SAPERE and Philosophy for Children

© SAPERE 2012

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Contents

Executive Summary

What can Philosophy for Children do for your school? How does Philosophy for Children work? How could you use Philosophy for Children in your school? What do the users say? What does the research say? What to do next? Appendices A. See Philosophy for Children in Practice B. Research Sources C. About SAPERE

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Executive Summary

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a powerful educational approach which has been found through research studies to have cognitive and social benefits for children and schools.

It is more effective, and less expensive, than any comparable approach. Attainment and happiness are increased.

Originated by

Professor Mathew

Lipman in New York

in 1972

Featured in BBC’s

Socrates for Six

Year Olds in 1990

Launched in UK by

SAPERE in 1992

Now reaches 2,000

new teachers and

40-50,000 children

a year in UK

It is centred on philosophical enquiry, where a trained teacher encourages children to think and reason as a group.

It supports Personal, Social and Health Education and complements many government initiatives and education strategies.

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What can Philosophy for Children do for your school?

For your pupils

•Increased motivation to enquire and learn

•More critical and reflective thinkers and learners

•Improved confidence and self-esteem

•Enhanced literacy, numeracy and oracy

For your teachers

•New strategies to enhance teaching skills

•Greater confidence with using open-ended

questioning and dialogue

•Greater pupil engagement in learning and

curriculum

For your school as a whole

•Uplift in standardised test scores

•Improvements in classroom and playground

behaviour

•Whole school impact on learning and teaching,

communication with parents and the community

Overview of Benefits

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What can Philosophy for Children (P4C) do for your school?

•P4C sessions once a week for a school year can increase IQ by an average of 6 points as measured by CAT scores

•This correlates with a 20% improvement in the chance of achieving a particular grade at GCSE

•Lower and middle ability students tend to benefit more than the highest ability students

•Improvement is sustained even after pupils move from primary to secondary school

Source: Trickey and Topping – British Journal of Educational Psychology (2007)

Academic Benefits

Cognitive Ability Sustainability

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Pre-intervention Post-test intervention 2 years later

Mean C

AT

Score

P4C Pupils

Control Pupils

Cognitive Ability Gain by Ability Quartile

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First quartile Second quartile Third quartile Fourth quartile

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What can Philosophy for Children do for your school?

Evidence that regular practice of P4C can bring improvements in: •Self esteem and self confidence

•Reflection and reasoning

•Ability to communicate, state reasons and argue a case

•Concentration, engagement and motivation to learn

•Behaviour in and out of the classroom

•Listening, co-operative and social skills

•Emotional/psychological wellbeing

Personal, Social and Behavioural Benefits

Findings from multi-school Scottish P4C project with 105 year 6 primary school children: •Rate of pupils supporting their views with reasons doubled in the P4C group over a six-month period

•Teachers using P4C doubled their use of an open-ended follow-up question in response to pupil comments

•Percentage of time that pupils were speaking (compared to the percentage of time that the teacher was speaking) increased from 41% to 66%

•Length of pupil utterances in the experimental classes increased on average by 58%

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How does Philosophy for Children work?

How do you know someone is really your friend?

Example P4C Questions

Asking questions drives thinking: Starting with a stimulus, such as a story, children are encouraged to ask their own questions. The whole group then decides (e.g. by voting) which question it would most like to discuss. The teacher gives children time to think and reason individually about the chosen question before exchanging ideas and opinions as a group – a community of enquiry. Through discussing their questions children learn to listen carefully, to explore differences of opinion respectfully and to value the ideas of others. Regular P4C sessions help children to build their self-confidence and increase their willingness to participate, especially those who start with lower levels of self-esteem. As P4C uses a mainly verbal approach it is particularly motivating for children who struggle with writing.

Typical session lasts 40 – 60 minutes

Does the mind grow old in the same way as the body?

Should you follow the rules or do what you think is right ?

Is it possible to have a fair race ?

Who is most intelligent, you or a computer?

