World Schools Debating Championships
The World Schools Debating Championships (WSDC) is an annual English-language debating tournament for high school-level teams representing different countries.
In recent years, the championships have involved teams from over 50 nations each year.
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 country is entitled to enter one team. As with some other international competitions (such as the FIFA World Cup), the nations of the United Kingdom are allowed to take part individually, as are dependent territories (such as Bermuda) and special regions of some countries (such as Hong Kong).
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. Pakistan, for example, 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 (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) speakers.
To show that debate is universal, hosts in non-English-speaking nations have often showcased demonstration (non-competition) 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 (but in the World Schools style) 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 (the Proposition and the Opposition). 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, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Morocco, 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 (the motion having been announced a few weeks before the start of the tournament) and four impromptu debates (for which teams have one hour to prepare). Once the eight preliminary rounds have been completed, the 16 best teams compete in knock-out debates (known as the Octofinals) culminating in a Grand Final. For each debate, three judges (or more in later rounds) 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.
The World Schools Debating Council
The World Schools Debating Championships is governed by the World Schools Debating Council, made up of representatives of each of the countries who participate in the championships. Decisions are made by democratic votes of the Council members (though only representatives of countries who have entered teams in at least two of the past three WSDCs may vote on amendments to the championship rules). The Council decides which countries will host the tournament, monitors and revises the WSDC rules, and elects an Executive Committee to handle matters such as adjudication, language issues, education and finance.
There is a Charter which contains the Aims of the championship and three basic principles. The principles ensure that there is no censorship of motions for debate, and that all teams take part on an equal basis. All participants and all hosts must agree to abide by the Charter before taking part. A consequence is that a country which will not allow particular teams to enter the country is unable to host. The team from Israel, for example, is unable to enter several of the countries taking part, and those countries are currently unable to host the championship. By contrast, Israel itself permits all teams to enter its country, and was therefore able to host the championship in 1998.
Charter of the World Schools Debating Championships
- To achieve excellence in debating
- To encourage debating throughout the world
- To promote international understanding
- To promote free speech
In order to further these aims, all participating countries agree that:
- The team of any participating country may be required to debate any issue.
- The team of any participating country may be required to debate against the team of any other participating country.
- The team of any participating country is entitled to take part in the Championships on the same basis as any other participating country's team.
Past championships
Future championships
Most successful nations
| Nation | Wins | Runners-up |
| Australia | 9 | 5 |
| England | 4 | 6 |
| Scotland | 4 | 5 |
| New Zealand | 4 | 1 |
| Singapore | 2 | 2 |
| Canada | 2 | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 1 | 0 |
| Pakistan | 0 | 2 |
| South Africa | 0 | 2 |
| Swaziland | 0 | 1 |
| Wales | 0 | 1 |
ESL & EFL awards
Special awards are presented at each year's World Schools Debating Championships to the best-performing English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) 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
| Year | ESL Award Winners |
| 2015 | Pakistan |
| 2014 | Peru |
| 2013 | Peru |
| 2012 | Greece |
| 2011 | South Korea |
| 2010 | Slovenia |
| 2009 | Greece |
| 2008 | Greece |
| 2007 | Pakistan |
| 2006 | Pakistan |
| 2005 | Pakistan |
| 2004 | Israel |
| 2003 | Israel |
| 2002 | Kuwait |
| 2001 | Pakistan |
| 2000 | Pakistan |
| 1999 | Argentina |
| 1998 | Argentina |
| 1997 | Israel |
| 1996 | Israel |
English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Award Winners
| Year | EFL Award Winners |
| 2015 | Croatia |
| 2014 | Netherlands |
| 2013 | Indonesia |
| 2012 | Lithuania |
| 2011 | Netherlands |
| 2010 | Netherlands |
| 2009 | South Korea |
| 2008 | Slovenia |
| 2007 | Slovenia |
| 2006 | South Korea |
| 2005 | Slovenia |
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. Past winners of this award have included Bahrain (2015), Macau (2014), Swaziland (2012), Barbados (2011) the United Arab Emirates (2010) and Thailand (2009).