Debate Topics

We have provided an extensive list of debate topics to get you started. Motions always start with ‘This house…’ which really just means ‘We, the team who are speaking…’ Motions are tagged to give an idea of what levels they are best for. Look out for our ‘Debate Hub favourite’ tag!

This House, as a Parent, would actively instil a value of disobeying authority in children

This House Supports strong norms encouraging children to highly prioritise the pursuit of excellence in competitive hobbies (e.g. debating, traditional sports, music, e-sports)

This house believes that children are entitled to privacy from their parents

This house would not require parental consent before teaching sex education

This house would force universities to lower their entry requirements for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

This house would ban home schooling

This house would carry out random drug tests in schools

This house would ban boarding schools

This house would punish parents for the behaviour of their children

This house would allow random bag searches in schools

This house would make Physical Education compulsory in schools

This house would ban the use of child actors

This house would ban school uniforms

This house would abolish single-sex schools

This house would stream students in school according to academic ability

This house would introduce a curfew for children

This house would ban ads targeted at children

This house believes that teachers should publicly shame bullies in schools

This house would allow children to vote on what they are taught at school

This house believes that parents should teach children to choose friendship instead of romantic love as the primary relationship of importance in their life

This house believes that the voting age should be lowered to 16

This house believes that all educational institutions should be required to provide students with online attendance options, even after COVID-19

This house would allow the use of ChatGPT for all school work

This house would prioritise providing students in rural areas with online access to ‘top schools’’ classes over developing schools in those rural areas

This house regrets dominant narratives of good triumphing over evil in children’s fiction

This house believes teachers should be allowed to express political opinions in class

This house regrets the rise of reality TV

This house believes in countries where firearms are legal and widespread, high school students should be taught how to use them

This house would replace exams with coursework

This house, as a parent, would read your teen’s messages and monitor their internet browsing

This house, as a KS3 student, would not follow news and current affairs

This house believes Ethnicity should be a significant factor in adoption and fostering

This house would give more votes to young people

This house would ban private schools

This house would ban grammar schools

This house would replace exams with coursework