Slides used with Ashby Willesley Primary School

1. Philosophy for Children (P4C)
James Nottingham www.p4c.com
www.jamesnottingham.co.uk

2. www.jamesnottingham.co.uk
james@p4c.com
www.challenginglearning.com
Contact Details

4. Philosophy for Children
 What is P4C?
 How can P4C help towards outstanding
learning and teaching?
 What resources are suitable for P4C?
 What are the best facilitation techniques to
ensure progress?

5. P4C Course
Ready
Fire
Aim

6. The aim of a thinking
skills programme
such as P4C is not to
turn children into
philosophers but to
help them become
more thoughtful,
more reflective, more
considerate and
more reason-able
individuals
P4C – Created by Matthew Lipman

8. 1.Sit in a circle
2.Share a story, text or other stimulus
3.Ask (philosophical) questions
4.Choose the best question
5. Identify the key concept
6. Listen to other perspectives
7. Apply critical and creative thinking
8. Consider progress
Typical P4C Format

9. • Children gained on average 6 standard points on a measure
of cognitive abilities after 16 months of weekly P4C
• Pupils increased their level of participation in classroom
discussion by half as much again following 6 months of
weekly P4C
• Incidents of children supporting their views with reasons,
doubled over a 6 month period
• Teachers doubled their use of open-ended questions over
a 6 month period
• Pupils and teachers perceived significant gains in
communication, confidence, concentration, participation and
social behaviour following 6 months of P4C
Impact of P4C – research findings

10. Nursery P4C - Names

11. Year 5 P4C: Your Granny or Your Goldfish?
Filmed by Channel 4 in 1999. Video at: www.p4c.com/video-clips

12. An Ethos for Learning
Not all of our questions
answered …
… but all of our answers
questioned

13. The Learning Challenge
ClarityConfusion
1. Concept
2. Conflict
2
1

14. ANALYSE
ANTICIPATE
APPLY
CAUSAL-
LINK
CHOOSE
CLASSIFY
COMPARE
CONNECT
CONTRAST
DECIDE
DEFINE
DESCRIBE
DETERMINE
DISCUSS
ELABORATE
ESTIMATE
EVALUATE
EXEMPLIFY
EXPLORE
GENERALISE
GIVE
EXAMPLES
GIVE
REASONS
GROUP
HYPOTHESI
SE
IDENTIFY
INFER
INTERPRET
ORGANISE
PARAPHRA
SE
PREDICT
QUESTION
RANK
REPRESEN
T
RESPOND
SEQUENCE
SIMPLIFY
SHOW HOW
SOLVE
SORT
SUMMARISE
SUPPORT
TEST
VERIFY
VISUALISE
A selection of thinking skills

15. P4C and thinking skills
“No programme I am aware of
is more likely to teach durable
and transferable thinking skills
than Philosophy for Children”
Robert Sternberg
President of the American Psychological Association

16. “... are committed to the development of
sustained shared thinking by offering
encouragement, clarifying ideas and asking
open questions which support and extend
children’s thinking and help them make
connections in learning – while ensuring a
balance between adult-led and child initiated
activities” (EYFS 1.27)
A continuously improving setting will have well-
qualified and experienced staff who:

18. The Learning Challenge
ClarityConfusion
1. Concept
2. Conflict
3. Construct
2
1
3

20. I know it’s
wrong to
steal
But then why
was Robin
Hood a hero?
Cognitive Conflict is Key to P4C

21. Kriticos = able to make judgments
Critical Thinking
Comes from the Greek,
Kriticos
Meaning: able to make
judgments
Source:
www.etymonline.com

22. If A = B then
Does B = A?
Friend Trust
Trust Friend
For example …
Wobblers (If A = B)

24. If A = B then
If it’s NOT B = NOT A?
Real See It
Can’t See It Not Real?
For example …
Wobblers (If NOT A ?)

25. EY and Primary Concepts
Me Fairness
Real Language
Home Telling lies
Growth/Change Same
Pets Emotions
Friends Thinking
Belonging Dreaming

27. 3 weeks old 2 years old 4 years old Adult
What makes you, you?
Are you the same person you were when you were a baby?
If you had a different name, would you be a different person?
When you play make believe, are you still you?
What Makes Me, Me?

28. Using Pictures
 What’s this
about?
 What
messages could
someone take
from this?
 What caption
could we put with
this picture?
 What themes
are there in this
picture?

32. Contact Details