Debating in Schools

Debating formats

In both of the most popular formats of debate, each speaker in the debate has a designated role to perform in the debate. This section goes through each speaker’s role in a Mace Format Debate and each speaker’s role in a British Parliamentary Debate.

Although this may seem somewhat technical, if speakers perform their roles on the table well, the standard of the debate is of a much higher standard.

British parliamentary debating format

How the British parliamentary debating format works.

Mace debating format

A look at how the Mace debating format works.