Why we need P4C in every UK classroom

The school is committed to a Values Based Education and promoting a ‘World Centred Education’ through the following questions: What might I learn? How might I contribute? Who might I become?

At the recent Next Decade Conference, run by Wellspring Trust in Leeds, the keynote speaker, broadcaster and journalist Matthew Syed, an expert on what makes successful teams declared we need ‘learn-it-alls, not know-it-alls’ if humanity is to thrive. The statement foregrounded the concept of curiosity as the essential 21^st century skill every pupil, team and organisation need to embody to succeed in an ever changing, diverse and fractious world. I have found this thinking corresponds with other such leading educationalists and thinkers of the moment such as Ida Florez, Otto Scharmer, Dave Cromier and Jon Alexander. And one such vehicle for achieving sustained curiosity and care in our education system I believe is Philosophy for Children because it provides a new way of seeing learning…as a Year 4 child in my school declared recently – ‘it provides a different angle on the world.‘

In the past year, a group of seven schools in the Wharfe and Aire Valley in Yorkshire have embarked on SAPERE’s (becoming Thoughtful) Philosophy for Children Level 1 training course for leaders and teachers in each of their schools. In what follows, I aim to capture the early achievements and impact across these schools and explores possible next steps.

The ‘Why’?

In reading a recent 2023 report by the IPPR (Institute for Public Policy Research) entitled ‘Out of Kilter’, I was struck how misaligned the education system has become from ‘human flourishing’ – and given that the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) now recognise a shift needs to be made from pure educational outcomes to this wider goal, I wondered how we might find ways to unlock the potential of young people and develop a system that values a wider set of educational goals, that empowers teachers and that gives young people voice and agency. Having previous utilised P4C as a teaching tool in my own teaching, as Headteacher of Ben Rhydding Primary School, I saw a opportunity to affect a change in my own school and collectively, in the wider local ecosystem of schools.

The ‘How’

Seven schools signed up to this vision, and after an initial two-day training session, schools locally then set about on their journey of introducing Philosophy for Children in their school. From the beginning we asked schools to baseline key indicators such as sense of belonging, the status of thinking and pupil agency in their respective settings. Rather than seeking to ‘prove’ the worth of P4C in relation to academic outcomes as has previously been trialled, this was about pupils developing curiosity; the essential skills to participate in our society today and in the future. In March 2025, I was able to observe P4C lessons in 3 of the schools, gather qualitative feedback and speak directly to pupils about their experience of P4C and its impact.

The ‘Impact’ so far

A Sense of Belonging

Previously I think in schools, pupil participation has been seen as an additionality, an important extra element that Ofsted want evidenced. Increasingly, there is a realisation across the educational landscape that we have to fight hard to secure ‘belonging’ within schools, within communities and indeed globally. I asked teachers to evaluate how much pupils feel listened to and felt able to disagree respectfully within their inquiries. I got a real sense of this in my visits to some of the schools. In all three schools, pupils built respectfully on other pupils’ viewpoints through phrases such as ‘building on what he said’ and ‘going back to what she said’ and although not all pupils contributed to discussions, it was common practice for each pupil to be offered the opportunity for a ‘last word’ to offer their reflections on the inquiry. One pupil mentioned that over time, all pupils began to invite other pupils into the conversation who had previously not been friends, and another remarked how sitting in a circle and making eye contact with all pupils simultaneously was so markedly different to normal lessons.

Curiosity and Agency

One of the other key elements we wanted to evaluate was whether all pupils did feel they had a sense they could contribute and share their ideas/opinions beyond a P4C inquiry. At one school, pupils could confidently interject each other and collectively hold each other in a safe space, and in another how there was no sense of a ‘dominant’ speaker. It was noticeable how pupils you wouldn’t hear from in whole class discussion suddenly felt able to raise their voices. Several pupils remarked how it had increased their confidence and helped them learn how to speak better. They liked how every opinion was valued without being forced to contribute and the ability to chose inquiry questions. Tellingly, in one inquiry session focused on a question based on an Amnesty International video about 4 minutes of silence between strangers, one child wondered if they could ‘try this out’ as a class, showing how P4C invites pupils to ponder possibilities beyond the inquiry.

Final Thoughts

It is still early days for the development of P4C in our cluster of schools, but teachers who were part of the training remarked a significant improvement in students’ confidence to express differing opinions and that they consistently express excitement and anticipation to participate in these sessions. Based on the initial findings I would offer three final observations which indicates the ingredients that make P4C a powerful vehicle for belonging, curiosity and agency.

1. Qualifying and Corrective Statements

One of the key features of the lessons I saw were qualifying statements by teachers and pupils. In one session, one pupil remarked volcanoes are the most dangerous extreme event, and another pupil asked whether she meant dormant or active volcanoes, qualifying the other pupil’s meaning. In another P4C session, when the teacher said that an idea had been previously raised by X pupil, another pupil clarified it had actually been another pupil and then gave credit to the correct pupil. This demonstrated incredible confidence, agency and care for the community in which they were situated.

2. Invitational Gestures

I heard lots of invitational gestures from pupils and teachers, where they invited people in the discussion. In one discussion a pupil asked the question, ‘I was just wondering if I could’ to the teacher, and this indicates this atmosphere of invitation, of respect to each other as inquirers and psychological safety that P4C had created in that room. In some sessions, no intervention from a teacher was needed as pupils invited each other to speak next or yield to another speaker.

3. Considered Views

Finally, what was most apparent was how much impact P4C had on pupils’ confidence in speaking. One girl, who wouldn’t normally contribute, shared in the evaluation that it ‘helped me say more words and contribute more’. One pupil shared ‘I love how so many people have so little arguments and so many ideas’ and another shared that ‘In the time I’ve done P4C I have learnt to put extreme care into every point I make’.  So, P4C helps pupils feel they can talk more, but also helps pupils consider if what they are saying is of value to the group and an accurate formulation of their thoughts.

The Potential of P4C

Bringing all this back to educational theory, the great educational philosopher Gert Biesta summaries teaching as the act of redirecting someone else’s gaze so they may engage with the world. Learning is at heart an act of invitation and P4C ‘invites’ pupil in, already treating them as fully formed agents of change. And in promoting curiosity and critical thinking within a caring community, we begin to see P4C is not another learning programme, but a lens through which pupils begin to see themselves and the curriculum differently. In short, P4C has a magic multiplier effect, in bringing together many qualities we hope to instil in our young people. My strongly held belief is that P4C is in microcosm everything we need to realise in our classrooms, communities and politics if we are all to build a better world. As the National Curriculum Review takes place, in my view, P4C should be closely examined as a way to meet our pupils’ needs right here, right now and help them flourish.

My final singular thought is the following…what if P4C was taught in every classroom in the UK? I can only imagine.

Biography

Peter Timms is Headteacher at Ben Rhydding Primary School in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. The school is committed to Values Based Education and promoting a ‘World Centred Education’ through the following questions: What might I learn? How might I contribute? Who might I become?

Home – Ben Rhydding Primary School

https://www.valuesbasededucation.com