Evidence Inspired Teaching Philosophy for Children · n P4C was devised by Matthew Lipman in the late 1960s at Columbia University and developed through his work at Montclair state

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Evidence Inspired Teaching Philosophy for Children

Stephanie Stevens SAPERE trainer English and P4C Lead English SLE LKS2 Phase leader Class Teacher Wyvil Primary School LTSA

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+n  P4C was devised by Matthew

Lipman in the late 1960s at Columbia University and developed through his work at Montclair state University, New Jersey

n  He wrote stories embedded with philosophical concepts and perplexities, for use with children across primary and secondary school

n  Critical of the paradigm that ‘education consists in the transmission of knowledge from those who know to those that don’t know,’ (Lipman, 2003, p18)

n  SAPERE is the UK charity that promotes using P4C

n  Socrates: Socratic dialogue and developing ‘reasonableness’ as the goal of education, development of ‘practical wisdom’

n  Vygotsky: Social constructivist approach, ‘children will learn to think for themselves if they engage in the social practice of thinking together’ (Cam, 1995, p17).

n  Dewey: ‘education had to be redefined as the fostering of thinking rather than the transmission of knowledge’ (Lipman, 1988, p4)

Origins of P4C

Matthew Lipman Philosopher 1924-2010

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+ P4C is… n  Philosophising

n  Questioning

n  Working as a community of enquiry

n  Concept focused

n  Cross curricular

‘A form of dialogic teaching that emphasizes the development of critical and creative thinking through questioning and dialogue between

children and teachers and children and children’ (Fisher, 2007, p619).

“The aim is to help children become more thoughtful, more reflective,

more considerate and more reasonable individuals.” Philosophy in the Classroom, p. 15

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+ 4C Thinking

n  Caring

n  Collaborative

n  Critical

n  Creative

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n Enquiry sessions

n 10 Step processes

n Cycles of enquiry

n Built into curriculum

n Skill building activities

How does P4C work?

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+n Fruit salad

n Would you rather

n Similarities and differences

n Odd one out

n Pass the smile/ squeeze

n OOPSAAT (only one person sits at a time)

n Post card activity

n Naughty-not naughty

Warm up

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+Make a choice, give a reason

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Money grew on trees….

Positive Minus

Not art

What if….

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n Story book

n Image

n Piece of art

n Music

n Quote

n Newspaper article

n Video

Stimulus

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+ Thinking time and Concepts Find the philosophical concepts

fog friendship envelopes

truth hairclips power

forgiveness glasses invitations

love chairs fairness

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+ Thinking time and Concepts Find the philosophical concepts

fog friendship envelopes

truth hairclips power

forgiveness glasses invitations

love chairs fairness

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+Questioning

§  An average teacher asks 400 questions in a day

§  That’s 70,000 a year!

§  One-third of all teaching time is spent asking questions

§  Most questions are answered in less than a second

§  Only 8% of questions are ‘higher order’ questions

§  As much as 92% of teachers questions are closed

Steven Hastings 2003, Ted Wragg, Vivien Baumfield

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1.  Which major river flows through Paris? 2.  What makes something ‘beautiful’? 3.  When was the Battle of Hastings? 4.  Which type of Christianity is led by the Pope? 5.  Are words ‘real’? 6.  What makes something `wet'? 7.  A £10000 car is discounted by 25%. What does it cost? 8.  When should people get married? 9.  Why does water bubble when it is boiling? 10.  Who are known as the ‘Gunners’? 11.  Is it ever good to lie?

What is a philosophical question?

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1.  Which major river flows through Paris? 2.  What makes something ‘beautiful’? 3.  When was the Battle of Hastings? 4.  Which type of Christianity is led by the Pope? 5.  Are words ‘real’? 6.  What makes something `wet'? 7.  A £10000 car is discounted by 25%. What does it cost? 8.  When should people get married? 9.  Why does water bubble when it is boiling? 10.  Who are known as the ‘Gunners’? 11.  Is it ever good to lie?

What is a philosophical question?

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Philosophical questions created by children…

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Why do people suffer? Year 6

Philosophical questions created by children…

- What is success?

