Debating in Schools

Judging advice

image of three men judging a debating contest

At the end of a debate, the judges normally give their result. Judges assess speakers on how persuasive they were (this differs from an audience vote as audiences often vote for those whom they agree with).

How to mark a debate

Resources

PDF icon PDF file: Judging Guidelines for debating (63KB)

PDF icon PDF file: Judging Sheet for debating (42KB)

What competition judges look for section

  • When marking an individual debate, it is normally easiest to think about giving the individual speakers marks and then awarding the debate to the team with the highest overall score (who should also always be the team who were most persuasive overall).
  • The Judging Guidelines lay out a marking scheme that can be used when judging debates or assessing pupils’ debating skills.
  • The Judging Sheet is designed specifically to help mark debates. It has space to record the various different aspects of persuasive speaking.
  • When judging a debate, teachers should look for a balance between watching a speaker so they can assess their persuasiveness, and writing notes to help remember what happened.

Judging and Assessment is for Learning

In many of the debates, pupils will judge the debate. However, teachers should also judge the debate even if they are not judging formally.

Feedback on debates should, of course, focus on areas of improvement whilst also praising aspects where pupils have performed strongly. In practice, feedback might focus upon:

  • suggesting specific roles a pupil could try to improve skills (for example, a summary speech to focus on listening and response).
  • suggesting a specific focus for the next debate (for example, a speech 100% focused on delivery, worrying less about content).
  • arranging pupils into teams with complementary skills to help with advice in preparation and during the debate (this is a particularly useful way of stimulating peer learning).
  • suggesting specific exercises to improve an aspect of debating.

Debating provides opportunities for self- and peer-assessment. Pupils can judge debates using the guide sheets and provide feedback to each other (which involves both peer-assessment and peer-teaching).

Pupils should also be encouraged to reflect upon their own performances, which often raise stronger feelings than equivalent written tasks. This can fit into the school’s ‘Two Stars and A Wish’ culture. You can download this self-assessment sheet to help pupils with this task.

PDF file: Self-assessment sheet for debating (39 KB)