Get your school involved

While the debates traditionally took place face to face, Covid-19 restrictions have meant a change to the way the debates are run and organised.

Please read the following carefully:
Schools who have successfully registered will be informed once the registration deadline closes in September and will then be provided with their motions and fixtures list in early October.

The League Phase of the competition will be online ONLY. For the later stages of debates it is hoped to hold some face-to-face debates where possible. This is dependent on health and safety guidelines and government advice. Participating schools will be informed of any updates.

A new system for uploading and adjudicating online debates will be launched in October 2021. Training and guidance will be provided for participating schools and adjudicators before the competition begins.

All schools will get the chance to take part in three* unique debates and learn about development issues and the work of Concern.

In the 2021/2022 school year, the Concern Debates programme will be fully funded by Irish Aid and schools will not be asked to pay a registration fee.

*Please note the change to the number of debates in the 2021-2022 League Phase.

Please contact [email protected] if you have questions or need more information.

If you need any more convincing why you, your pupils or your children should take part in the Concern Debates, here are just some of the skills that previous participants have said they gained from debating:

• Learn to speak in public and in front of peers

• Develop cognitive and language abilities, as well as skills in research and debating

• Gain a deeper understanding of the global issues affecting millions of people

If you like what you’ve heard so far, please sign up below and a Concern member of staff will be in touch with further information.

New to Debating? Not sure how to structure your speech and gain top marks? Check out the students from Portmarnock Community School below and see our full playlist here.

Each video highlights where the students are getting marked and are a good introduction to get acquainted with the marking sheet.