TSL 2026 International Student Debates: SUSTAINABILITY CULTURE
The TSL 2026 International Student Debates took place online over two days (July 1-2, 2026). Each country’s top-performing students in the International Student Competition were invited to participate as Debaters.
Congratulations to everyone who contributed! See the highlights below.
JULY 1 – PRIMARY DEBATE (ages 7-11) – format
JULY 2 – SECONDARY DEBATE (ages 12-18) – format
TSL 2025 Student Debates: ECO-ANXIETY TO ECO-ACTION
The TSL 2025 International Student Debates took place online over two days (July 1-2, 2025):
JULY 1 – PRIMARY DEBATE (ages 7-11)
JULY 2 – SECONDARY DEBATE (ages 12-18)
Highlights from 2024
A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our TSL 2024 Partner Power Summit: NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS
The TSL 2024 International Student Debates brought together 55 students from 34 countries. The students expressed different points of view on whether Nature-based or Technology-based solutions would be more effective to achieve the SDG’s by 2030.
The debate was divided into two categories across two days – Primary Debate and Secondary Debate. In the Primary Debate, the debaters explored the role of four key stakeholder groups who play a major role in achieving the SDG’s – Governments, Businesses, Conservationists and the Public and debated if they thought NBS or TBS would be more effective to help their stakeholder group achieve the SDG’s. The teams then debated which actions would have the greatest impact to achieve the SDG’s and agreed a combination of both NBS and TBS would be required to achieve the SDG’s by 2030.
TSL International Primary Debates 17 July 2024
TSL Primary Student Awards- International Student Essay Competition and Student Debates – 17 July
In the Secondary Debates, students had the challenge of debating the motion ‘Nature-based Solutions will be more effective then Technology-based Solutions to achieve the UN SDG’s by 2030’. All teams did an excellent job, raising key issues during the debates such as affordability, accessibility, education and training, speed of solution implementation and effectiveness.
TSL International Secondary Debates Group A, 18 July 2024
TSL International Secondary Debates Group B 18 July 2024
TSL Secondary Student Awards- International Student Essay Competition and Student Debates (Group A & B) – 18 July
Key dates
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10 September 2026 (midnight UTC)
TSL 2027 Competition Launch – NAVIGATING EL NIÑO – registration for Teacher Champions/Schools opens on the TSL Competition Platform
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1 March 2027 (midnight UTC)
Final deadline for all entries. Please note: All entries must be submitted on the TSL Competition Platform. No entries will be accepted via email.
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1 May 2027 (midnight UTC)
Announcement of Finalist & Honourable Mention winners on the TSL website
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1 May 2027 (midnight UTC)
Finalists & Honourable Mention certificates available on TSL Certificates Portal
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22 May 2027
The Top Award Winners in the Primary and Secondary age categories will be notified by email (via their Teacher Champions’ registered email addresses)
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End May 2027
Invitations to participate in the International Student Debates will be emailed to the top-two-performing primary and secondary students from each participating country. (The invitations will be sent to the registered Teacher Champion email addresses.)
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1 & 2 July 2027
International Student Debates, followed by International Student Awards – Primary Schools age group (July 1) & Secondary Schools age group (July 2)