Philosophy for Children, sometimes abbreviated to P4C, is a movement that aims to teach reasoning and argumentative skills to children.[1] There are also related methods sometimes called "Philosophy for Young People" or "Philosophy for Kids". Often the hope is that this will be a key influential move towards a more democratic form of democracy.[2] However, there is also a long tradition within higher education of developing alternative methods for teaching philosophy both in schools and colleges.
Although the noted developmental psychologist Jean Piaget was of the impression that children were not capable of critical thinking until age 11 or 12, the experience of many philosophers and teachers with young children gives reason to believe that children benefit from philosophical inquiry even in early primary school. Furthermore, there is empirical evidence that teaching children reasoning skills early in life greatly improves other cognitive and academic skills and greatly assists learning in general.[3]
The pedagogy of philosophy for children is diverse. However, many practitioners including those working in the tradition of Matthew Lipman and the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children emphasize the use of a community of inquiry method which has roots in the work of philosopher John Dewey.[4] The term "inquiry" is preferred to "lesson" because the emphasis is on the group inquiring together into questions with the teacher as a facilitator rather than the authoritative source of information.
As a basis for discussing philosophy with children, the questions used (such as "What is friendship?", "Do animals have feelings?", and "What is happiness?") are of crucial importance. The German educational scientist Michael Siegmund recommends asking children a philosophical question along with an inspiring picture. Together, the image and question create an opening for discussing philosophy. Among other things, natural landscapes, pictures of animals and people, certain social situations, or even fantasy pictures can be used. This dual method can be used as early as at daycare for children ages 4 and up, as well as at school or with family.[5]
Along with pictures, stories can also lead to discussions of philosophy with children. A story can thus be an occasion to start a philosophical conversation with children. Adults can ask the children philosophical questions while they are reading aloud as well. Stories, combined with profound questions, can inspire children and promote their creativity and imagination. Adults can either add "philosophical questions" to "classic" stories and fairy tales themselves, or use special children's books for discussing philosophy with children. Michael Siegmund recommends stories in which animals are the main characters and child-friendly questions are asked. Possible topics may include poverty and wealth, friendship and family, happiness, freedom, environmental pollution, justice, and more.[6]
There is particular diversity in the UK, owing to the large number of competing and collaborating freelance trainers each emphasising different strands of the pedagogy. Roger Sutcliffe's practice includes the use of news stories; Steve Williams has emphasised the importance of dialogues that model argument as well as raising philosophical issues; Will Ord emphasises the use of striking photos, often containing contrasts that suggest opposing concepts;[7] Jason Buckley advocates a more physical, game-based approach and "Philosophy in Role", in which children philosophise within a story as characters confronted with a variety of problems.
SAPERE is the UK's leading provider of P4C training. Registered in 1994, the charity has trained over 27,000 teachers and other individuals in the use of P4C. SAPERE's mission is to advance the educational, personal, and social development of young people, especially those facing disadvantage, through the promotion of P4C. The organisation's work gained national prominence in 2015 when Durham University School of Education published results of a randomised control trial of P4C with over 3,000 primary school students. The study was sponsored by the Education Endowment Foundation. The limited study[8] found that P4C advanced attainment for all students and had a particularly strong impact on children from disadvantaged backgrounds. A larger later study showed little attainment advancement in the classroom context.[9]
Co-founded by Peter Worley and Emma Worley, The Philosophy Foundation's specialist philosophy teachers (all philosophy graduates) specifically use philosophical material, including thought-experiments and stories or activities that lead to questions from the philosophical canon. They make use of carefully structured questioning strategies and also the introduction of thinking skills in order to develop good thinking habits from a young age. The questioning strategies are used to introduce dialectic along Platonic lines and in order to maintain philosophical focus. Uniquely they have a methodology that introduces writing and meta-analysis with older primary and secondary students.
