What happens in P4C Club doesn’t stay in P4C Club

I have facilitated P4C for over 20 years, but every new group is a new community of thinkers, with unique needs, unique minds and unique challenges. Earlier this year, following our 2024 Wonder Wander fundraising campaign, Thoughtful was able to offer a school 10 free P4C sessions and so another new community was created.

The school I approached to gift these sessions to was St. Columba CofE Primary School in Hampshire. They were already using Voice 21’s talk tactics and were keen to give the children the opportunity to think more deeply about stuff that mattered. We agreed it would take place in the last session of the day and would be simply called: P4C Club.

The school chose a group of Year Four and Year Five children to join the club because they were becoming one class the following year, and many were described as quieter and lacking in confidence (with a few having specific SEND needs as well). They were also described as children that liked to ask questions, are creative and often have ‘random thoughts’! I was told in preparation for our first session that one child had an EHCP for ASD and was so quiet it would be a gamble as he may not even talk; another child was interested in the world; one had barely left her local area; another loved dinosaurs; and another was serious and anxious whilst a few were working a year or two below expected level. This was going to be interesting…

My thinking and planning began and I arrived on an April afternoon, introduced myself, and we started our philosophical voyage together. We used community builders to start to get to know one another, making personal connections to postcards and discovering which philosophical questions and ideas they found interesting. When I asked them at the end of this first session what they thought Philosophy was, they replied with: ‘a question which needs answers’ and ‘a question that you think about which breaks down into smaller questions.’ I already knew I was going to enjoy the next nine weeks.

For the next session, I wore bunny ears (into the classroom, not the school reception) and asked the young thinkers, do these look good on me? Discussions related to honesty and truth ensued. I presented a Truth Telling Potion bottle and asked them to decide whether they would drink it. One young thinker questioned whether he would trust that the potion itself does what it says on the label and is even safe to drink (he has a nut allergy so his caution was understandable!). Another suggested that maybe we could have ‘good lies’ – and then it became lively! The provocation had worked and the children were joining in and linking their ideas with palpable enthusiasm. The boy that might never utter a word was also joining in. In fact, he was talking about these P4C Club sessions at home and his class teacher had also noticed that he was asking questions in the classroom more.

Something was happening and it wasn’t just happening during P4C Club.

Four weeks in and there was a turning point. The children were speaking to each other (rather than looking at me) and they were building ideas together. I promoted the idea that disagreement was helpful for the community as contestability created an exchange of ideas and viewpoints that was good for the business of philosophical dialogue. We reflected on how it felt when someone disagrees with you. One girl eloquently explained that as long as you are calm, it feels ok to disagree as you’re disagreeing with the idea and not the person. This was significant progress for the community and for their confidence. I also noticed moments after individuals spoke, of a glow of satisfaction that their thought was publicly being valued and considered. As the facilitator, I was acknowledging them, their contribution and using it to progress the thinking. Collaborative thinking was afoot and it felt good. One boy spontaneously jumped out of his seat and started reviewing with the group whether they had kept their community guidelines. Had we joined in? Were they taking turns? Were there many voices when in pairs or one voice when working as a whole group? Were they listening and thinking carefully? Were they making it interesting for the group? The teacher in the room could see the difference only a few sessions had made.

I gave them a preview of the next week that would involve real fossils and the boy who loved them perked up and was already looking forward to it.

I started the next session by asking if any of the children had said ‘I disagree with you because…’ to anyone since last week, in or outside of school. One child explained that he had disagreed with his mum on Saturday and it changed the decision she made; he was very pleased with this outcome! As I had promised, the discovery of a fossil and asking who owns it, became the content focus of the session. Marc Majewski’s book that poses the question ‘Does Earth Feel? led to a passionate discussion about what makes Earth feel and whether the Earth includes humans’ feelings. One boy suggested that the Earth cannot feel as it doesn’t have a brain; another disagreed and said that all the humans on Earth have brains and are part of the Earth and so decide how it feels.

Increasingly, the children were empowered to ask their own questions. The book Square by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen, led to a conversation about perfection after I had asked them: Is it possible to draw a perfect square or a perfect circle? One child suggested that if it looks how you wanted and imagined, then that would be perfect – or perfect enough. It was fascinating to discover that they were comfortable with perfection and didn’t view it as threatening (which is a stark contrast to how adults often view perfection). They were also intrigued by the secretive ideas within the book and asked, ‘If you tell someone a secret, is it still a secret?’ An important question and one that mattered to them in the moment – and when they leave the classroom into their outside world.

P4C can also be playful and the penultimate session started with two playing cards laid face down in the middle of the circle. I told the children that one of them was red, and they had to decide which one – when they tested that theory, it turned out that neither were red! The trick had worked. Why did they believe one was red? Because I told them? Because I’m an adult? Because I’m a teacher? Because they trusted me? It became one of our most important conversations about whether we can trust what we see or should we use our critical thinking skills to question, challenge, listen to others and then come to our own (informed) judgements.

Indeed, one child described her brain as feeling like ‘mashed potato’ after wrestling with these ideas about why we believe and should we believe what we see. I suppose potato can indeed be used as a metaphor for philosophy – it is versatile, adaptable and a nourishing staple. Philosophy is meant to push us to think harder (both teachers and students) and can enable us to view the curriculum differently, forcing us to ask what matters to the children, what is conceptual and what is contestable about the sequence of learning experiences that we offer. Schools already have concept rich curriculums that can be enlivened and innovated by a philosophical lens. P4C provides a pedagogy that can not only weave a golden oracy thread through a curriculum but also cultivates opportunities for young people to want to speak, listen and think more deeply. I would argue that our school menu must include mashed potato.

And finally, weren’t we glad we took the gamble on the child who might never talk during P4C club. You can read his case study below – not only did he talk, but he is now on the school council – and wants to become a member of parliament.