European Youth Parliamentary Debate 2022

The ‘Debating Matters’ Club continues to go from strength to strength with its third competition in as many months on Wednesday 16th March!

A team of four travelled to the University of Oxford to represent Leighton Park for the very first time at the European Youth Parliament Debating Competition 2022. The competition is part of a peer-to-peer educational programme that brings together young people from across Europe to debate pressing issues. The organisation aims to “inspire and empower a young generation of informed, open-minded, responsible, and active citizens that shape society and drive impact.” Founded in 1987 it is one of the largest European platforms for political debate, intercultural encounters, European civic education and the exchange of ideas for young people in Europe.  LP students went to compete in the regional heats.

Each competing team is allocated a committee and a resolution to propose or attack.  Each team needs an opening speaker and a closing speaker, with time in between for all competing teams to respond or add to what another team has said.  There were eight debates, on topics ranging from fast fashion to euthanasia.  All teams get to contribute to every discussion, and points are awarded for research, clarity of ideas, quality of opening speeches, and how well the team work together.

Max (Year 11) commented, “I thoroughly enjoyed hearing all the different perspectives and ideas about the topics that were being debated. Hearing others voice their own opinions helped me develop my own perspectives on different aspects of the world around me. I would certainly encourage anyone to join the debate club at LP. It’s a very exciting experience and it offers numerous opportunities to not only debate about topics you may be passionate about but also help you develop your own public speaking and debating skills. “

“The European Youth Parliament Debate is a fantastic competition because it allows for some proper back and forth debate in an environment that simulates a proper political legislature, unlike many other competitions that are out there.  It was also great to be attending the event in person and see the students go and chat with students from other schools; debating clubs seem to attract such nice people!” added Richard Duckett, who leads the Debating Club at Leighton Park whilst also teaching Politics and History.