See P4C in action at Rokeby School Student-produced video on whole school application of P4C at Rokeby Secondary School, Newham, London http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzXayKz0

maM

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How to use Philosophy for Children in your school?

Primary School

•A Roman Catholic Primary School in Cheshire had SAPERE Level 1

•All teachers have P4C inquiries at least once a fortnight •The head teacher ‘is convinced that P4C has significantly changed relationships between children and teachers, creating a deeper sense of trust.’

Embedding P4C in your school is not difficult – here are six examples of different approaches

Staged Introduction

•Launched with challenging year 8 and 9 students in English and Humanities

•Extended across whole school with fortnightly sessions

•Most staff trained to SAPERE Level 1, 3 staff to level 2 and 18 students trained as facilitators and P4C champions

Maths Example

•Secondary School in Cumbria – 2 of the Maths team SAPERE Level 1

•P4C was introduced to Y7 then Y11 who did Level 1 and facilitated enquiries with Y7 and Y3 in a feeder primary

•‘The level of discussion was staggering...we have begun to question our own current teaching practice.’

Whole School Approach

•20+ teachers trained on 2 day SAPERE Level 1 INSET

•Follow up Developing P4C Practice Day for staff team

•2 staff complete SAPERE Level 2 and lead P4C as co-ordinator of policy, planning, coaching and resources

Secondary with feeder primaries

•Secondary School in Milton Keynes trained a selected ‘cross-curricular’ team at Level 1 then provided Level 1 for staff and students

•Targeted ‘lost children’ in Y9, KS4 and gifted and talented children

•Established Philosophy Club and outreach liaison with feeder primary schools and children made presentations in the community

SAPERE School Award

•Celebrate emerging P4C practice (Bronze award)

•Provide a structure to further develop high quality P4C practice (Silver award)

•Aim for sustainable high quality P4C practice as integral to the school’s ethos, curriculum and values (Gold award)

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What do the users say?

“Thinking is Life. If we didn’t think, we would just plod along through life without meaning.”

Ricky, Year 8

“SAPERE has an important role in the emerging educational climate. I trust that you will keep doing all

you can to help schools believe that they can make a difference to the true education of the young.”

– Mick Waters

“The [Ofsted] inspectors commented on the range of creative, exciting and thought-provoking activities provided in the best

lessons, along with effective use of questioning.” – Secondary school using P4C

“Last years results were from our first cohort who had regular P4C

during their full 4 years and put us in the top 3-7% of schools across the

country.” Head teacher

“Children are far better able to accept and listen

to the other person’s viewpoint .” – Head

teacher

“The curriculum for PHSE , including a programme of Philosophy for Children,

greatly enhanced pupils’ personal development and well-being.” –

Ofsted report on C of E primary school

“Questions have to make sense and make a good

argument where you are all going to have

different views.” Y5 pupil

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What does the research say?

Research shows that P4C is highly effective and excellent value for money Chart shows effect size and relative costs of top 11 approaches to spending the Deprivation Pupil Premium as identified by the EEF, compared with 3 research studies into P4C Effect size is a standardised measure of impact. An effect size of +0.5 implies that the approach increases the performance of the beneficiaries by 0.5 standard deviations compared to the control group. If applied to an IQ test, this would represent an increase of 7-8 points £ symbol indicates relative cost with P4C typically costing about £50 per pupil

More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=81

Approaches to Spending Deprivation Pupil Premium

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Sources: EEF Pupil Premium Toolkit;

Trickey and Topping – Clackmannanshire Study (P4C A)

Moriyon, Rebollo, Colom (P4C B)

Philosophy for Children: A Systematic Review (P4C C)

Approaches to Spending Deprivation Pupil Premium

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Sources: EEF Pupil Premium Toolkit;

Trickey and Topping – Clackmannanshire Study (P4C A)

Moriyon, Rebollo, Colom (P4C B)

Philosophy for Children: A Systematic Review (P4C C)

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What does the research say?

