Teach · Train · Adjudicate
A debating squad, built in eighteen sessions.
The Debating Program is a complete coach’s guide to school debating — eighteen 75-minute training sessions that take a Years 5–6 squad from a standing start to competition readiness, with every script, drill, worked example and photocopiable handout included.
By J. Whately — former debating champion at school and university.
Why this book
How to teach debating, one Tuesday at a time.
If you’ve been handed the school debating squad and a weekly timeslot, this book is the plan. Eighteen sessions, each timed to the minute, take a squad of ten-year-olds from “state an opinion with a reason” all the way to unseen-topic debates prepared in a closed room, judged, filmed and reviewed. Every session names its drills, timings, model answers and handouts. You can coach a debate team from this book having never debated yourself.
By Session 18 the squad can build a three-argument case, rebut in four steps, weigh two fair points, run the official one-hour preparation with no adult in the room, and explain why the adjudicator gave the win.
“The gap between a good primary debater and an average one is usually not reasoning. It is that the good one has real examples to reach for.” — from the Program’s standing news round, run at the start of every session
Who it’s for
Written for whoever’s running the room.
The first-time coach
Never debated? Every session carries its timings, scripts, worked examples and debrief questions. Run the drills from the page and read the model speeches aloud — that’s the whole job in week one.
The experienced coach
Case-build sprints across four topic areas, cold debates on unseen topics, adjudication training on real state finals, and a full second-year plan built on returning students teaching the new squad.
The school
A whole-year shape: two terms of training, a local competition for practice, then the Premier’s Debating Challenge — with squad selection, rotation and handover to next year’s team built in.
What the squad learns
The skills, in the order they’re built.
- Build a case with PEEL — Point, a three-part Explain (right now, after the change, that’s important because), a real example, never a personal one, and a link back to a one-sentence case line.
- Rebut in four steps — heading, promise, a flat denial, then a second reason — and know whether you are attacking the facts or the logic.
- Weigh two fair points — scale, vulnerability and permanence. Weighing is what wins close debates, and it is the third speaker’s most valuable skill.
- Master the four roles — first, second and third speakers plus the adviser, each with a fixed job list, taught with a jigsaw drill.
- Run the official one-hour preparation — silent brainstorm, download, set-up, case development, speech writing, regroup — as a team, with no adult in the room.
- Judge a debate properly — Matter, Manner and Method, three adjudication questions, trained by adjudicating a real state final on video.
- Collect examples all year — a ten-minute news round opens every session and builds a squad-wide example bank, one story at a time.
There’s a free primer covering the basics — speaker roles, rebuttal, judging and how to win a debate — at how school debating works.
Get the book
Get your copy.
$30Australian dollars
- Eighteen 75-minute session plans, timed to the minute
- Every script, worked example and photocopiable handout included
- A topic bank featuring real Premier’s Debating Challenge state-final topics
- A full-year shape: training, a local competition, the Challenge, and the handover to next year’s squad
Ordering opens soon — the first run is at the printers. Details on the FAQ page.