IDEA-NL an independent membership association of organizations and individuals that support debate (a formal contest of argumentation between two teams in which one team supports, while the other team opposes, a given proposition), human rights and civic education worldwide. IDEA is registered in the Netherlands as a not-for profit membership organization. IDEA provides assistance to debate and educational institutions worldwide. IDEA is currently looking for International Trainers for its flagship event, the Youth Forum.

Application Deadline: December 22, 2009

Projected starting date: February 1, 2010

Job Title: IDEA Youth Forum Trainer

Reports To: Forum Director and Head of the respective educational track

SUMMARY:

The International Debate Education Association (IDEA) is pleased to announce a global call for trainers for the 16th annual IDEA Youth Forum.

General information

The IDEA Youth Forum will take place in the Netherlands between July 22 and August 4 2010. The participants in the Forum will be high-school students (aged 14-19) their teachers and coaches from a wide variety of countries in Europe, Asia, Americas and Africa. We expect to host up to 220 students and coaches. The official language of instruction at the Forum will be English. The debate format for the Forum will be Karl Popper Debate and British Parliamentary Debate (for more details on these formats please visit http://www.idebate.org/standards/).

During the Forum, participants will engage in sessions on argumentation theory and debate concepts as well as specific sessions that address the resolutions to be debated. The Forum will also feature three debate tournaments:

• The IDEA Karl Popper Debate World Championships on resolutions regarding energy. The exact resolutions will be announced in December.
• The IDEA Karl Popper Mixed Teams Tournament. The general topic area will be announced in January.
• The IDEA British Parliamentary Debate Tournament.

The Curriculum Committee will be selecting 21 trainers that will be given the opportunity to become IDEA YF 2009 trainer. These trainers will have the opportunity to go through the Training of Trainer course as well as provide training at the Youth Forum. The Committee will employ multiple criteria for selecting the pool of trainers for the YF including debate and teaching excellence, concern for geographic and programmatic diversity, desire to develop the capacity of young trainers and motivation for participating as trainer.

Trainers’ Profile – requirements:

To perform this job successfully, the YF trainer must be able to perform satisfactorily in each of the below mentioned categories:

• relevant experience in debate education (debate coach, debate trainer or debate teacher)
• necessary skills and experience relevant to designing debate curriculum, preparation of educational materials (lesson plans, debate exercises and handouts) and researching materials
• adequate computer skills (comfortable with navigating through www, operating with newsgroups, search engines, chats, blogs, etc)
• reliable access to a computer with good internet connection
• self-disciplined and motivated individuals, who are willing to learn
• fluent in English, and able to conduct content sessions in English for an international student and adult audience
• ability to devote at least 1 hr a week for preparation for the Forum during the period of February – July

Essential duties and responsibilities:

• help in the preparation process of the curriculum materials for the Forum under the supervision and by the deadlines set forth by the Forum Director;
• engage in regular and substantial communication with other trainers and potential participants in the preparation period before the Forum;
• research and prepare materials for the topics to be discussed during the Forum;
• respect all deadlines and submit all required materials for the Forum on time;
• participate in the training of trainers 2 days prior to the Forum on site (July 20-22);
• conduct sessions for students and their coaches during the Forum. Trainers should not be engaged in any other meetings or sessions that conflict with their training sessions;
• judge in the debate tournaments during the Forum;
• follow the news on the Youth Forum website (www.idebate.org/ideaforum);
• comply with the code of conduct designed for the Forum.

The trainers might be disqualified from the participation at the Forum or the following Forums, if they do not fulfill their duties and responsibilities.

Trainers’ Benefits

IDEA will give the selected Trainers the opportunity to develop their training skills and employ them in a face-to-face weeklong debate instruction within truly international environment. IDEA will cover the trainers’ costs associated with their stay at the Forum: accommodation, food, insurance and cultural events. IDEA will cover reasonable travel and visa costs directly connected to the Forum. IDEA will compensate for the trainers’ time involved in the preparation of the training materials with $10 per diem during the Forum ($200 in total).

Selection Procedure

All prospective trainers are requested to submit their application form via email, which can be downloaded from the Youth Forum website (www.idebate.org/ideaforum). Trainers that have already applied in previous years and would not like to add any new information are encouraged to use the short application form. If you have any questions please contact Veronika, the Forum Director (vvlckova@idebate.org).

Application forms:

• Standard Application Form
• Short Application Form (for returning trainers)

The deadline for applications is December 22, 2009!

The Curriculum Committee will be selecting 21 trainers that will be given the opportunity to become IDEA YF 2008 trainer. The trainers will also be selected specifically for the given track at the time of selection. The Committee will be also selecting up to 5 trainers that will be placed on the waiting list. These trainers will be not called to duty unless a selected trainer would fall out or additional trainers would be needed due to unexpected increase in the number of participants.

All candidates will be notified of their status by February 15th, 2009. Please make sure to follow the Youth Forum Website (www.idebate.org/ideaforum) or sign up for the Youth Forum E-newsletter, to be informed about more details and updates on the Forum. To make sure you receive all the relevant information and also if you have additional questions, please contact the Forum Director.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Veronika Vlckova

Forum Director

vvlckova@idebate.org