World Schools Debate — How the Event Works

This page is the rulebook we share as a team. It covers how a World Schools round runs, what each of the three speakers is responsible for, when a point of information may be offered, and how the judge decides who won. We come back to this page before every tournament, because the format is the one thing that never changes from motion to motion.

The Format

Two teams of three. Every speaker gives one eight-minute speech, and then one speaker from each team gives a four-minute reply. The Opposition replies first, which means the Proposition always has the last word of the round.

The Three Roles

Each seat has its own job, and a round is usually lost when a speaker does someone else’s job instead of their own. We learn our role first, and we learn the other two so that we can cover for a teammate who stumbles.

1. First speaker — build the groundWe say what the motion means, we set out how our side will run the debate, and we deliver our opening arguments. On Opposition we answer the definition if it is unfair, then put up our own case rather than only attacking theirs.
2. Second speaker — rebut, rebuild, extendWe answer what the other side said, we repair whatever they knocked down, and we add the material our first speaker did not have time for. This is the speech that decides most rounds, because it is where the clash actually happens.
3. Third speaker — compare and weighWe stop adding and start judging. We group the debate into two or three real questions, and on each one we say why our answer matters more than theirs. New examples are fine. A brand new argument is not.

Points of Information

A point of information is a short question or challenge offered to the speaker who has the floor. Offering them and taking them is scored, so a speaker who never offers one and never accepts one is losing marks they could have had.

Taking a Point Without Losing Control

There are two answers and there is no third. We say “No, thank you,” or we say “Wait a moment,” and we attach nothing to either one. We do not explain, we do not apologise, and we do not tell the other team when we might take one instead.

The first reason is time. Every second we spend explaining ourselves is a second taken out of our own speech, and the other team took it without spending any of theirs. A team that can make us talk about their interruption has won time from us without making a single argument.

The second reason is what the judge sees. We want to look organised and in charge of our own speech. A speaker who negotiates out loud about when a question might be taken looks like a speaker whose plan has just been knocked over, and that is the impression the other team was hoping for.

1. If we are not taking it, we say “No, thank you.”Three words, and then we carry straight on with the sentence we were saying. No means no, and the other team waits before asking again.
2. If we are taking it, we say “Wait a moment.”Then we finish the point we were making, and we finish it with more force than before, because the interruption cost us the judge’s attention and we are taking it back.
3. Then we tell the judge what is coming.“And I will tell you more about this, after I answer their question.” The judge now knows our next point before the other team has spoken, and we can shape our answer so that it leads straight into it.
4. Then, and only then, we say “Go ahead.”We chose the moment, and that is the whole purpose of the wait. A speaker who answers on their own schedule looks in control. A speaker interrupted mid-sentence does not.
5. We answer, then we return to the road we named.A short answer, then “as I was saying,” and we deliver the point we promised. The round closes back over the interruption as though it never happened.

The Reply Speech

The reply is four minutes, and it is not another constructive speech. It is our version of the judge’s decision, delivered out loud, and the strongest ones sound like a summary of the round rather than an argument added to it.

1. Name the two or three questions the round turned onNot six. If we can say what the debate was really about in one sentence per question, the judge can follow the whole round in our words.
2. Take each one and say who won it, and whyWe use what was actually said in the round. A reply that repeats our first speech, instead of comparing the two cases, wastes the last four minutes.
3. Close on the harmWhichever side we are, the last thing we leave with the judge is who is helped and who is harmed, and how many.

How We Are Judged

Three categories, and the weightings are set by the rules rather than by the individual judge. Knowing the split changes how we practise, because half our practice time usually goes to the category worth the least.

Prepared and Impromptu Motions

Some motions are released weeks ahead and some are released one hour before the round. The work we do this month decides the prepared rounds, and the habits we build in practice decide the impromptu ones.

Training Materials

Everything here was made for our own team and is about the format rather than any one motion. We watch the videos in order, and we keep the reports open beside us while we practise.

Reports

Images

Videos

Official World Schools Documents

These are published for the public by the World Schools Debating Championships, and they are the documents a judge is working from. We keep copies here so that nobody has to hunt for them, and every one is credited to the body that wrote it.

Documents

Tournament Pages

The format lives on this page. The motions, the research and the evidence for a particular tournament live on that tournament’s own page.