P4C- Philosophy For Children

P4C (Philosophy for children) is an approach to teaching and learning which is pioneered by Mathew Lipman and it has constantly been developed over the years. It is an approach by which means to open up children’s learning through the exploration of ideas.  This approach emphasises the importance of three things; Questioning/ Enquiry, Imagination and Meaningful dialogue and Careful Reasoning/ Reflection. P4C develops four key types of thinking: Critical, Creative, Caring and Collaborative. Lentton and Vidion (2016) have said that with this philosophy, children are stimulated to draw from their imagination and ask questions, encouraging them to value their own ideas as well as others. This also means that they’re able to expand on their communication and teamworking skills as they’re able to communicate their ideas across to other people as well as listen to others. Philosophy for Children can have an impact on other areas of the curriculum, meaning that children are able to enhance their holistic skills. They’re also able to provide reasoning followed after what they say. These are some of the basic skills for successful learning.

Some books; such as, ‘The Giving Tree’ by Shel Silverstein, have a deeper meaning within it. This book conveys the tree as a caring adult figure for the young boy. So he keeps coming back to it, asking for more and more but eventually there was nothing left for it to give.  

Philosophy for Children introduces a range of viewpoints, leading them to critique and confront the morals behind the story. Mizell (2015) mentions that it allows children to “familiarize them with the range of acceptable variations in the interpretation and contextualization of human rights” (2015, p 323). This means that they’re able to think before they speak and provide reasons for what they say about the stories. This enables them to develop their cognitive skills and become reasonable individuals, which is what P4C aim to do, amongst other things.

Many of the principles of Philosophy for children can be applied to children of any age. Discussions and questioning context should be encouraged by practitioners as an “Argument is seen not as a quarrel but as a collaborative search for the best answer to a question” (p4c.com, 2019). This allows children the opportunity to use analytical thinking and enhance their communication skills. There are many ways in which a practitioner can encourage children to think of these philosophical questions, such as, putting them in pairs and giving them some time, going around in a circle asking them questions or providing them with images to help encourage questioning.

Philosophy for children is an approach that practitioners use to get children to discuss, think, express their feelings and ideas and to understand that not everyone has to agree, that it is okay to disagree and have a difference of opinion. Supporting this, Gorard, S., Siddique, N., and See, B mention that (2016) “The intervention aims to help children become more willing and able to question, reason, construct arguments and collaborate with others.” This means that it encourages children to become more open minded about life and have a better understanding of the world around them and one of the aims of philosophy for children is to help them build a sense of community.

This is a video of Stephen Gorard and Stefan Molyneux discussing Philosophy for Children:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wY1m2MqXj0

This is another video of children in a school setting analytically discussing philosophical questions and sharing their thoughts through picture books: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5wuHRyHez0&nohtml5=False

I believe that this shows us how well children can discuss philosophical questions and there understanding of these stories.  

References 

GORRD, S., SIDDIQUI, N. and SEE, B. (2016). Can ‘Philosophy for Children’ Improve Primary School Attainment?. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 51(1), pp.5-22.

Lenton and Vidion (2016) Available at: http://www.philosophy4children.co.uk/home/p4c/ . Accessed at: 18/02/19. 

Mizell, K. (2015). Philosophy for Children, Community of Inquiry, and Human Rights Education. Childhood & Philosophy, 11(22), 319-328.

p4c.com. (2019). Teacher's Guide | p4c.com. [online] Available at: https://p4c.com/about-p4c/teachers-guide/ [Accessed 4 May 2019].

Youtube (2011). Picture Book Philosophy. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5wuHRyHez0&nohtml5=False [Accessed 4 May 2019].

YouTube (2016). Philosophy for Children | Stephen Gorard and Stefan Molyneux. [image] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wY1m2MqXj0 [Accessed 4 May 2019].