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2024 Schools Competition

With over two hundred and fifty schools, fifteen hundred teams, four grades, twenty regions, five rounds and a seven-night finals series, the DAV Schools Competition is the largest English-language debating competition in the world.   Registration for the DAV Schools Competition is now open, with first round debates taking place from February 22nd.  We welcome participation from all high schools, whether public or private, and our focus is to make the competition as inclusive as possible, providing a welcoming but competitive environment for students to hone their skills and build their confidence. The competition is open for students in years 9 to 12 (if you are interested in debating for students in years 7 and 8, please take a look at our Junior Secondary Program). The DAV is also able to provide a variety of training programs to assist students prepare for the competition ahead. If you would like to book one of our experienced trainers please see our training services.

The competition is divided into 20 regions encompassing both inner and outer Melbourne suburbs, Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. The format of the competition is Australian 3-on-3 style (see the Australia-Asia Debating Guide) – with three speakers to each team, debating over five rounds, spread across the year.  Students in years ten and above have the opportunity to debate a mix of prepared and secret topics (secret topics are announced only on the night of the debate), while students in year nine are introduced to the competition through a series of prepared topics.  At the end of the five regional rounds, eligible teams continue on into a six-night finals series.  

The DAV also runs a number of debating programs and competitions for students in regional Victoria.  For more information about these programs, please take a look at our Regional Debating Programs.

For more information about the Schools Competition, feel free to contact Kim Hitchcock.

Why Debate?
Debating is an invaluable skill for students:

• it promotes confidence and effective public presentation
• it encourages logical and critical thinking, social awareness and an interest in current affairs
• it is multi-disciplinary: debating techniques can be used in all subject areas.its benefits extend through all aspects of the school curriculum
• it is well directed to address the “critical and creative thinking”, “ethical”, “intercultural”, and “personal and social” dimensions of the Victorian curriculum.

Click here to access our Schools competition resource guides. 2024 topics and resource guides will be released in Term One 2024.

 

2024 Schools Competition (In Person)

Registration
To register please login to the website using your school coordinator details and select register for the Schools Competition. If you do not possess a login please e-mail debater@dav.com.au for more information.

Schools will be able to enter up to 4 teams per grade, depending on venue capacity

Teams must have a minimum of 4 students and may have up to 9 students

Teams will be allocated to their first preference where possible, and schools will be allocated in the order that their registration is received.

Registration closes on Wednesday 14 February.

2024 Online Schools Competition

We will once again be offering an online version of the schools competition that will run alongside the in person competition. D grade debates will run at 4pm and all other grades will run at 5:30pm.

Registration

Schools will be able to enter up to 4 teams per grade

Teams may have up to 9 students

- Dates will published in January

Format

All online debates will run on Zoom.

Protocols can be found here (these provide advice specific to Zoom software, but we will send further details to any teams using alternatives prior to debates occurring).

Video conferencing safety advice can be found here

Finals

As per the DAV's Rules for School Competitions, top ranked teams will progress to finals

Teams will join the in person competition teams for finals.

Teams must have participated in a minimum of 3 rounds to be eligible for playoffs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do the speakers in a team have to be in one location?
No. We expect that most teams will prefer to debate from the same location, but there is no specific requirement for them to do so. The location of speakers will be up to the teams, their schools and their families.

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