Philosophy 4 Children Explained...

As you will be aware, from either our newsletters or discussions with your child, we have now started our Philosophy 4 Children (P4C) sessions in all classes (including nursery!) Initial reaction from both the children and staff has been overwhelmingly positive so we look forward to the impact this will have in the coming months and years. It seems the perfect opportunity to give a little more information about what P4C actually is, how it works and what we expect the outcomes of its inclusion in our curriculum to be...

Benefits for Children

•                A way to open up children’s learning through enquiry and the exploration of ideas.

•                Gives children the possibility of seeing that their ideas have value, and that others have different ideas that have value too.

•                They realise that they don’t always have to be right.

•                They have the confidence to ask questions and learn through discussion.

•                All learners (including teachers) have opportunities to genuinely enquire.

•                A chance to speak and be heard without fear of getting an answer wrong.

•                Intelligence grows.

•                Gives children who are not considered “academic” a voice and a chance to flourish.

•                Gives the “academic” children a chance to think outside the box and to see that the non-academic have inspiring ideas.

•                Gives all children value.

What does a session entail?

•                A structured weekly session.

•                Starts with a stimulus - a story, picture, video, piece of music or artefact.
•                'Big Ideas' are suggested by the children based on the stimulus.

•                Children are encouraged to draw on their imagination to ask a question based on wonderment and the big ideas (I wonder why…?).

•                Children make a collective decision on the question they are most interested in.

•                The discussion starts but is then not contained. It follows its own path guided by the children’s thoughts and ideas, agreeing and disagreeing, but always giving a reason for their point of view.

Outcomes for children

•                To learn to think before they speak and give reasons for what they say.

•                To value their views and the views of others.

•                Not taking things personally.

•                To learn respect and negotiation.

•                To learn not to be fearful.

Other outcomes – beyond Philosophy for Children

•                Proven impact on other areas of the curriculum (oracy, thinking skills, mathematics, science etc).

•                Lots of ideas for creative writing.

•                Creates an enquiring classroom in all areas of the curriculum.

•                Affects personal skills, and behaviour in the playground.

•                Develops skills necessary for positions of responsibility (school council)

•                Listening, reasoning skills and independence.