The BBVA debate league It is a pedagogical innovation program that promotes the development of social skills using the debate As a work tool. It is a program that follows the model of public speaking competitions from Anglo-Saxon countries that was launched three years ago and that aims to create a learning environment where possible the interaction, debate and practice of public speaking. In addition the program offers previous teacher training in techniques and skills such as rhetoric, critical analysis and ways to encourage discussion in language classes.
The practice of debate allows young people to develop skills that improve their ability to understand and express themselves. Experience shows that the exercise of debate encourages development of social skills and stimulates personal development of those who practice it. And it is that researching, organizing ideas, communicating points of view, arguing approaches, working in teams, criticizing and giving opinions are some of the ingredients of a practice that opens the way to improve coexistence, helps to respect others and to be respected.
For now, and in order to encourage schools to create discussion teams, the Educational Association Activa-t, the office of BBVA volunteers and the European University of Valencia, through the project ligadebatSchool, organize a discussion league for students of 4th ESO. This practice is only carried out by schools in the cities of Alicante, Castellón, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia. Also participating students of 1st Baccalaureate of centers of the city of Valencia.
The initiative is not for profit, has no cost for schools and has economic items to organize and coordinate the league, accompany the educational centers in the creation and consolidation of Debate Teams, train teachers to teach five work sessions , provide mentors to the teams to prepare the debates, form a team of qualified judges to manage the debates and identify best practices in the teams after each debate.
On the page of the League of School Debate this seven-minute video is published, in which you can see the processes of animation for debate among schoolchildren with the active participation of teachers and mentors:
Although the project is limited to the lift zone however they have desires of expand the scope to all Spain. We hope you can get it soon because in PISA the evaluation of reading comprehension, a fundamental tool to have good communication skills, is not well scored and that makes young people have difficulties to develop ideas and arguments.
And, in addition, it seems to me that although it is better late than never, I think that the age of participation of children should be expanded below. I think that at the moment when your head begins to be able to answer questions, to answer complex questions, you could start to develop this kind of skills. Thus, it would lower the age to begin to develop these learnings to the last course of primary so that they access secondary school in addition to abilities that offer them confidence, autonomy, oral and written capacity minimum to continue developing it and improving it in higher courses.
