I'm not sure I'd say "always", but certainly there is a trend... I was just reading a post Deirdre wrote in the Trust and Relationship building forum about Structured Controversy activities (tried to use the quote link but no luck there):
Structured Controversy (SC) – sometimes referred to as ‘Co-operative Controversy’ or ‘Structured Academic Controversy’ – is a co-operative learning activity. During SC all students, working in teams and small groups during class time, engage in an informal debate like discussion about a controversial issue arguing one position in Round 1 and then another position in Round 2. The purpose of SC is not to defeat the other side, but rather to uncover the various arguments pertaining to the issue in question." - M. D'Eon 2009
I'm thinking this would also be helpful for building confidence, since it's not about representing one's own points of view, rather it's a more objective representing of ideas people might have on a given topic.