Founded October 2007 (2007-10) Type Charity | Founder Margaret McCabe Registration no. 1121222 | |
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Motto Empowering the youth of today. Creating the leaders of tomorrow. Focus Providing under-privileged children with confidence, communication skills and higher order thinking through debating | ||
Debate Mate is an educational charity based in London that teaches debating in inner-city schools across the UK in areas of high child poverty. Debating is used to develop confidence and communication skills in young people with the aim of improving social mobility. It also runs programmes overseas in Nepal, Israel/Palestine, Jamaica, Rwanda, Zambia, Dubai and the United States.
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Work
Debate Mate was founded in October 2007 and works with young people attending challenging inner-city schools in areas of high child poverty. They send top university students into these schools to establish and run after-school debate clubs, delivering dynamic and cost-effective peer-to-peer mentoring. Participants develop key 21st century core skills crucial to addressing disadvantages and increasing social mobility, namely communication, teamwork and leadership skills. The lack of these skills amongst children from disadvantaged backgrounds is holding them back, stifling social mobility. Through debating, Debate Mate empowers and inspires participants, developing confidence and self-esteem and instilling belief in their abilities and what they can achieve. Debate Mate also run bespoke workshops for teachers looking to integrate debating into their classroom, and specialised training for students who want to “debate like a world champion”. Data collected shows that on average, by participating in the Debate Mate programme, students improve by nearly 2 levels on the National Curriculum English Speaking and Listening scale over the duration of the program, which is over three times the expected increase for students in a year.
History
Debate Mate was founded in 2007 by Margaret McCabe, who has over twenty years’ experience as a commercial barrister combined with two decades in the voluntary sector including Centre Point, NSPCC Justice for Children programme and as an advisor to Human Rights Watch.
In 2015 Debate Mate was the subject of an 8-part prime time documentary series commissioned by Sky entitled 'Kings and Queens of Speech.'
Debate Mate Core Programme
The core programme consists of a 15-week after-school debating programme led by top university students in over 200 schools across the UK (in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Merseyside).
Programme structure:
The 2014-2015 core programme was the biggest in Debate Mate’s seven-year history; over 4,500 student took part in the programme.
The programme is being received positively with teachers quoted as saying:
Debate Mate Graduate Programme
Debate Mate Graduate Programme is part of the Onward Learning Programme. This programme:
Furthermore, this extended version of the core programme helps the participating students with university applications; they receive help with personal statements and receive one-on-one interview practices.
Partners
Debate Mate works with and is supported by an extensive network of organisations and individuals. Partners include:
Private
Corporate
Trusts and foundations
Debate Mate International
The programme is founded with a similar goal with that of its Core Programme in the United Kingdom, working with a range of age groups, aiming to promote social mobility through debate, in areas where it is needed most.
In the summer of 2012, Debate Mate also ran programmes in Zambia, Rwanda and Hong Kong.
Alumni Successes
Debate Mate's previous students have had many successes during the charities 7 years of activity. Notable successes are listed below.