UK-based Thinking Space is philosopher Grace Robinson and a network of associated philosophers and educators whose work is characterised by playful and experimental collaborations. This work with a range of practitioners, among them artists, scientists, and academics, aims to bring philosophical issues alive for children and young people. Thinking Space's most notable collaboration is with the University of Leeds on "Leeds Philosophy Exchange", an accredited undergraduate course in which philosophy students facilitate philosophical inquiry in local primary schools, alongside teachers trained by Thinking Space in P4C.
A particular way of doing philosophy with children is illustrated by the work of Chris Phillips with the Philosophers Club at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the Mission District, San Francisco, California.[10]
Professor William Barry of Notre Dame de Namur University is pioneering a new approach to P4C called Philosophy for Children and Community (P4C2) in the San Francisco Bay Area. His contribution to evolving the idea of P4C involves young people becoming novice critical theory action researchers and meaningful members of communities of inquiry focused on human flourishing for every person. Another key component of Barry's P4C2 is the importance of children gaining ontological weight from participation in their communities of inquiry by understanding the meaning of quality in praxis in a transformational way through TQ Theory. The Institute of P4C2 has recently been developed by Living Leadership Today, LLC, founder Maria Rachelle in Silicon Valley, California, and resulted in the creation of the online international scholarly journal, the International Journal of Transformative Research.
One of the salient differences between proponents of philosophy for children is in their choice of stimuli—starting points for discussions.
The Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC), which has been recognized by the American Philosophical Association for excellence and innovation,[17] utilizes Lipman's method, exposing children to philosophically stimulating narrative to encourage them to create and ask their own philosophical questions, actively in the K–12 classroom through a longstanding partnership with the Montclair public school system.[18] Students are encouraged to ask their questions and the philosophical facilitator (a member of the IAPC) helps the children to develop philosophical skills and dispositions of critical, caring, and creative thinking in order to get the young students to come to reasonable judgment about what is "best to do or believe," in response to the initial question. IAPC has a large teacher preparation component and provides teacher manuals that include discussion plans specifically designed to assist in the facilitation of philosophical discussions that are general enough to answer most student questions. In addition to working directly with schoolchildren, members of the IAPC work with several constituencies, including professional and pre-professional educators, educational administrators and policy-makers, and faculty and students of education, philosophy and related disciplines.[19] IAPC has trained educators worldwide to successfully implement their curriculum in their home states and countries. Philosophy and Children organization offers introductory workshops and certificate courses in schools and for graduate teachers in Australia.
In the Asia-Pacific an extensive P4C network has developed since the 1980s. Teacher associations have been established in each Australian state, across New Zealand and in Hong Kong and Singapore for some decades. These teacher associations came together to form the Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA) in the 1990s, which is the peak body for philosophy and P4C teachers in the Asia-Pacific region. FAPSA develop the standards and courses for teachers to teach philosophy in the classroom across their regions. Through professional development and advocacy initiatives, FAPSA seeks to enrich and expand philosophy education in primary and secondary schools across the Asia-Pacific. FAPSA is a member organisation of the International Council of Philosophy with Children (ICPIC), whose principles and values guide their work. FAPSA has been instrumental in promoting P4C throughout the region through dialogue, opportunities for training and ongoing projects. The Federation also undertakes non-competitive P4C events for schools in the form of Community of Inquiry days and Philosophy in Public Spaces.
FAPSA has an international, academically peer-reviewed open access journal, the Journal for Philosophy in Schools, which focusses on research into philosophy with school-aged children. This journal was the successor to the Federation's previous publication, the Journal of Critical and Creative Thinking and was established by the current editors Laura D'Olimpio and Andrew Peterson.
=FAPSA has associates across the Asia-Pacific region and invites representatives from regions without affiliates to contribute to their governance.[20]
The growth of a community engaging European philosophy with children practitioners culminated in the establishment of Stichting SOPHIA — The European Foundation for the Advancement of Doing Philosophy with Children - in 1993, with Eulalia Bosch (Catalonia) serving as president, and Karel van der Leeuw (the Netherlands) as secretary. Adopting the motto of the European Community (now the EU), "unity through diversity", SOPHIA supported the development of doing philosophy with children within all the different European cultures and languages, and nurtured the community among practitioners as the foundation for collaborative work and mutual development. Many groundbreaking and innovative projects have resulted from SOPHIA members working together, often funded by the EU. For example, European philosophy with children projects work with art, citizenship, excluded children, architecture, anti-racism, music, community development, and more.