Year 6

Should best friends always tell each other the truth?

Year 5

What if life was really a dream?

Year 4

What is art? Year 3

Should we go to prison for

disobeying the law?

Year 6

Do you need money to be

happy? Year 2

Should we be treated equally whether we are

rich or poor? Year 3

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Who helps us?

Reception

Should people keep animals in

cages? Year 1

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Suffering/ evil/ pain

Philosophical questions created by children…

- Success

Friendship Truth/ lying

Reality/ dreams

Art

Justice

Happiness

Equality

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Responsibility Freedom

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+ Question Making

Textual/about the stimulus- Real world COMPREHENSION SPECULATION Use your imagination Look and see CLOSED OPEN KNOWLEDGE ENQUIRY Ask an expert Questions for thinking

Intellectual/beyond the stimulus

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+ Question Quadrant

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+ Question choosing

n Blind vote

n Omni vote

n Stickers

n Vote with your feet

n 3,2,1- ranking

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+ Enquiry

n Ground rules

n Quality dialogue

n Vocabulary

n Facilitation

n Differentiation

n Behaviour

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+ Last words

n Pass an object around

n 10 Magic seconds

n Written reflections

n Change seats if you changed your mind

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+ Review/ Evaluation n  PMIQ

n  Assess against objectives

n  What skills were developed?

n  What progress was made with our thinking?

n  Blob tree

n  www.ebi

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+ Assessment n  Speaking and listening

objectives in English curriculum

n  Assess against P4C LO

n  4Cs

n  Use of recordings, images, children’s reflections

n  Assess impact on grammar, writing and reading e.g. impact on vocabulary and reasoning

n  Assess progression in understanding of concepts

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+ P4C: In the classroom

Learning about children’s development and effective pedagogy: What difference does participating in regular

Philosophy for Children sessions make to children’s learning?

n  Participating in regular Philosophy for Children sessions develops children’s knowledge of questions and the quality of their questioning improves.

n  Regular Philosophy sessions develop children’s self-confidence and confidence in their learning.

n  Children’s evaluation skills develop as they become more confident at evaluating themselves and their peers.

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+ P4C: Across a phase

n Teachers’ subject knowledge and confidence utilising P4C across the curriculum increased

n Children’s speaking and listening attainment showed progress

n Teacher confidence and ability in assessing Speaking and listening would improve

n Impact on pedagogy

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+ Pupil and teacher reflections Have you noticed any changes in your speaking/ listening skills:

Yes, I am now confident I can speak

I can start my sentences in different ways

What do you like about P4C?

You can speak and people won’t laugh at your thoughts

Sharing ideas

You get to discuss serious matters

What impact do you think P4C has had on your class?

P4C sessions have increased the children’s self-esteem and confidence

I have noticed significant impact on their speaking and listening skills – they are not afraid to share ideas and respect each other’s views more

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+ P4C: Across the whole school n  Whole school training

n  Embedding P4C in the English curriculum

n  Embedding P4C in whole school teaching and learning pedagogy

n  Cross curricular approach

OFSTED 2017 Annual report: In our research on the curriculum, we have seen that the depth and breadth of the curriculum is being eroded by some schools. These schools are focusing too much on their performance, measured in test results, and not the learning

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+ Feedback Governor: The level shown by these 8 year olds was amazing – they were all able to explain to me the reasons why they had made decisions and it was very much a collaborative process, with no one child dominating the other, everyone being given an opportunity to speak, and everyone respectfully listening to others opinions, even if they differed from their own.

Parent: Children were engaged and willing to offer their opinions, they were very respectful of each others view and of giving each other the time they needed to have their say.

Head of school: P4C has had an impact on the quality of teaching and learning, not only in this area but across the curriculum as teachers see the benefit of pupil talk on the depth and quality of their thought processes. A cross curricular approach based on enquiry and high quality discourse (like P4C) can drive up standards and improve engagement.

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+ Feedback IQM award: P4C has an impact on high quality discussion and use of language in the classroom. This will extend the children’s higher order language skills in both reading and writing. Pupils are confident and articulate and can express their opinions clearly.

