EXCITING NEW LEARNING AND CRITICAL THINKING FOR YOUR CLASSROOM
AVAILABLE ACROSS ALL MELBOURNE SCHOOLS
If you haven’t yet held a Collaborative Debating workshop in your school and you have been wondering about the ‘buzz’, then now is the time to book your workshop.
Easily learnt, this new non-adversarial debating methodology allows students to:
focus on the importance of solving the problem;
debate with respect;
understand that our initial positions can shift;
listen more deeply to an opposing viewpoint.
These are all essential life skills in today’s world, well beyond our classrooms.
Students' comments on Collaborative Debating
“Having done a lot of traditional debating, I learnt through collaborative debating how much more respectful and beneficial it is to work collaboratively and to be open to the ideas of others.”
“Collaborative Debating is an amazing technique to discuss two different sides of a topic without fighting or being completely stubborn.”
“It wasn’t like a normal debate where I would just think who is going to win this debate? Instead I kept thinking what is my opinion on this issue? What should we really do about this?”
Popular topics in schools include
That we should change the date for Australia Day.
That technology is killing peace
That we need more surveillance strategies
That Australia should adopt a two-child policy
Topics can be discussed with you to suit your current studies.
These ‘Mindful Coordinators’ helped maintain respect throughout the debate.
No more judging, ranking or scoring; a mentor guides the debate and opens the debate to introspection, to become more productive and fruitful.
Does Collaborative Debating meet the National Curriculum requirements?
Yes! Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding, Personal and Social Capability whilst addressing Literacy Skills including: interpreting, analysing, evaluating and expressing developing ideas. It is ideal to meaningfully tick the boxes!
To enquire about the ‘Collaborative Debating’ workshop in your school click the button below to contact Margaret
Margaret Hepworth is an expert in teenage motivations and behaviours; a thought leader in peace and values education; founder of the solution-focused, social enterprise, The Gandhi Experiment; an English and Humanities teacher of 30 years; recipient of the 2016 Sir John Monash Award for Inspirational Women's Leadership; creator of Collaborative Debating.
Margaret authored The Gandhi Experiment – teaching our teenagers how to become global citizens to provide others with tools to unravel hate, fear and discrimination. Teaching non-violence as a conscious choice, she helps prevent cyber-bullying, bullying, domestic violence and conflict. Teaching young people to find purpose aids in the area of mental health and well-being.