Philosophy for Children: Origins and Aims (from www.sapere.org.uk )

Philosophy for Children, sometimes abbreviated to 'P4C' or 'P for C', is the 'trademark' of a curriculum for 6-16 year olds developed by Professor Matthew Lipman and his associates at the IAPC (Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children) at Montclair State College, New Jersey.

Lipman's project, conceived in the late 1960's in the wake of student unrest, was to encourage children/citizens to be more reasonable - that is, ready to reason and be reasoned with.  Like the ancient Greek philosophers, he saw this as the path to the ultimate goal of education: 'practical wisdom', or good judgement.

Lipman emphasised the importance of questioning or enquiry in the development of reasoning.  He also appreciated from Lev Vygotsky, the Russian psychologist, that we learn to think much as we learn to speak - by internalising the patterns of speech and thought that we hear around us.  Thinking to ourselves is, in effect, borrowing the language of others to talk to ourselves.

Putting these educational insights together, Lipman developed a new model of learning - 'communities of enquiry' - in which teacher and children collaborate with each other to grow in understanding, not only of the material world, but also of the personal and ethical world around them.

Benefits

• Developing independent, creative, reflective and collaborative thinkers across the curriculum.
• Enhance the quality of dialogue, questioning, reasoning and engagement in lessons across the curriculum.
• Provide for structured ownership of learning.
• Delivery of primary and secondary SEAL.
• Facilitate positive role modeling of learning between year groups.

Click HERE for more details on P4C principles and practice.

For training in Cumbria see www.cdec.org.uk