with a 'real' debate. From my experience, open debates can go a number of ways: everyone agrees (rare), no-one wants to speak (too common), no one agrees (pretty certain) or everyone tries to shout over each other and the room descends into chaos (this tends to coincide with a visit from SLT). All of these can be frustrating, but at their worst they can transform what once was a safe and supportive classroom environment into a place where students do not feel able to share their ideas without judgement and rejection.

To try and avoid this, I've found that taking the time to teach debate structure and etiquette can help. Resources such as the ESU School's MACE Debate Competition Handbook, can be easily adapted for classroom use. Their resources are freely available on their website, and a number of related debate videos, including recordings of their competition finals, are available on their Vimeo channel. Playing these videos as part of the teaching of debate etiquette can help students see what a real, respectful debate should look like and some of the debate topics could even be relevant to your subject content!

The final concern I have had about class debate is how to record students ideas, or how to fit in digital debates if there just isn't the time in lessons. Recently, I stumbled upon Kialo, one of a number of online debate platforms, that can enhance the power of debate in the classroom but allowing students to respond individually and refute other students' arguments.

Teachers and students can sign up for free and conduct private debates, which are recorded on the site for later use as a revision tool. Aside from this, students can also engage in real-world public debates, drawing on these to form their own arguments and support their learning and revision. For example, the following debates on Media Regulation are both interesting and informative overviews on the topic:

• Media Regulation is Necessary for Citizen Objectivity

• Should Social Media be Regulated by the Government?

• A Media that Openly Declares their Biases is Better than a Media that Claims to be Neutral

• Should Media Organisations be Punished for Spreading 'Fake News'?

• Gender Stereotyping in Advertising should be Banned

All in all, debating is a valuable transferable skill that should take a prominent place in every teacher's education arsenal. When used effectively and in a focused manner, the benefits to students are certainly worth the time and effort!

If you have any really useful resources or ideas, it would be great to hear from you in the comments section.

Until next time,

E.E.