In the UK the University of Leeds now offers a students into schools programme called Leeds Philosophy Exchange, led by Grace Robinson. The University of Bristol is now working on Bristol Philosophy Exchange applying a similar model in which philosophy students and primary school teachers exchange skills and knowledge in weekly philosophical inquiry with children.
There are a number of college-level academic philosophy programs in the United States that do outreach to public schools, most notably at the University of Washington, University of Massachusetts – Boston, University of Chicago, California State University Long Beach, Texas A&M University, Mount Holyoke College, Montclair State University, Michigan State University, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Notre Dame de Namur University, Creighton University, and Plattsburgh State University Of New York.[21]
At the University of Washington, the Center for Philosophy for Children educates UW graduate and undergraduate students about how to facilitate philosophy sessions, and then sends them into Seattle classrooms with supervision and mentoring from experienced instructors. This program has introduced philosophy to thousands of public school students and runs many year-long weekly philosophy sessions in Seattle public school classrooms. The center has four graduate fellowships in pre-college philosophy and also runs regular workshops and programs for teachers, parents, and other adults on how to introduce philosophy to young people.
At the University of Chicago, students in the college teach in schools on Chicago's South Side through the University's Civic Knowledge Project. The class, known as Winning Words, is an after-school program that works with elementary, middle, and high school students in Chicago. The program aims to engage and inspire local youth through an education in philosophy, reasoning, and the verbal arts of dialogue and rhetoric; building self-confidence and exposing its students to a wide range of philosophical material. Recognized by the American Philosophical Association,[22] the program provides an introduction to philosophy and Socratic dialogue and includes writing, public speaking, debate, drama, poetry, and art. The material uses the Socratic method to engage students and to encourage the use of critical thinking, reasoning, and expression. Such modes of thought and communication foster the sense of wonder that is at the root of serious introspection, intellectual growth, and ethical reflection. In February 2012, the American Philosophical Association's Committee on Pre-Collegiate Philosophy featured Winning Words and the Civic Knowledge Project in its Central Division meeting.
Before the US Department of Education cut funding for such programs in the early 1990s, there were over 5,000 programs in K–12 schools nationwide which engaged young people in philosophical reflection or critical thinking, more generally. This number has dropped substantially.
There is an annual Philosophy Slam competition for kids in grades K–12. Younger children are encouraged to submit artwork that illustrates their philosophical reflections while older children submit increasingly sophisticated written work.
Throughout Australia Community of Inquiry days are held by regional affiliates of the Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Associations. These events apply the Lipman model of philosophical inquiry in an inter-mural setting. They are non-competitive by nature, with students encouraged to seek collaborative means to resolve philosophical challenges. Notable examples are held annually by the Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools and the South Australian Philosophy in Education Association.[23]
In 2007 a competition was created in Perth Western Australia called a Philosothon. Each Australian state now holds an annual Philosothon and Australian Association of Philosophy (AAP) hosts the Australasian Philosothon in different states each year. There are over 400 schools involved in Philosothons in Australasia, Europe and the UK.
There have been several academic journals devoted to publishing work regarding philosophy for/with children.
A number of books have been published on philosophy for children other than those mentioned above by Matthews and Lipman. Some are intended to be read by children, others by children with their parents, and still others by philosophers, educators, and policy-makers considering the merits of K–12 philosophy programs. A partial (by no means exhaustive or representative) list includes the books:
Haas, H. J. (1976). The Value of Philosophy for Children within the Piagetian Framework. Metaphilosophy. 7(1). 70-75 Special Issue on Philosophy for Children.
Haas, H. J. (1976). Philosophical Thinking in the Elementary Schools. Report to the National Endowment for the Humanities on "Philosophy for Children". Rutgers University. Newark, NJ. ED 172 910.