We are SO happy today to see the results of the study carried out for the Education Endowment Foundation. It confirms everything we have experienced and believe about the benefits philosophy for children.

The report demonstrates that, not only does philosophy have a positive impact on pupils’ maths, reading and writing skills generally it works particularly well for the most disadvantaged children.

Teachers involved in the study observed a beneficial impact on pupils’ confidence, patience and self-esteem.

Read more about the stduy and findings here

Educating Future Philosophers… what a great day!

This special event was held at, and organised by, the University of East Anglia to explore the role Philosophy plays, and can play, in a student’s life from primary school through to university.

The event was fully booked and brought together teachers and university academics to share experiences about teaching Philosophy and using it in school and university environments.

Philosophy4Children ran an experiential session with primary teachers, secondary teachers and university lecturers who started their enquiry with the question “I wonder if you can ever be really happy after childhood” a very engaging question – what do you think?

Philosophy4Children were on the road once more. On Tuesday we went back to the school in Canterbury that we had visited in November. The staff were full of information about the impact that philosophy had had on their children. They said that the children had been enjoying the approach very much. One said that her small children in reception had loved the language and saying the sentence “I agree with John because…..” and then forgot the rest of the sentence! The staff were very enthusiastic and were receptive and keen to move on philosophically. We explored the development of games – how you can get more from them; we looked for links in questions and we considered the way in which the facilitator could be more effective when working with a group. It was a very happy and excited group and we left feeling very buoyed up by the experience. It was a long trek back to Norfolk for an early start the next day to continue the filming of the class that we have been working with for the last three terms. Very rewarding results though. The class teacher said, “It is obvious children are getting better at listening to each other – there is more awareness of others’ ideas within the group.” This has to be the best job in the world!

We started this term in an infant school in Norwich with a very enthusiastic staff group. We certainly enjoyed the session – there was lots of exciting thinking pondering the nature of happiness. The staff enjoyed it too. Here are some comments:

“Excellent. Everyone participated well making it a good learning atmosphere.”

“Clear presentation, excellent delivery.”

“Clear progression with lots of interaction. Thank you!”

“Lots of information and loads of useful advice to use in lessons.”

Questions children asked at the end of the morning’s workshop.

Children gathered from across the Thorpe High School Partnership at Little Plumstead to experience a time of thinking and exploring ideas together. Their ideas ranged from flying pigs to the nature of loneliness and true friendship. One girl said that she had enjoyed hearing the different points of view of all those present. Philosophy4Children would like to think that new friendships were also forged during this exciting time.

Our method of training teachers in using philosophy for children is very practical. Staff gain experience of the games and activities which are used to get children thinking, they also take part in an enquiry. This gives an invaluable insight into how a p4c session feels and this was picked up by several of the staff at the Norfolk school we have been working with recently:

” Really good to have a go at an investigation to understand how the children might feel.”

“Excellent! Very useful to go through a P4C lesson as the children would in order to feel what they do.”

“To feel how the children will feel is important.”

We had a very enjoyable morning at the University of East Anglia – meeting with the thinkers and planners! We are planning an exciting day with the Philosophy department in the Spring of 2015 – using Philosophy4Children as a method of introducing the idea of using philosophy from the cradle to the grave! We know young children can become hooked into using higher-order thinking at an early stage, in their approach to life, the universe and everything, and we want to encourage its use in depth through school and then at university.

Philosophy4Children headed off to Rayleigh for an early morning meeting, followed by a training session in Canterbury in the afternoon. We clocked up a lot of miles that day but were rewarded by the warmth and enthusiasm of the staff in both schools. At the end of the day staff were buzzing and saying that they couldn’t wait to get into their classrooms the next day and begin a philosophy session for themselves. In a subsequent email the head teacher wrote “I am pleased to say that FOUR teachers tried Philosophy the very next day and we are also the proud owners of a ‘Wonder Wall’ in year 5 & 6. Thank you!” This makes all the travelling so worth while.

“Warm and friendly – yet professional and efficient.”

This is one of the many comments about our presentation style following an Inset training session near Bristol at the start of the term. Here are some more:

“The leaders were very knowledgeable and clearly talking from experience.”

“Very knowlegeable. Explained concepts and potential pitfalls well.”

“Super, practical activities, lots of resouces and time for questions.”

“Very clear and interesting. Lots of variation – group work, discussion, film clips.”