Dare to Ask

From Philosophy for Children to Dare to Ask®: a new resource for RE in primary schools

Like many Religious Education (RE) advisers and teachers, I have been inspired by Philosophy for Children and the exciting possibilities it offers for classroom dialogue. I encountered these ideas through colleagues such as Patricia Hannam, Joanna Haynes, Karin Murris and Sue Lyle, whose work had a lasting influence on my own thinking and practice. Their work encouraged me to see the classroom not simply as a place where knowledge is transmitted, but as a community of enquiry where children learn through questioning, dialogue and shared thinking.

Those ideas stayed with me throughout my career as an RE adviser, school improvement adviser and Ofsted inspector. In these roles I regularly observed lessons where children were bursting with questions but teachers often lacked the confidence, time or structures to capitalise on this. More recently, RE has placed greater emphasis on disciplinary knowledge, understanding religion and worldviews and helping pupils think critically about complex and often controversial issues. These developments are helpful. The spirit of philosophical enquiry and the growing focus on disciplinary thinking in RE are not in competition with each other. They are approaches that can work powerfully together.

At the heart of Dare to Ask®️ is a simple belief: the best learning begins with good questions. It encourages children to explore religion and worldviews through curiosity, dialogue and enquiry while developing secure knowledge, thoughtful reasoning and respectful discussion. The Dare to Ask®️ resource package includes a teacher handbook, progressive questioning frameworks, dilemma cards, pupil journals, thinking prompts and an implementation roadmap – all designed to make enquiry-led learning manageable in everyday practice.

Dare to Ask® builds on many of the principles of Philosophy for Children while responding to the opportunities and challenges of contemporary RE. My hope is that it will help teachers feel confident to create classrooms where children ask meaningful questions, listen carefully to one another, challenge ideas respectfully and develop increasingly informed viewpoints.

One of the most encouraging aspects of developing Dare to Ask® has been the number of people who have asked whether its underlying approach could eventually be adapted across the curriculum and for secondary pupils. This is something that could be explored further down the line. For now, however, my focus is firmly on supporting high-quality primary RE and seeing where this first stage of the journey leads.

Launch events

Dare to Ask® will be launched at two regional events this autumn. If you are interested in the relationship between philosophical enquiry and Religious Education, I would be delighted to welcome you.

Tuesday 29 September 2026
Soar Valley College, Leicester
9.30am–12.00pm

Thursday 15 October 2026
Pollyplatt Primary Academy (Infinity Academies Trust Training Suite), Lincoln
9.30am–12.00pm

I hope to hold further events in different parts of the country during early 2027.