The English Department in The Teresian School has been actively involved in debating throughout the years. We have participated in Concern debating, Mace debating, MUN, EYP and the UCD Irish Federation of University Women debates. Debating skills are essential to public life. When the world’s first universities were established, three skills were considered essential for leadership and promotion of the best ideas: grammar, logic, and rhetoric—what we now know as reading, writing, and speaking. Today in the 21st century, the ability to create, present, and evaluate ideas remains essential to democracy and commerce in modern societies. Debating fosters these traits.

Evidence indicates that debating allows students to explore and gain understanding of alternative viewpoints. Students develop skills in research, critical thinking, organisation, persuasion and communication.