Debate is an innovative teaching method ever more used in Italian schools. Debate can be defined as a regulated confrontation where two (or more) teams support different points of views against a certain topic and are engaged in a discussion, which is evaluated by a dedicated jury. The two teams prepare their arguments and counterarguments beforehand and are trained to support both positions (PRO and CON) since it is crucial that students explore all the angles of a motion - the specific assertion that translates the topic in a claim to be supported (by the PRO team) or rejected (by the CON team).

Debate is a practice that, even if grounded in anglo saxon cultures, it is now widely adopted worldwide. In Italy, the first experiences in the education field can be dated back to 2012. Indire, the National Institute for Educational Innovation, Research and Documentation, within the Avanguardie Educative Movement - a community of innovative schools - has been promoting this practice through a twofold strategy, top-down and bottom-up (Cinganotto, Mosa, Panzavolta, 2021). After several years of research activities in formal education contexts (Cinganotto, Mosa, Panzavolta, 2020), and proving that Debate can enhance an inclusive environment for all students (Mosa, Panzavolta, 2023), Indire researchers explored other applications of Debate, for example in adult education, such as managerial on-the-job training and online university. Indire, in collaboration with the municipality of Bologna and the University of Bologna, Department of Educational Sciences, designed the transfer of the Debate methodology from formal to non-formal educational contexts. The research presented in the paper deals with the use of Debate in non-formal contexts, i.e. after-school services, called “Centri Anni Verdi”, where at-risk students go to do their home-work and follow recreational and cultural activities. Those services receive public funds and cooperate with schools and social services in order to prevent early school leaving of students. The age range of students attending these services is 11-14; the students come from difficult backgrounds, are often non Italian or non native Italian speakers and live in poor areas of the city of Bologna. The challenge was to adapt the Debate methodology to non-formal educational contexts where the development of critical thinking and communication skills is even more crucial than in other advantaged, educational contexts. This also required pre-intervention training activities of educators that have no familiarity with the Debate methodology and that was carried out following a mixed approach by Indire researchers. The paper reports about the preliminary findings of such an attempt with positive and promising outcomes. The research methodology is quali-quantitative and multi-informants and based on on-field observation, interviews with students and questionnaires to educators and administrators.

References:
[1] Mosa, E., Panzavolta, S. (2023), “Diventare competenti con il Debate”, in RicercAzione, v. 15, n. 2 bis, https://ricercazione.iprase.tn.it/article/view/391/321.
[2] Cinganotto, L., Mosa, E., Panzavolta, S. (2021), Il Debate. Una metodologia per potenziare le competenze chiave, Carocci, Roma.
[3] Panzavolta, S., Mosa, E., Cinganotto, L. (2020), Debating in the Pandemic age: lessons learnt from crisis times, in ICERI2020 Proceedings, pp. 7727-7733.

Keywords: Debate, non formal education, at-risk students, educational innovation, oracy, critical thinking, communication skills.