It is a genuine pleasure to welcome you all to Sherborne Qatar here in Doha for this year’s BSME Debate Competition. We are truly honoured to host such a talented and enthusiastic gathering of students, educators, and debate supporters from across the region.
Debating is not just about winning or losing; it challenges the mind, sharpens communication, and encourages thoughtful discussion. Remember, debates are not won by raising your voice, but by strengthening your arguments, refining your reasoning, and presenting clear justifications. This is what truly persuades and impresses an audience.
We hope your time with us will be both stimulating and enjoyable. Our team has worked hard to ensure the event runs smoothly and to make this competition a memorable experience for everyone involved.
On behalf of the entire Sherborne Qatar community, I wish every participant the very best. May this event inspire, challenge, and celebrate the remarkable abilities of our young debaters.
With warm regards,
Professor Nick Prowse CEO Sherborne MENA, Qatar
FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Dear Participants, Coaches & Guests,
A very warm welcome to Sherborne School, Mall of Qatar in the wonderful country of Qatar. We hope that this event will see you flourish in your skills in debating, enjoying actively listening to others and make new friendships with your peers.
I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Ms. Rgizlaine Khayari who has been at the helm of organizing the event and has been closely supported by Academic staff at the school and by the Media and Communications and Bursary staff of the Sherborne Group of Schools in Qatar.
The purpose of the event is to hone your skills in an area that you enjoy and want to improve. I will leave with a quote from the French philosopher, Joseph Joubert:
“It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it.”
Have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes,
David Butcher B.A. (Ed) M.Ed Principal Sherborne, Qatar
FROM THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
DIRECTOR
Welcome,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Qatar for this year’s BSME Debate Competition. Sherborne has a proud tradition with this event, having first participated in 2013 during its infancy, when it was hosted at Saint Christopher’s in Bahrain. Since then, our teams have gone on to earn multiple national champion titles as well as international recognition. Over the years, debating has become a defining part of our school’s culture, giving pupils the opportunity to develop their voices, engage with global issues, and forge meaningful connections. I would like to thank Qatar Debate for their continuous help, support and collaboration.
This competition is not only about debating but also about confidence, friendship, and the spirit of collaboration that unites us across the region. I wish you all an enriching experience both inside and outside the debating rooms.
I will be present throughout the weekend, so please do not hesitate to approach me if you have any questions. I wish you every success in this competition throughout the weekend.
Ms Rgizlaine Khayari, B.A., PGCE & MSc (Oxford) Community Engagement Director, Sherborne Qatar
SCHEDULE
OCTOBER 9
THURSDAY
2:00pm - 3:00pm: Registration
3:00pm - 3:30pm: Opening address and release of motions for Round 1
3:00pm - 4:30pm: Preparation time and judges’ training
4:30pm - 5:30pm: Round 1 Impromptu Debate
5:30pm - 6:00pm: Dismissal
OCTOBER 10
FRIDAY
8:00am - 9:00am: Morning registration
9:00am - 10:00am: Round 2 Prepped Debate
10:00am - 11:30am: Break and release of Impromptu motion for Round 3
11:30am - 12:30pm: Round 3 Impromptu Debate
12:30pm - 1:30pm: Lunch + Prayer
1:30pm - 2:30pm: Preparation time for Quarter Final
2:30pm - 3:30pm: Quarter Final Debates
3:30pm - 4:30pm: Dismissal
6:00pm - 10:00pm: Evening social
OCTOBER
SATURDAY
7:45am - 9:00am: Arrivals and motion release for Semi-Finals
9:00am - 10:00am: Semi-Final Debates
10:00am - 11:30am: Semi-Final winners announced and final prep time
11:30am - 12:30pm: Final Debates
12:30pm - 1:00pm: Closing address and winners announced
1:00pm - 2:00pm: Dismissal
FIXTURES - JUNIORS
Round 1 - Sport
Impromptu
Round 2 - Technology
This house regrets the development of AI friends. (AI friend is a software or app that learns the user’s interests, friends, and habits over time and claims to offer emotional support)
Round 3 - Media
Impromptu
Round 4 - Quarter Final - Government
This house would require publicly funded universities to reduce student enrolment in degree programs that have statistically poor employment outcomes.
