The World Schools Debating Championships is an annual English-languagedebatingtournament for high school-level teams representing different countries.
History
The championships were first held in 1988 in Australia, as part of the Australian Bicentenary celebrations. Members of the Australian Debating Federation were aware that the World Universities Debating Championship was to be hosted by the University of Sydney in January that year, but no similar event for high school students existed at the time. However the rapid growth of the university championships since its founding in 1981 showed the potential for international debating competitions. Christopher Erskine took on the task of organising the first world schools championships, which was then called the Bicentennial International School Students Debating Championships. Six countries competed in the inaugural tournament – Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand and the United States. The teams flew into different cities in Australia for their first debates, before meeting-up in Canberra for the second week of the competition. The event was ultimately won by Canada, who defeated Australia in the Grand Final. The success of the 1988 event saw Canada offer to host the second championship two years later in 1990. That year, the event was called the World Debating Championships. Seven teams took part in the 1990 competition, with first-time participants Scotland emerging as champions. In 1991, the championships were held in Edinburgh, and the event took on its present name of the World Schools Debating Championships. Since then, the championships have rapidly grown in size. Each nation is entitled to enter one team. As with some other international competitions, the nations of the United Kingdom are allowed to take part individually, as are dependent territories and special regions of some countries. All debates in the championship are in English. This is for practical reasons, but it means that many countries debate in what is for them a foreign language. This has not stopped a number of these teams being very successful. China and India have won one world title each. Pakistan has reached the Grand Final twice; while the Philippines, Argentina, Peru, Greece and Israel have all reached the semi-finals. Special awards have been introduced for the highest-ranked teams made-up of English-as-a-second-language and English-as-a-foreign-language speakers. To show that debate is universal, hosts in non-English-speaking nations have often showcased demonstration debates in their own language during the championships. A notable example was in Lima in 2003, where the teams from Argentina and Peru gave a demonstration debate in Spanish in the Congress of Peru chamber.
Format
World Schools Debating Championship debates use a special format known as 'World Schools Style Debating'. This is a combination of the British Parliamentary and Australian formats, designed to meet the needs of the tournament. Each debate comprises a total of eight speeches delivered by two three-member teams. Each speaker delivers an eight-minute speech; then both teams deliver a "reply speech" lasting four minutes, with the last word being reserved for the Proposition. Between the end of the first and the beginning of the last minute of an eight-minute speech, the opposing party may offer "points of information". The speaker may refuse these, but should take at least one or two points during his or her speech. The style of debate was originally a compromise and not used apart from the championship. However, the style has since been embraced by many countries for their national competitions, including Australia, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Lithuania, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Slovenia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Wales. The WSDC normally takes place over the course of ten days. Each national team competes in eight preliminary debates: four prepared debates and four impromptu debates. Once the eight preliminary rounds have been completed, the 16 best teams compete in knock-out debates culminating in a Grand Final. For each debate, three judges mark each debater on his or her style, content and strategy. A notable difference between WSDC and the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships – the other major international competition of its type – is that WSDC's primary focus is on ranking each country's team as opposed to its individual participants.
Charter of the World Schools Debating Championships
The aims of the World Schools Debating Championships are:
To encourage and advance the education of young people in communication skills through conducting debating events.
To achieve excellence in debating by young people through annually conducting the World Schools Debating Championships.
To promote international understanding and free speech through debating to help young people develop their capabilities that they may grow to full maturity as individuals and members of society.
In order to further these aims, all participating nations agree that:
The team of any participating nation may be required to debate any issue.
The team of any participating nation may be required to debate against the team of any other participating nation.
The team of any participating nation is entitled to take part in the Championships on the same basis as any other participating nation's team.
Past championships
Future championships
2020 – To be held in Mexico City, Mexico. There will also be a special online event known as the 'Online World Schools Debating Championships 2020' in July to August 2020.
Special awards are presented at each year's World Schools Debating Championships to the best-performing English-as-a-Second-Language and English-as-a-Foreign-Language teams. These awards are open to teams from nations where English is not an official national language. To be eligible for the EFL award, a team must be predominantly made-up of students who do not come from English-speaking homes and who do not attend schools where English is used as a medium of instruction. The ESL award is for teams predominantly composed of students who are not first-language English-speakers, but who attend schools where some or all of the teaching is in English. The EFL award was instituted in 2005. Prior to that, there was just one award for teams from non-English-speaking countries. Before 2005, the WSDC rules stipulated that teams who reached the semi-finals or Grand Final of the championship were not eligible to receive the ESL award. After the EFL award was introduced, the rules were changed so that there was no restriction on teams reaching the semi-finals or Grand Final being able to receive the ESL or EFL award.
English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Award Winners
English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Award Winners
Best New Team Award
In some years in which there have been a significant number of nations entering the championships for the first time, an award for the Best New Team has been given to the top-ranking team from one of these nations.