Research shows that P4C is effective across verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning – enhancing oracy, numeracy and literacy. Chart shows the mean gain in Cognitive Ability Test scores by type of reasoning for 105 primary school pupils who benefited from 16 months of weekly P4C sessions compared to a control group. The impact is significantly positive for the P4C pupils across all three areas of verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning. For the control group declines in CAT scores were seen in all areas over the same period. More at:http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=204

Cognitive Gains by Type of Reasoning

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-2.0

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Experimental Control

Mean C

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gain

Verbal

Quantitative

Non-verbal

Overall

Source: Trickey and Topping – British Journal of Educational Psychology (2007)

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What to do next?

Level 1: Introduction to

P4C

•Enables teachers to start practising P4C in the classroom •2 day course – Open or INSET

Level 2: Extending P4C

Practice

•Certificates teachers in Theory and Practice of Philosophical Enquiry in Education

•Runs over 4 days

Level 3: Developing P4C

Practice

•Develops Advanced Skills Teachers in P4C

•Self study, taught sessions and written assignment

The usual starting point is for the head teacher and/or other senior teachers to familiarise themselves

with P4C, and potentially send one or two staff members on a pilot Level 1 training course

SAPERE Training Courses Taster:

Understanding P4C

•Allows you to assess whether P4C is right for your school at the moment

•Public conferences, twilight sessions, teacher/governor presentations •Led by SAPERE with no obligation for your school

More at: http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=108

Outstanding schools are eligible for SAPERE Bronze, Silver and Gold school awards

More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=196

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What to do next?

Visit www.sapere.org.uk for more information

Contact the SAPERE team in Oxford on 01865 408 333 or email

enquiries@sapere.org.uk

Arrange for a SAPERE trainer to make a presentation at your staff meeting

Arrange for SAPERE to facilitate a twilight session with your staff team and

governors

Send one or two teachers to a Level 1 SAPERE training course or taster day

See videos of Philosophy for Children in practice via the links on the following

page

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Appendix A: See Philosophy for Children in Practice

Gallions Primary School

•BBC London News report on P4C in an East

London primary school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d

h28kEL23q0

Mathew Lipman on P4C

•Mathew Lipman on the origins of P4C and its

early use in a disadvantaged New York school

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P

7fYxuC5lBQ&feature=related

Rokeby Secondary School

•Student-produced video on whole school

application of P4C at Rokeby School, Newham,

London

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz

XayKz0maM

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Appendix B: Research Sources

•Alexander, R. (2002). The Curriculum in Successful Primary Schools: A Response. Text of keynote address given to the HMI Invitation

Conference on the 2002 Ofsted report The Curriculum in Successful Primary Schools: Watermen’s Hall, London, 14 October 2002

•Garcia-Moriyon, F. Rebollo, I. and Colom, R. (2005). Evaluation Philosophy for Children: A Meta-Analysis. Thinking: The Journal of

Philosophy for Children, Vol 17, number 4 pages 14-22.

•Jones, Hanneke (2008). 'Thoughts on teaching thinking: perceptions of practitioners with a shared culture of thinking skills education',

Curriculum Journal, 19: 4, 309 — 324

•Trickey. S and Topping K.J. (2004). ‘Philosophy for Children: a Systematic Review.’ Research Papers in Education. Vol 19, issue 3,

pp365-380

•Topping, K.J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Impact of philosophical enquiry on school students interactive behaviour. International Journal of

Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2(2), 73-84.

•Topping, K. J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive effects at 10-12 years. British Journal

of Educational Psychology, 77, 271–288.

•Topping, K. J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive gains at two-year follow-up. British

Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(4), 787-796.

Research References

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Appendix C: About SAPERE

Promote Philosophy for Children in UK

Develop and deliver validated training courses

Support a national community of teachers, trainers and schools

Our Role

Manage projects to deliver Philosophy for Children

Collate and publicise research into benefits of Philosophy for Children

Registered charity based in Oxford

Full and part-time staff of six people

Network of 60 registered professional trainers across UK

Our Organisation

National membership of over 800 people

Partnerships including Oxfam, Helen Hamlyn Trust, SHINE Trust

More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=70

© SAPERE 2012