What Is P4C?
P4C (‘Philosophy for Children) Origins & Aims
‘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.
If your plan is for one year, plant rice; If your plan is for ten years, plant trees; If your plan is for one hundred years, educate the children. Confucius
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 Vygotskii, 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.
Evidence of Effectiveness
Controlled tests in America in the 1980’s showed that not only could children’s reasoning powers be enhanced through philosophical enquiry, but so could their reading and mathematical skills. Studies in Derby and South Wales in the 90’s bore out the general effectiveness of the approach.
Teachers also find the community of enquiry approach suits a holistic concern for their students: self-esteem rises with children’s ability to communicate in a personally meaningful way with their peers. OFSTED reports on two schools with philosophical enquiry in their curriculum have been very positive.
‘The inclusion of philosophy in the curriculum directly impacts on the development of pupils’ moral and social development as well as enhancing their capacity to become independent learners. It also contributes to the development of pupil’s positive attitudes to themselves and others.’ Wapping First School, March 1997
‘In .. philosophy sessions, pupils respond readily with comments and probing questions… The emphasis placed on pupils’ thinking and speaking for themselves at all times, but particularly through philosophy sessions, enables them to make good progress in speaking and listening.’ (Tuckswood First School, February 1998)
Resources
Over the past 10 years or so, people in different countries have begun to develop their own materials for philosophical enquiry with children, and these tend to be known by names other than ‘Philosophy for Children’ - for example, ‘Philosophy with Children’ - to avoid confusion with the Lipman material.
First among these were: ‘Thinking Stories’, by Professor Philip Cam of Sydney, and ‘Stories for Thinking’ by Dr. Robert Fisher of Brunel University. Dr. Karin Murris produced ‘Teaching Philosophy with Picture Books’, recently republished under the new title, ‘Storywise’; and Roger Sutcliffe and Steve Williams developed ‘The Philosophy Club Pack: An adventure in thinking’ and ‘Newswise’, which is material based on topical news stories.
All these materials follow ‘community of enquiry’ principles, such as: the group is always encouraged to create its own questions; to choose carefully which ones to pursue; to respect the experience and perspective of every member; to call for good reasons and examples in discussion, etc.
Thinking Skills & Philosophical Enquiry
Thinking skills, especially those relevant to creative and critical thinking, are rapidly becoming seen as such a ‘good thing’, that there is a danger of not applying our critical faculties to the whole idea! At the least, let us bear in mind that thinking is not easily broken down into separate pieces. It is a dynamic activity, unique in every person. This is probably part of what D. H. Lawrence had in mind when he described thought as the ‘wholeness’ of a person ‘wholly attending’.
Another critical point is that skills of any sort are pretty worthless if one has neither the inclination nor the good sense to use them. We need above all to help children develop the general disposition to think better.
The P4C Approach to Teaching Thinking
For those involved with Philosophy for/with Children, the key practice that starts and drives the whole thinking process is indeed enquiry (interpreted as going beyond information to seek understanding); and the key practice that results in significant changes of thought and action is reflection.
These aims and processes are made explicit in the sort of language used by the teacher as model - ranging from the general invitation, ‘Can anyone respond to that?’ to more specific calls for:
(1) questions (what don’t we understand here? what questions do we have about this?)
(2) hypotheses (does anyone have any alternative suggestions or explanations?)
(3) reasons (what reasons are there for doing that? or evidence for believing this?)
(4) examples (can anyone think of an example of this? or a counter-example?)
(5) distinctions (can we make a distinction here? or give a definition?)
(6) connections (is anyone able to build on that idea? or link it with another?)
(7) implications (what assumptions lie behind this? what consequences does it lead to?)
(8) intentions (is that what was really meant? is that what we’re really saying?)
(9) criteria (what makes that an example of X? what are the things that really count here?)
(10) consistency (does that conclusion follow? are these principles/beliefs consistent?)