CGI is proud to announce a new partnership with Debate Mate, supporting our commitment to improving social mobility and tackling educational disadvantage in communities experiencing high levels of child deprivation. Through targeted extra-curricular debate workshops, we will help young people develop communication, critical thinking and employability skills that make a real difference at school and beyond.
Why this matters:
The UK has one of the lowest rates of social mobility among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Children growing up in poverty face multiple barriers to achieving their potential, including lower educational attainment and reduced access to higher education and employment opportunities.
Evidence shows that debate and structured speaking programmes can play a powerful role in addressing these challenges. They improve speaking and listening attainment, develop higher-order thinking, and build non-cognitive skills such as confidence, teamwork and leadership, all essential for long-term social mobility.
What our partnership will deliver
As part of CGI’s social value delivery to clients, CGI and Debate Mate will run targeted extra-curricular debate workshops in schools with an above-average percentage of children eligible for free school meals. These workshops will:
- Strengthen students’ speaking, listening and reasoning skills
- Build confidence, leadership and teamwork through mentored debate activities
- Develop practical employability skills to support longer-term social mobility
Each workshop will focus on building essential employability and life skills through the Debate Mate curriculum and CGI-led employability activities.
- Research and evaluation of debate programmes consistently show improvements in speaking and listening attainment, critical thinking and reasoning skills, and non-cognitive skills such as confidence, teamwork and leadership, all of which contribute to improved educational and employment outcomes.
CGI will work closely with Debate Mate to monitor outcomes and evaluate the programme’s impact. This will help us understand what works best in supporting social mobility through targeted extra-curricular support and inform us how similar initiatives could be scaled in the future.
“We’re delighted to be working with Debate Mate to give young people in deprived communities the practical skills and confidence they need to succeed. Debate teaches more than how to speak well, it builds the thinking and personal skills that open doors to education and employment.”
- Philippa Green, Director, Social Value, CGI
This partnership demonstrates how CGI embeds social value into contractual delivery, ensuring that our work with clients creates measurable positive outcomes for communities alongside business impact. It forms part of CGI’s wider commitment to creating positive social outcomes through skills development, education and inclusive opportunity.