Round 5 Semi Final - Miscellaneous
Impromptu
Round 6 - Final
This house would pay for experiences (e.g., travel) rather than things (e.g., gadgets).
Slides for prepared debates will not be shared. Teams will have to prepare for both PROP and OPP.
FIXTURES - SENIORS
Round 1 - Crime
Impromptu
Round 2 - Sport
This house regrets training children from a young age with the hope of them becoming professional sports players in the future.
Round 3 - Media and Gender
Impromptu
Round 4 - Quarter Final Government
This house believes that developing countries should prioritise the development of state-owned enterprises over private industry (such as airlines, utility companies like electricity, gas companies, etc.)
Round 5 - Semi Final Miscellaneous
Impromptu
Round 6 - Environment
This House believes that international organisations (e.g., the UN) should have the power to sanction countries that fail to meet climate targets.
Slides for prepared debates will not be shared. Teams will have to prepare for both PROP and OPP.
DEBATE FORMAT
A WORLD SCHOOLS DEBATING FORMAT
WHAT DOES A WSDC DEBATE LOOK LIKE?
A team that competes at the World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) is comprised of three to five members.
During the debates three of those members will get the chance to speak. All of the members are part of the preparation time right before the debate.
During the debate only the debaters that are speaking in that round are allowed to communicate with each other.
The team members that do not speak are not allowed to communicate with the rest of the debate.
After the motion is announced, teams will be appointed a side of the motion they have to defend.
A team can be appointed in favor (proposition) or against (opposition) of the motion at hand.
The image below shows the speaking order and speaking time at the World Schools Debating Championship.
of the debate
Flow
Each speaker in the debate has a different role. These rules are intended to facilitate as fair a debate as possible, both by ensuring that clarity in the topic up for debate is established and ensuring that both teams have a reasonable chance to engage with the other side’s arguments.
First Speakers
The first speaker of the proposition is responsible for:
Defining the motion
Outlining the arguments that proposition will bring (their team’s case)
Explaining which speakers will present which of those arguments
Presenting part of the case for their side
Similarly, the first speaker of the opposition is responsible for:
Challenging the definition and providing a new one (but only if they think that definition is unfair)
Outlining the arguments that the opposition will bring (their team’s case)
Explaining which speakers will present which of those arguments
Responding to the arguments of first proposition (this is called rebuttal)
Presenting part of that case for their side
Defining the motion is about giving a clear explanation of what the motion means to ensure that all speakers and judges are clear on the topic being debated.
Second Speakers
The second speakers in the debate are responsible for:
Continuing to defend their definition (if required)
Continuing the argumentation presented by their team. This will include defending their previous speaker’s points against the rebuttal the other team has made
Offering rebuttal to the other team’s case
Making new arguments to support their case
The emphasis of these speeches should be on the new material presented, rather than the responses. As a rough guideline the proposition should spend 2-3 minutes responding, whilst the opposition should spend 3-4 minutes responding to the other team with the rest of the speech dedicated to new substantive material building on the case.
Third Speakers
The third speaker’s role is to respond to the other team. The bulk of the speech should be dedicated to defeating the arguments brought by the other team in detail, whilst also defending the case that their team-mates have brought from the attacks that the other team has already made (think of this as rebutting their rebuttal!).
It is technically permissible to dedicate 1-2 minutes of time to additional arguments in support of their case; however, this must be flagged in the first speech, and the emphasis should still be placed on rebuttal.
Reply Speeches
The reply speech must be delivered by either the first or second speaker of the team; it cannot be delivered by the same person that delivered the third speech. It is also worth remembering that the order switches after the first three speeches of each team, so the opposition reply speaker gives their speech straight after the opposition third speaker and the proposition reply speech is the final one of the debates (see “Speaking order” above). Both speeches are four minutes in length as opposed to as opposed to eight for all other speeches in the debate, and no POIs can be offered during them.
The reply speech is intended to explain why their side has already won the debate. They do this by boiling the debate down to the two or three overarching points of contention (often called the clashes of the debate) and presenting why their team’s side won those points. They are not expected (and will not have time) to go into detail in explaining why they won each individual argument and point made or deal with every example brought up in the debate.
