Thirty years of P4C: #6 Paul – How philosophy shaped a whole school for the better

“…we have gone from being a school where P4C was only used occasionally, to a school where it has become a key part of our pedagogy, where teachers plan and teach philosophically, making the most of opportunities to enable children to question and challenge…”

I have been a Primary headteacher for the past 21 years, and P4C has been a very important part of my personal and professional development during that time. I can still remember the powerful ‘lightbulb moment’ during my initial P4C training, when I realised the huge potential for P4C to transform teaching and learning in my school.

In the past five years in particular, we have gone from being a school where P4C was only used occasionally, to a school where it has become a key part of our pedagogy, where teachers plan and teach philosophically, making the most of opportunities to enable children to question and challenge what they are learning about in the curriculum. In our recent Ofsted inspection and subsequent report, the impact of P4C was recognised with the inspector commenting that “pupils have frequent opportunities to express their opinions, and listen to other people’s views. They develop confidence in sharing ideas. They know how to disagree with someone in a way that is respectful and kind.”

The journey to introduce P4C into all aspects of school life has not always been easy, with staff initially questioning how they were going to fit yet another subject into the already crowded timetable. However, over time these concerns have dissipated, as staff have become more confident and have been able to see P4C, not as another subject, but more as a way of thinking about teaching and learning. This is what Ellie, one of our Year 2 teachers had to say about the impact of P4C on her work:

“You see their thinking, their verbal skills, suddenly make leaps… it’s one of the reasons people go into teaching – it’s a perfect fit for that. Giving pupils a voice, giving them time to express themselves, to think deeper about things we would normally just kind of skip over because the curriculum is so vast. Giving them that time to be deeper learners about the subjects that we talk about. The way that we’ve woven it into our wider curriculum, makes that possible. It all links up to give them time to talk about things on a deeper level, that you wouldn’t when you were doing another lesson. P4C has given me the skills to let children talk about these things and think deeper about… anything really that we come across. It’s part of everything we do here at Bradway and runs in the background. During the day I think someone’s asked a great question there, let’s come back to it. They still ‘wow’ me, they bring P4C into lessons where I didn’t realise it would fit. They still use that language across the curriculum. I have children who can easily talk about critical thinking and demonstrate critical thinking on a daily basis. That’s thanks to having P4C in the curriculum.”

P4C impacts children at all ages. In the following account, Kirsty, our Foundation Stage lead, recounts how P4C has shaped her work and the impact it has had throughout children’s time at our school.

“I have loved my P4C journey. It has made a massive difference to the children that I teach and has really focussed on those fundamental skills that children need to be able to question the wider world around them and prepare them for the world and things they are going to be faced with and different challenges. We can confidently say that children leave Bradway able to question, challenge, to be able to understand and be empathetic; the skills that children use in their P4C sessions, all the way from Foundation Stage, to Year 6.“

Until Covid struck, parents were regularly visiting classes and joining in P4C sessions; something we are planning to reintroduce. During the lockdowns there were heartening stories of how families had used P4C activities we had set online to follow up with discussions at home, and one child even discussed a P4C question online with her extended family in Sri Lanka.

“As a parent I have seen the evidence at home of the impact of P4C. Ella was able to tell us, and grandparents around the dining table, what it was about and what they discussed. It certainly makes the dining table an interesting place.”

We are delighted at the way P4C has woven its way into all aspects of school and home life. There are many more challenges in sustaining and further developing the work that we do over time. But knowing what a profound impact P4C has on children’s lives creates an inspiring and compelling reason to keep striving to improve provision, and to share that impact with others in education and the wider community. In the words of one of our Year 6 children:

“In our class P4C has helped in other subjects as well. You are learning life skills, for example you need to be able to challenge someone in a polite way. A lot of the skills like listening, and building on others’ ideas, you can use in other subjects like literacy or maths, or anything really. You get to say what you think without being judged about it. It helps you to incorporate other people’s ideas into your thinking.”