Get Debating Supporting Students with SEND

Debating is a complex activity with a range of rules to follow, which can be challenging for students with SEND. It requires the development and sharing of arguments and ideas, listening to and understanding others’ ideas and then voting.

To get the most from this pack, use the table below to decide on the learning outcomes most suitable for your students, then use the relevant resources and supports to shape your approach.

Learning Resources and Outcome Focus and approach additional supports To understand The students need to be able use familiar The moderator’s the rules of material to form their arguments. prompt sheet can be debating. used by the The debates should be about things that moderator and/ or are based on their own experiences at speakers to help school (e.g. school uniform, lunches, them identify the timetables or school routines), so that different parts of the less effort is needed to develop debate process. arguments and more focus is given to explaining ideas and following the rules of a debate.

You could provide students with ideas for arguments for them to share in their own way during the debate, so they can focus on taking part in the process.

To share their As sharing ideas formally can be difficult Use the ideas in the ideas during for students with SEND, you may wish to Debater’s checklist. the debate. focus on developing their presentation Also watch YouTube skills – how they are saying something, clips of debating with rather than what they are saying. the sound down, so that students can focus on the way they stand, use their hands, etc.

To be able to respond to For many students with Use pre-written what others say in SEND, sharing ideas and arguments and read them response to an idea. responding to what others out to the class, so that say can be difficult, students can see the therefore this may need argument as well as hear to be an explicit focus of it. the lesson. Allow thinking time before a response is required.

To be able to express a Often in a debate, Work on fact and point of view they might not hold. students are asked to view and sharing express a view which information that is not differs from their opinion. your view/experience as This can be difficult for preparation for work on students with SEND, this unit. especially for those with ASD, who can struggle to distinguish between fact and point of view.

Allow these students to express the view closest to their beliefs, however they may need support to appreciate that the opposition is not attacking them personally.

Using the ‘Get Debating’ resource

Glossary Use the glossary to explain words to students. There is also a pre-learning vocabulary worksheet with visual prompts to support students to recall and retain the words and their meanings when they are used during the lesson. You can also use the matching activity to support active learning of this vocabulary.

Debater’s Checklist This worksheet can be used to support students to develop their ideas and provides sentence starters for them to complete. It may be easier for students with SEND to focus on the development of one argument at a time. There is a simplified sheet for ‘Organising my ideas’, which focuses on the development of one argument. This worksheet also focuses on the use of the word ‘because’ and the idea of providing evidence to support and explain ideas.

Fact and Point of View It may be useful to do some additional work on the difference between fact and point of view. Start by collecting ideas from the group on a subject directly within their experience (e.g. school dinners). Either as each idea is shared or once all the ideas have been collected, model sorting them into facts and points of view. A fact is agreed on and can be verified (e.g. school dinners start at 12.30) while points of view can be debated and are not necessarily proven (e.g. the custard is always lumpy).

Use the sorting exercise to get students to have a go at sorting statements into facts and points of view.

You could also have a look at other activities available online that look at fake news and evaluating information (e.g. on www.checkology.org), that can further support learning in this area.

Once students are secure with this, they can be supported to develop the ‘because’ arguments to support their point of view and persuade others to agree with them. This can be particularly difficult for students with ASD who may believe that everyone thinks the same as them.

Sharing information that is not your view/experience Sharing information that is not your view/experience can be very difficult for students, particularly those with ASD. Ask students to find out the experience of another student on a specific topic (e.g. what they watched on TV last night or what they ate for breakfast) and then share the other student’s experience with the class. Students may need to undertake this exercise a number of times over a period of time to become comfortable with it. Once students have developed experience of this they can move onto sharing more abstract and opinion based ideas (e.g. favourite colours, choice of activities, etc.).

Moderator’s guide Moderating a debate is a difficult role and students with SEND may need particular support to undertake it. A tick chart of the debate process is included to support this role.

A student could be supported in this role by:

 a second person acting as timekeeper

 agreeing beforehand how people will indicate from the floor that they wish to speak

 limiting how long people may speak for

 limiting the number of speakers from the floor

 seating those ‘on the floor’ into for and against, so that it is easier to get a balance of speakers If needed, also give a copy of the prompt sheet to those proposing and opposing the motion, to help guide them through the debate. In the news now These activities are about identifying good subjects for debate. Use the ‘choosing a good debate subject’ worksheet to help students identify topics for debate. Give students topics to consider, rather than asking them to formulate their own.

Use the simplified worksheet with students who may find this activity difficult. This includes examples of school based subjects to relate this back to students’ own experience which should make it easier for them.

In your school This activity sheet is about choosing a school based debate subject that could have an impact on the school community. This ties in with the work undertaken by school councils.

Some students with SEND may find it difficult to identify subjects which are both of general interest and practical.

Use the blank ‘Choosing a good debate subject’ worksheet to support students to identify specific school based issues that they think would make good debate subjects.