RRSA: The governing body is very supportive of RRSA. The Chair of Governors commented on how well RRSA contributes to other areas such as British Values and Philosophy for Children (P4C), he said ‘P4C and RRSA together give pupils a better ability to articulate their understanding of the world.’ The school holds many accreditations that show its commitment to the promotion of global citizenship and sustainable development.

NACE Award: The teacher’s questioning challenged and probed, there were opportunities to think critically as in the Year 1 Philosophy for Children lesson.

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Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Research •  The randomised controlled trial began January

2013, involved 3,159 pupils across 48 schools, independently evaluated by a team at Durham University

•  Teachers were given 2 days of professional training before year-long programme began with ongoing support

•  Reading skills improved by 4 months, maths results by 3 months and writing ability by 2 months

•  Feedback from teachers suggests that P4C had a beneficial impact on wider outcomes such as confidence, patience and self-esteem

•  The report also notes the likely benefits in other areas: speaking confidence, listening skills, patience with other children and overall self-esteem

www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects/philosophy-for-children

P4C: Beyond the school

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+ Other research n  Developing effective learners – EEF: Four approaches in our

Toolkit – peer tutoring, collaborative learning, feedback, and meta-cognition and self-regulation – all show moderate-to-high impact on pupil attainment for very low cost

n  Building Social and Emotional Learning into the Classroom- EEF: There is promise that approaches aimed at improving social and emotional skills, far from distracting from academic goals, are actually likely to enhance them if implemented effectively. For example, EEF’s trial of P4C provides initial promise that a classroom environment encouraging reasoned discussion, questioning and taking others’ perspectives, may enhance academic outcomes in reading and maths, as well as children’s self-confidence, engagement and ability to speak and listen to others.

n  Metacognition and Self regulation – EEF: Meta-cognition and self-regulation approaches have consistently high levels of impact, These strategies are usually more effective when taught in collaborative groups so learners can support each other and make their thinking explicit through discussion.

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+ Exercises and activities to develop thinking skills

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+ Making connections and distinctions

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+ Target Map

a child’s scribble

an idea

an architect’s drawing

rocks shaped by weather

a drawing by an elephant

a photograph

graffiti sprayed on a wall

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+Venn Diagrams

Animals Humans

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+Concept lines

Most ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Least

Agree ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Disagree

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+Most è Least

Use the continuum to explore the difference in degree within a concept for example happiness.

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The Same but Different…

In the following pairs what is the same and different? For example, a brother and his sister have the same parents, but they

are girl and boy.

1. A mother and father 8. An entrance and an exit

2. Slippers and shoes 9. A rifle and a cannon

3. A lake and an ocean 10. A fort and a prison

4. Pushing and pulling 11. A door and a gate

5. A hill and a mountain 12. A nail and a screw

6. A pebble and a boulder 13. A planet and a moon

7. A tunnel and a cave 14. A genuine reason and an excuse

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+ Further training n  Level 1 training participant: ‘a very

informative, enjoyable and interesting course which will support me in developing children’s thinking and reasoning skills.’

n  Level 1 training participant: ‘P4C is fantastic for teachers to improve in all areas of practice.’

n  Level 1 training participant: ‘A wonderful INSET, inspirational’

n  Year 2 teacher: ‘children in my class are able to express their ideas and opinions more clearly, come up with more imaginative ideas and more detailed, interesting writing.’

n  Year 5 teacher: ‘Children are able to listen to others well and challenge other ideas and points of view respectfully.’

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+SAPERE P4C School Awards The awards progressively:

n  acknowledge P4C practice as a long term commitment

n provide teacher professional development in the facilitation of philosophical enquiry

n  celebrate emerging P4C practice (Bronze)

n provide a structure to further develop high quality P4C practice (Silver)

n  aim for sustainable high quality P4C that is integral to the school�s ethos, curriculum and values (Gold)

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+Useful websites www.sapere.org.uk

http://cehs.montclair.edu/academic/iapc/

(Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children)

www.icpic.org  (worldwide P4C network)

http://childrenthinking.co.uk/ (Sara Stanley)

www.p4c.com (subscription resource site)

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+ Questions 46

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