The impact of a debate program on adolescents’ conflict resolution skills

Abstract

In addition to academic education, non-formal education is crucial for the development of communication skills among young people and, accordingly, for the formation of skills necessary for constructive debate, which is of the utmost importance for a modern citizen working in any field. Because of all this, in the XXI century, humanity is faced with the seemingly unimaginable challenge of lacking basic communication skills. In order to facilitate this, such kind of teachings are needed, which would be the best way for a modern human to adapt to the current environment. We investigated the significance of one of the most popular and effective training programs of informal education in this direction - formal debate techniques. The practice of teaching formal debates has been introduced in the world for many years and has already been actively implemented in Georgia and plays an important role in dealing with the challenges of modern digitalization. The research goal is to understand how a debate training program affects both short-term and long-term self-image parameters of youth and adults that change during personality development. By self-image we mean the following types of self-characteristics: self-esteem, self-presentation and self-control. In addition, the study addresses the impact of formal debates on constructive reasoning and, therefore, conflict management skills in the target audience; Since, in the current reality, conflict is one of the most urgent problems, both in everyday and professional life. The research hypothesis is to determine the effect on self-image in students who will undergo a full course of formal debate training and how this is reflected in changes in personality characteristics relevant to conflict management, such as self-esteem, self-presentation, self-control and conflict management skills. The members of the target group were students and teachers of those schools where debate teaching was successfully introduced and debate clubs are actively functioning. Both quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted, in which students of debate clubs and teachers (that were heads of debate clubs) from all regions of Georgia participated. In total, about 900 school students and more than 90 teachers participated in the research from Tbilisi and other regions of Georgia.  A special questionnaire block was prepared for the quantitative research. The study was carried out in two stages, before and after studying debate program; The focus group method was used to reveal the qualitative indicators of our research goal. Qualitative research was conducted only after the target group has completed the debate program. The students of the experimental group start to fully study the debate program from an early age, since it is easier and more effective to intervene and develop the various skills that are the subject of our research at an early age. On the other hand, the teachers of the experimental group are leaders of debate clubs who have undergone special training for managing debate clubs and teaching debate techniques. In addition, these teachers are periodically supervised throughout the school year, where they are monitored/evaluated and coached accordingly. Therefore, the members of the experimental group are selected in such a way that they are directly affected by the debate technique training program. On the other hand, it is also important to include a control group in the study to better see the impact of the debate technique teaching program. The members of the control group did not undergo the debate program and were selected with similar characteristics to the experimental group, thus it is possible to better understand the level of impact of the intervention in terms of teaching debate. All students of the target audience of the research, both experimental and control groups, take part in both stages of the research. The first phase of the study is conducted at the beginning of the school year, before the experimental group of the target audience begins to study the debate curriculum. And the second stage takes place at the end of the academic year, when the main research group has already completed the one-year course of the debate training program. It should be noted that the members of the control group, along with the experimental group, take part in the quantitative part of the study. It was found that all respondents involved in the research unanimously note the importance of teaching debates in managing conflict situations. Students note that by learning to debate it is possible to: Manage anger and keep calm See both sides in conflict situations Respect other people's opinion Correct argumentation and justification during family conflicts, which led to the reduction of family conflicts Develop self-defense skills Listen to the opponent One of the important components of the research on the influence of debates was the measurement of self-esteem. In this part of the study, the following conclusions were drawn based on the answers of the respondents, in which they emphasize how the debate positively affected them in forming a correct self-esteem: Ability to do more Raising self-esteem Ability to defend one's position more firmly Increasing self-confidence The ability to get out of a hopeless situation More freedom and flexibility during communication More courage in expressing your own "different" opinions The effect of debate on emotional control in students The impact of the debate on the students' emotional control has developed in a positive direction, which is confirmed by all focus groups. If students used to get angry during arguments, now they control their emotions and express their position in arguments, not in intense emotions. In addition, they are more likely to develop more diplomatic problem-solving skills, which play an important role in their daily lives.