Sts Peter and Paul Primary School

Philosophy in the Classroom at Sts Peter and Paul, Garran

The staff at Sts Peter and Paul Garran, are now Level One teachers of Philosophy. As a result of reading about a principal’s story, Lynne Hinton, in “Leading Australia’s Schools “ by Patrick Duignan and David Gurr, three staff members travelled to Brisbane last year to see Philosophy in the Classroom in action at Buranda State School, Brisbane. They were so impressed that upon their return they convinced the staff to explore the possibility of taking on the process at Garran. After our first PD day, the staff were committed to adopting the process and now all classes from Kinder to Year 6 have a designated philosophy lesson a week.

The staff participated in two days of PD (one in January and the second in August) with the assistant principal of Buranda State school, Simon Vaseo. Philosophy in Schools grew out of Philosophy for Children, which was first developed by Professor Matthew Lipman in the United States during the 1970s. While teaching at Columbia University in New York, Professor Lipman realised that many of the undergraduates he was trying to teach had not been taught how to think effectively. He decided to attack the problem at its root cause, by beginning with children.

Philosophy in Schools involves developing a ‘community of inquiry’ that is based on the values of care and respect for all its members, and which consequently generates its own rules for operation.

Philosophical Inquiry:

Enables children to participate in facilitated philosophical discussions about the big questions of life
Provides children with the skills to share ideas, thoughts and beliefs
Assists the development of thinking and social skills
Encourages children to develop hypotheses, give examples and reasons, build on each other’s ideas, justify decisions and recognise inconsistencies in arguments
Values the ability to change one’s mind in response to a justified reason
Helps children to think deeply, make reasoned judgments and deal appropriately with conflict
Allows children to apply their knowledge more effectively.

The basic procedure for philosophical inquiry is generally as follows:

Read story (a carefully chosen picture book)
Students raise questions about the story
Students connect questions and identify themes
Discussion

After or during this time teachers may utilise concept development activities to enable the students a greater understanding of concepts being explored. Children are also provided opportunities to reflect upon these sessions (orally and written).

Examples of philosophical questions discussed:

What does it mean to be fair?
How can I come to know anything?
Why can something be considered ugly?
How do we recognise faulty reasoning?

Some children’s views on philosophy:

            We can agree and disagree
            I’ve learnt you can look at a book but you don’t see everything
            It makes me think further than my first thought
            I get a chance to speak out as I know it isn’t the wrong answer because          there isn’t one
            I can find out what other people are thinking
            I am not afraid to speak up
            It works your brain and you are dying to answer questions
            It makes me listen to other people and not just think of how I feel

(Primary Resource: Philosophy with Young Children- a Classroom Handbook, Philip Cam, Liz Fynes-Clinton, Kathlyn Harrison, Lynne Hinton, Rosie Scholl, Simon Vaseo, ACSA, Deakin, ACT.)

Anne-Marie Marek

philosophy 1
Staff PD day in August with Simon Vaseo

philosophy 2
Sue Wales and her Year 1 class

philosophy 3
Simon Kinch and his Year 5-6 class

philosophy 4
Gayle Hunt and her Year 2 class