Debating debating: a reflection on the place of debate within secondary schools

Abstract

This article is based on the authors' reflections on observations and interviews with students and staff involved in a debate competition in London secondary schools. Taking the data we collected as our starting point, we seek to draw on research from a range of perspectives, including political education, political philosophy and debate as a teaching method, to clarify the role of debate within a pedagogy for democracy. We consider the case for promoting debate in general terms, and then go on to discuss the role and form debate should take in such a pedagogy. Here we contrast models based on adversarial and deliberative democracy and consider the need for teachers to be aware of the benefits and shortcomings of each. We then draw on the concept of students' public voice to discuss some of the issues that need to be borne in mind when developing these strategies in class. Finally we pose a number of questions for future investigation, which may help teachers reflect on their own practice as well as inform our own ongoing research in this area.