They are instead a high-level explanation of why the judges should vote for their side. It is often helpful to think of these as a biased adjudication or a biased news reporter giving an account of what happened in the debate from their side’s perspective.
POINTS OF INFORMATION
During the debates teams are allowed to offer points of information (POIs). These are questions or remarks that can be made during a speech of the other side. Debaters are not allowed to make those remarks whenever they want. The first and last minute of every speech is ‘protected time’. This means that no POIs are allowed. Throughout the rest of the speech, speakers are allowed (and encouraged!) to stand up and offer a PoI. It is up to the speaker to decide whether he or she wants to accept or decline the PoI. A speaker is expected to accept one POI if the tournament uses 5 minutes of speaking time and two POIs when a tournament uses 8 minutes of speaking time.
Speakers will be penalised if they don’t offer or accept enough POIs. However, don’t accept more POIs than necessary either. Good speakers show that they oversee their own speech, confident and willing to engage, but a speech is not an interview.
PREPARED VS. IMPROMPTU
In Worlds Schools format you can either receive a prepared or impromptu (unprepared) motion. A prepared motion is one in which you have been given the motion and side you are debating on in advance of the day. These will typically be released several weeks in advance of the tournament to allow time for competitors to research the topics and prepare their ideas on the important issues within the debate. The side of the debate you are on is released after the motion to encourage wider thinking about both sides of the debate.
An impromptu (unprepared) motion is a motion that you receive prior to the round at the same time as you are given the side of the debate. In this instance you will only have your preparation time to think of arguments and examples for your side. In impromptu debates you will have one hour to prepare for the debate once the motion has been released.
Whilst only three speak in each debate, all five members of the team can contribute to the preparation time with ideas and development of argumentation for their teammates.
JUDGING WSDC STYLE
Introduction
At the end of the debate, the judges will total the scores allocated to each speaker without conferring and decide whether they believe the Proposition or the Opposition team has won. The winning team is the team that wins most of the judges (usually 3 judges).
In the rare event that there is an even number of judges voting for each side, the chair judge will have a casting vote and decide the winner of the debate. Teams will then receive both the result and an explanation of why the team in question won the debate.
Each substantive speaker (speakers 1-3 for each team) can theoretically be awarded a maximum of 100 points. 40 points for content, 40 for style and 20 for strategy. The reply speech is worth a maximum of 50 points, 20 for content, 20 for style and 10 for strategy.
However, the actual World Schools speaker scale runs from 60 – 80 as depicted in the table below.
JUDGING WSDC STYLE
Reply Speeches (out of 50)
Content is the strength of the argumentation presented. This also covers the quality of the rebuttal and ability to refute opposing arguments.
Style is the ability to deliver your arguments persuasively. There is no one particular style that will be appropriate for all speakers and all debates just as there is no one set of arguments that will win all debates. It does however encompass a few general elements that improve the impact of a speech.
Strategy encompasses two things. The first is their structure and timing, the second is their understanding of the issues of the debate. Structure and timing mean a speaker who fills their time and does not under or over speak.
For tracking and scoring debates, please visit: https://youtu.be/qYZ3dz49-lE
CODE OF CONDUCT
I WILL COMMIT TO
I will treat all individuals within the Debate community with respect, celebrating and recognizing different ideas and cultures. Be truthful and open in all communication. I understand that there will be a zero-tolerance for any words or actions, including online posts or messaging (public or private) viewed to be bullying or harassing in nature. I will report this behavior to the organizing committee immediately.
I will maintain a professional relationship with all students and staff, including positive, always encouraging messaging. Assume people are operating with the best intentions and respond accordingly.
I will engage in culturally and age-appropriate behavior. I understand that my relationship with BSME Debate is voluntary and that I may, at any time for any reason, stop participating in its programs. Participation is purely voluntary.
The health and welfare of everyone is paramount. If I receive information where a member of the Debate Community is posing a danger to themselves or others, I will immediately contact a member of the hosting team, who will then bring the issue to the immediate attention of appropriate personnel.
