[Pre-U] Online Selections for 2021 World School Debating Championships

Written by Evelyn Woels

1. What was the event about?

The WSDC is a global competition for debaters between the ages of 14 and 19. The inaugural WSDC was held in Canberra in 1988 with six participating nations: Australia, Canada, England, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and the United States. Singapore first participated in the WSDC in 1995, and has since been a regular participant.

Each year, the WSDC takes place in a different country, and is hosted by a national debating body. Recent host cities include Singapore (2015), Stuttgart, Germany (2016), Bali, Indonesia (2017), Zagreb, Croatia (2018) and Bangkok, Thailand (2019).

Each nation participating in the WSDC submits a team of five students to debate social, moral, and political issues. The competition format combines both prepared and impromptu rounds of debates, with teams having one hour to prepare for the latter. Singapore has done consistently well in the WSDC, emerging 2nd in 2003 and 2007, 3rd in 2009, 2010, and 2020, and champion in 2011, 2015, and 2017.

2. Why we innovated

Each year, ELLB convenes live national selections at Anglo-Chinese Junior College in October, to select the national debate team that will represent Singapore at the WSDC. In 2020, due to the Covid-19 safe distancing measures and the need to minimise inter-school contact, the 2021 national debate team selections were conducted online via Zoom.

The WSDC offers a platform for students around the world to come together safely to learn and engage in critical discourse about global issues, and deepen their acquisition of the 21st Century Competencies. Through debates, students form friendships and networks with their international peers; deepen their awareness of global issues and trends; appreciate diversity, develop empathy and respect for others; and sharpen their critical and inventive thinking skills. As such it was imperative to innovate the manner in which the selections were held, so that our students could continue to participate in and benefit from their involvement at the WSDC.

3. How we innovated

School partnerships

All nominated candidates are expected to prepare for debates on their own without external help. Schools thus assisted with the arrangements for shortlisted school nominees to debate from their respective schools to ensure that the selections were transparent, fair, merit-based, and student-centric.

Pre-emptive provisions

During the selections, some candidates encountered connectivity issues and audio/visual issues that impeded their speeches and performances. Hence, provisions were made, such as giving candidates additional time to repeat their speeches and providing them with more conducive settings. Prior to the selections, candidates had also been prepared for such interruptions as we had briefed them on how to troubleshoot such technological glitches. We had also assured all candidates that these technological issues would not impede the decisions or outcomes of the selection process.

4. What we learnt

Adapting a face-to-face selection process into an e-selection process thus required a collaborative approach with schools, as well as pre-emptive provisions that would enable us handle any implementation issues. These led to the successful innovation of the 2021 WSDC selection process.