QatarDebate Center organizes the second iteration of the “Adjudicators Academy” in Qatar

Doha – QatarDebate Center

QatarDebate Center – a member of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development – locally organized adjudicators academy for professionals – the second version – during the period from 15 – 17 November 2020 at QatarDebate Center’s headquarters in Education City.

The academy is considered an opportunity for real adjudication, as it sheds light on ways to deal with exceptional cases during debate rounds. It is the first workshop to be held on the ground since March 2020, and it deals with in-depth issues of adjudication skills.

This academy was previously organized in the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman and Malaysia, and it is usually held before international tournaments.

All the participants in the academy are required to be experienced in tournament adjudication.

Through organizing these workshops, QatarDebate Center seeks to increase the number of veteran adjudicators in the field of international adjudication and to educate them about the debate philosophy through the roles of the speakers and the tasks of the team in a professional manner that enables them to have a full view of the debate as well as link between the parts of the debate and what’s beyond from philosophy and definitions.

The workshop was presented by the Center’s trainers, Mr. Muhammad Salman Ali and Mr. Thaer Farhat, who explained that Adjudicators Academy sheds light on complicated situations that arise during tournament adjudication which are identified in form of observations and inquiries.

Herein lies the importance of the academy, that is to say, prepare the adjudicators when faced with unusual circumstances and enable them to better in their analysis and judgment.

Mr. Thaer praised the enthusiasm of the participants and their level of interaction.  Similar to the first seminar, in terms of benefits, application of real-world applications, in addition to the change in their point of views from concern for the laws of debate to concentration on the spirit of debate.

Opinions of some participants on the importance of the Second Adjudicators Academy

Some participants expressed how beneficial adjudicators academy was, which was like an integrated course to understand the secrets of adjudication and the foundations for dealing with unintended lapses and benefiting from the opinions and suggestions of trainers and trainees.

Mr. Maher Mansour – a teacher at the Arab International Academy – said that adjudication academy was an opportunity for a number of experts in this field to delve into the concepts of advanced debate adjudication, in addition to the reaching eligibility to activate the basic criteria that are related to the degrees.

He praised the interaction between the judges, and the depth of content and the experience in running the workshop through experienced trainers. Mansour added: “In general, the workshop strengthened our experience through the exchange of experiences after each debate and the relevant discussions that increased the cognitive level of the participants.”