Why we need to talk about thinking

SAPERE (now Thoughtful) submitted evidence to the commission and Co-Directors Grace and Emma were interviewed for their podcast series. It will come as little surprise that we form part of this ‘broad coalition’.

The report claims that oracy should be considered ‘the fourth R’, in other words, that alongside reading, writing and arithmetic, oracy is viewed as an ‘essential, foundational building block to support our young people on their journey towards living fulfilling adult lives.’

This claim echoes a similar argument made by Emma in a Guardian Article over a decade ago, about another candidate for the fourth R: reasoning. In that article, Emma argues that reasoning provides the ‘hinges and links’ that allow reading, writing and arithmetic to ‘make sense at all’. And she goes on to argue, that beyond the 3Rs, it is reasoning that helps us to ‘make sense of the world and each other’.

We believe that there is no quarrel between the assertion that both oracy and reasoning (or more broadly, thinking) are vital to education and to children’s futures. But we argue that philosophical enquiry is especially well placed to do just what the report claims is so vital:

‘Now more than ever, we need our young people to be equipped to ask questions, to articulate ideas, to formulate powerful arguments, to deepen their sense of identity and belonging, to listen actively and critically, and to be well-steeped in a fundamental principle of a liberal democracy – that is, being able to disagree agreeably.’

This quote from the commission, describes the task of oracy more broadly, but the skills cited could serve as the very definition of the work of P4C.

The commission understands oracy as: ‘articulating ideas, developing understanding and engaging with others through speaking, listening and communication. With this focus, we see that our understanding of oracy – and our agenda at Thoughtful (previously SAPERE) – overlaps significantly, but not entirely.

What is missing, we think, is an explicit mention of the necessary connection between speaking, listening, communication, and thinking.

Throughout the report, there is much acknowledgement that oracy enables thinking, with frequent mention of criticality, argument, and reasoning (e.g. philosophy’s bread and butter). But the role of philosophical enquiry in cultivating this thinking is not mentioned.

Yet we believe philosophical enquiry fuses oracy with thinking, by focusing on the conversations that concern us all – from the crisis in the Middle East to children’s very conception of what it means to live a flourishing life. P4C combines several drivers of effective oracy education including exploratory talk rooted in a community of enquiry, and cognitively challenging talk about complex and contested ideas.

The report urges educators to focus on the task of preparing students to ‘flourish’. In philosophical enquiry, flourishing is not merely a consequence of what we do, it is often the very subject matter of the discussion itself.

Here we get to the core of why philosophical enquiry is such an essential ingredient of oracy education: it is not a mere methodology that seeks to cultivate skills required to live well, P4C is also orientated towards substantive content such as the nature of a good life. These philosophical questions about existence, meaning and value are, as Emma puts it, the very questions that help learners to ‘make sense of it all’. In an increasingly senseless world, it matters what we choose to talk about.

We congratulate the commission for the work that has gone into this report, and we welcome many of the report’s findings including:

• the call to introduce an oracy entitlement throughout the primary and secondary National Curriculum
• the need to develop teachers’ repertoire of pedagogical tools through high quality professional development
• the aspiration to establish a foundational body and evidence-based source of expertise that outlines the key elements and components of high-quality oracy education.

We regret that philosophical enquiry is not explicitly mentioned in the report, but this doesn’t deter us from advocating for its well-documented and evidence-based benefits.

There are many motivations for prioritising oracy as this report sets out, and a plurality of ways to support learners as the case studies illustrate.  But we call on all schools, colleges and universities who have seen first-hand the power of philosophical enquiry – including the many colleagues who submitted evidence about P4C to the commission – to join is in proclaiming that if you are adopting oracy to teach your students to speak, listen, communicate and to think, then P4C has 50 years of internationally researched expertise to draw on.