What to Expect Coaching World Schools Debate
World Schools Debate (Worlds) is a three-on-three debate format combining prepared and impromptu motions. While teams may include up to five members, only three compete in any given round. Students are assigned either the proposition or opposition side each round and debate motions that focus on real-world issues. This format emphasizes collaboration and in-depth argumentation. Since students must prepare for both rehearsed and surprise topics, World Schools Debate requires flexibility, quick thinking, and a wide range of knowledge. Brandon Batham describes what it is like to coach the event.
What makes coaching World Schools Debate unique?
Debaters in Worlds have the time to give both a high quantity and quality of arguments during a round. Each team is given just under half an hour of speaking time within a round, with each primary speech being allotted eight minutes of speaking time. It’s also the only debate format where you have teams of three to five competitors on a team, encouraging a strong development of teamwork and collaboration skills that will serve students long after a round has ended.
World Schools Debate also encourages healthy debate practices. First, there is a focus on substantive argument. Judges are trained to look for things like the quality of an argument, logical and reasoned analysis, and practical examples. Another focus is on style. Judges are trained to evaluate things like speed of delivery, use of effective and impactful rhetoric, tone variation, humor, hand gestures and eye contact, and so much more. Finally, there is a focus on strategy. Judges are trained to score things like time allocation, effectiveness of weighing, having an understanding of the key arguments and clash within a round, and also the quality and strategic purpose of Points of Information. For those who have struggled with other debate formats—whether due to an “all flash, no substance” approach, overly rapid delivery, or repetitive rounds—this judging framework helps ensure a more balanced, engaging, and substantive debate experience.
Brandon Batham is the Speech and Debate Program Director at Burbank High School in California. He has coached several state and nationally-ranked students, including the West Los Angeles Violet World Schools Debate team that won back-to-back NSDA Nationals in 2022 and 2023. Brandon also serves as the NSDA district chair for the West Los Angeles District and is on the board of the California High School Speech Association. In 2024, he was awarded an NSDA District Leader Commendation for Excellence in Leadership and Tournament Administration.
World Schools Debate gives you and your debaters the opportunity to grow together… From social justice and the environment to reality television and moral dilemmas, your students won’t stop talking about all the different ideas and arguments they came up with.
How does competing in World Schools Debate benefit your students?
World Schools Debate benefits students because of the wide range of skills that students must learn to debate effectively within the format. One of the unique features is Points of Information. These are questions posed during speeches that force a debater to engage with the material that is being made important in that moment—and sometimes have the power to radically change the importance of any given argument for the duration of the round. In learning how to make and respond to effective Points of Information, we teach our students that adapting their approach to convincing someone in real time isn’t a sign of weakness, but of strength.
Another feature is that it offers two different kinds of motions (topics): prepared and impromptu. Writing cases for a prepared motion debate gives students research skills. Instead of hyper-specific research and expertise, World Schools debaters are expected to approach preparing cases differently. Debaters can provide and engage with empirical evidence or studies that help further their substantive arguments, but it is never the sole determining factor in determining whether a team wins or loses a round. Impromptu motions force students to do something many adults lament that students don’t do enough of these days: sit alone with almost nothing but their own thoughts for an hour. By putting students in a position to think critically about a debate topic, we are teaching them the power of logic and arguments that are accessible to the average person. Long after a round is over, you might even find your students thinking about real world examples and how they might be able to make them relevant in their next round.
What do you most appreciate about coaching World Schools Debate?
I deeply value how much time World Schools debaters are given to fully flesh out their arguments and clashes with their opponents. Eight minutes seems like an awful lot of time, but when you’re taking the time to craft airtight arguments, warrant them out with a generous supply of examples, and really focusing on how persuasively you are delivering those arguments with powerful rhetoric, it goes by very fast.
At the heart of World Schools Debate is the comparative: what is true in the best version of the Proposition world, what is true in the best version of the Opposition world, and why is one preferred over the other? Instead of encouraging our students to insist upon their correctness, or shift the debate to the ground most advantageous to them, we ask them to take their opponents at their highest ground and try to win us over there.
Finally, I am constantly learning and finding out new information. As its name suggests, this format expects students and coaches to think about things from a global perspective: Tell me why the election reform you’re talking about makes as much sense in the United States as it does in Namibia. Should a criminal justice system look more like what we see in Denmark or Singapore? The debaters and coaches in this format have made me a smarter and more effective coach and educator because it has fundamentally altered my worldview—not to change my opinions, but to broaden my perspective.
What should a new coach know about coaching World Schools Debate?
If you are a completely new coach, this event has the lowest barrier to entry of any of the debate formats we offer. As an event that lends itself to logic and reasoning-focused debate, where what you say matters just as much as how you say it, World Schools Debate gives you and your debaters the opportunity to grow together at a very reasonable pace. There is a wide range of motions your team can debate. From social justice and the environment to reality television and moral dilemmas, your students won’t stop talking about all the different ideas and arguments they came up with during prep time. At its core, World Schools Debate is as fun as it is educational!
Finally, remember that there is a rich community of coaches within the World Schools Debate community who have your back and are ready to help. In the two decades I have been involved in competitive speech and debate, I have never felt a comparable level of collegiality and support among colleagues. So—ask questions! Ask for help, training materials or curriculum, opportunities for competition, or anything else that might make entering this wonderfully unique event slightly easier for you and your team.