Here's how it came about...

Back in 2008, frustrated by profound educational inequality across UK schools, barrister Margaret McCabe founded charity Debate Mate Schools.

The problem? The UK has one of the lowest rates of social mobility amongst OECD countries.

Her solution? To empower young people with the key future skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century world, irrespective of social class or financial background.

Inspired by the way debating transformed her own daughter Scarlett’s confidence and communication skills, Debate Mate’s award-winning debate-led methodology was born.

Debate Mate Schools employs elite university mentors to teach after-school debating clubs in areas of high educational disadvantage. This is typically delivered in schools with an above average number of children in receipt of free school meals.

Since its inception, the charity has successfully taught over 25,000 young people to debate in the UK, USA, Jamaica, Nepal, Dubai, Doha, Mexico, Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, China, Japan, Korea and Israel.

Since then, the for-profit arm of Debate Mate was founded to provide this same crucial skills training to professionals in the corporate world and young people all over the globe through our virtual clubs!

❤️ Our social purpose has remained firmly at the heart of what we do. As a result, the profits we make from Debate Mate's commercial work are used to power social change through our charity. We also offer substantial discounts to children who join our virtual clubs from low income families or who have parents that are key workers.

This International Youth Day we want to take a moment to celebrate all of the incredible young people we work with. We are dedicated to helping the next generation fulfil their potential and succeed in a rapidly changing world of work. We do what we do because we are so passionate about our youth and their ability to change the world! 🌎

🚀 Want to support our mission whilst supercharging your child's confidence? Sign them up to a free taster session in advance of the start of our Autumn Term!