DEBATE METHODOLOGICAL INNOVATION OR ANCIENT ARS ORATORIA

Debate or the art of regulated debate is a recently introduced methodology in the Italian school landscape. Promoted by the Ministry of Education of the University and Research (MIUR) and by the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (INDIRE) starting from primary school, it develops critical and divergent thinking, communication skills, public speaking and listening education; promotes self-esteem and cultural awareness, gets used to knowing how to structure a speech and support one's arguments, to research and select sources, to be aware and informed citizens. In October 2014, the INDIRE became the promoter, together with 22 "founding schools", of a national movement called "Educational Avant-gardes" which today includes more than a thousand registered educational institutions that want to experiment with the various processes of transformation and innovation. Given the educational / didactic value of the debate methodology, it has been included among the twelve ideas "to be adopted" in order to be an integral part of the movement. The research on this methodology includes a large body of empirical studies which expose the effects of the same on multiple levels, from the psychological to the social one; dismantling, in fact, some traditional paradigms allows, also through the use of cooperative learning and peer education, to acquire transversal skills (life skills) related not only to a creative and intelligent use of language and communication, of the art of argumentation but also those knowledge, skills and attitudes that come into play when a competence has to be translated into behavior to respond to a need for the personal and social environment. The debate teaches us to go beyond dialectical dialogue by experimenting with new forms of dialogical conversations also through decision maps or argumentative maps, thus strengthening logical and relational skills. It not only allows you to broaden your horizons and enrich your skills, but looking at it in perspective, it is also a winning card in the world of work. The origin of the Debate is actually traced back to ancient Greece already with Aristotle and then structured in Roman times in the form of oratory or rhetorical ars. In the Middle Ages, and more widely in the period between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries, the Debate is identified or assimilated to the form of "disputationes quod libetales" intended as a dispute in which the masters did not assign the topic to be discussed but this was chosen by the students or by other masters present at the dispute. But then if it is true that this methodology dates back to ancient times, what does innovation consist of? With this contribution we will try to focus on the validity and innovations that this methodology puts in place at an educational / didactic level but also on the need to create evaluation grids relating to the certification of social, civic competences for each school level.