Beginner
Coaching &
Adjudication
The elements
and skills you
need for
successful
judging
An introduction
to World Schools
Debating Style
• Each debate as 2 teams
i.e. a proposition and an
opposition
• Each team has 3
speakers
• Each team has a reply
speaker who was either
their 1st or 2nd speaker
• Points of information
can be offered during
The
Marksheet
Content 40
Style 40
Strategy 20
Total 100
Marks are only awarded between 60 and 80 with 70
being the average
PROPOSITION
• Should prove their case true in a significant
majority of instances not in every instance.
• First Speaker:
⚬ Define the topic
￭ Must be reasonably close to the true
meaning of the topic
￭ Must allow the opposition team to debate
￭ Must be reasonable
￭ Squirreling, place-setting and time-setting
are not allowed
⚬ Establish what the issues of the debate are
⚬ Outline their team's case
⚬ Case split
⚬ Present their part of their team's case
• Second Speaker
⚬ Address a definition challenge
OPPOSITION
Must prove that the proposition's case is not true on at least a
significant minority of cases
• First Speaker: • Second Speaker:
⚬ Challenge the ⚬ Handle the
definition if defintion of still an
necessary issue
⚬ Respond to the ⚬ Respond to the
proposition case proposition case
⚬ Outline the ⚬ Continue with
Opposition case their team case
⚬ Case split • Third Speaker (incl.
⚬ Present a part of prop):
their team's case ⚬ Respond to the
other team's case
⚬ No new
REPLY
SPEECHES
• An oral adjudication
• Sum up the debate from their
team's POV
• Includes engaging with the other
team's overall case
• Is either the first or second speaker
from each team
• The opposition reply goes before
the proposition one
• No new substantive matter may be
introduced in this speech
POINTS OF
INFORMATION (POI)
• May only be offered in open time i.e. after 1 minute into the speech
and before 1 minute is left of the speech
• Cannot be longer than 15 seconds
• Can be questions or statements relating to what is being said in the
speech
• A speaker can refuse or accept POIs
• Should be offered with periods of 15 seconds between each offer
⚬ Any shorter and considered badgering
• General rule: When a significant number of POIs are offered, a
speaker should accept minimum 2.
• Accepting too many may affect the quality of a speakers speech
Quality of POIs asked/answered can affect the speakers content score
(unless a separate column for POIs exist)
TIMING • At league level, 6 minute
junior speeches and 7
minutes for seniors
• The first and last minute of
each speech is protected
time
⚬ No POIs may be asked
• 20 second grace period
afforded after 6/7 minute
mark
• Speakers can be penalised
for being drastically over or
under time
• Reply speeches are 3
minutes for juniors and 4
minutes for seniors
⚬ No POIs can be offered
• Range: 60-80
• 60: The worst speech you have ever
seen
• 70: A perfectly average speech
• 74 and above: Speakers who rank
first at Worlds get this
• Consistency
• Speaker scores across a panel
should be relatively similar
MARKING • Base your marking on a
hypothetical standard
STANDAR Reply speeches are out of 50
DS
All the categories are are halved
WHO WINS THE
DEBATE?
• Your speaker score and who you think won the
debate need to coincide
• Your marks should express your views of the
relative performance
• Your decision shouldn’t be made on the last
few speeches - all speeches (except reply)
weigh equally
• Should explain the result
ADJUDICATION
of the debate to the
speakers
• You should provide
SPEECH individual feedback to the
speakers
• Speak for the panel and
Thank you for
joining us
Adapted from the SASDB
Handbook Adjudicator Manual