Philosophy for Children (P4C)

What is Philosophy for Children?

 

 

A community of inquiry… fostering a culture of collaborative, caring, critical and creative thinking.

• Critical – What do I think?  Questioning
• Creative – What other ideas are there?  Hypothesizing
• Caring – What do others feel?  Listening and empathizing
• Collaborative – What do others think?  Pooling knowledge and referring

 

Philosophy for children (P4C) is an educational initiative built on the aspiration for discussion about questions that matter.

 

We are developing P4C throughout the school, to support and enhance our focus on enquiry-led learning, with the aim of working toward SAPERE accreditation and embedding Philosophy across the curriculum. In June 2018 we gained our Bronze award. 

 

P4C is a teaching and learning method which:

• enriches learning across the curriculum;
• enhances skills in independent thinking, reasoning, communication and collaboration, fostering and building on our Christian values;
• develops intellectual dispositions, such as curiosity and clarity of expression, as well as the development of emotional intelligence and social skills, in a safe learning environment;
• prepares pupils for future citizenship;
• gives pupils a voice and the freedom to think for themselves

 

We believe that empowering the children to think in a philosophical way will greatly enrich them as learners and as people, it will also help drive academic success. We are also passionate about giving children the tools to think better when they’re faced with new and possibly challenging situations.

 

If you would like to know more about our approach to Philosophy at Ashleigh feel free to ask us more.

 

Miss Dorbin
Philosophy Coordinator

 

What Our Pupils Have Said About P4C

 

“Philosophy for Children is about learning how to explain your opinion and think about other people’s ideas in a calm way. It’s fun to discuss big world topics because it actually matters! I think P4C is helping me with my writing because it makes me think about concepts more deeply and consider different points of view. I think all politicians should do P4C!” Blake

 

“I like Philosophy because I enjoy asking questions that we can’t answer - I like challenging others with my questions! It’s helping me to disagree instead of argue which is helpful outside of the classroom. I like that it’s not about being right or wrong, it’s about saying why you think what you think.” Tyler S

 

“I like P4C because we can talk to each other about things we wouldn’t usually, sometimes it’s a bit weird- in a good way! I think P4C helps me feel more confident with tackling tricky learning because I’m more likely to ask for help now I’m joining in with class discussion.” Ryan

 

“Philosophy can be about anything, so it’s always pretty interesting. Sometimes we look at articles, videos, stories, music, objects, photos, films. I like being curious and creative!” Emily M-B

 

“At first I thought P4C was a bit strange because we’re usually always trying to answer questions and get it right, like in tests. But, with P4C it’s about asking and wondering!” Tamzin

 

“Philosophy encourages me to be part of the group. I like talking about controversial topic, like real-life stuff in the news.” Kiera

 

“P4C makes my brain hurt! My philosophy skills probably helped me with SATs because I remembered to think of examples and explain my reasoning” Alfie