Future debate coach training events in plans after Ommen

Our first coach training event brought together 29 debate coaches, most of them volunteers, from 11 countries who spent a week working on their coaching skills in the Netherlands. Co-funded through the Erasmus+ programme, the event required no financial contribution from the participants. The training focused on several topics, including planning debate meetings, non-formal teaching methods, learning about pedagogical theory and practices that can be useful for coaching debate, discussing the ethics of coaching and conflict resolution strategies, providing constructive feedback to debaters and collecting and using their feedback to improve our work as coaches. We spent some time analysing the existing tools and materials available to debate coaches and mapping out what needs to be developed to increase the reach and the quality of debate-based education in our network.

In addition to the straightforward and the practical, our participants report that the event provided them with the opportunity to exchange experiences from different national circuits and find a common thread between their diverse experiences, outlining both the joy and the difficulty of running debate clubs. The discussions in Ommen last week illuminated the social relevance of debating and its potential to positively impact our communities. 

We are excited about this event serving as the template for future coach training events. We hope this becomes a staple in our community, removing financial and other barriers to skill building and knowledge extrange between debate coaches from different countries. If you have the time, please consider giving us feedback on existing and suggesting new workshop topics and exercises for future editions of coach training events using this form. As always, watch this space for more information on future events and projects. 

This training was co-funded through the Erasmus+ accreditation in the field of youth.