Intro to p4 c sapere

1. SAPERE and Philosophy for Children
© SAPERE 2012

2. 2
Contents
Executive Summary
What can Philosophy for Children do for your school?
How does Philosophy for Children work?
How could you use Philosophy for Children in your school?
What do the users say?
What does the research say?
What to do next?
Appendices
A. See Philosophy for Children in Practice
B. Research Sources
C. About SAPERE
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Executive Summary
Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a powerful educational approach which has been found
through research studies to have cognitive and social benefits for children and schools.
It is more effective, and less expensive, than any comparable approach. Attainment and
happiness are increased.
Originated by
Professor Mathew
Lipman in New York
in 1972
Featured in BBC’s
Socrates for Six
Year Olds in 1990
Launched in UK by
SAPERE in 1992
Now reaches 2,000
new teachers and
40-50,000 children
a year in UK
It is centred on philosophical enquiry, where a trained teacher encourages children to
think and reason as a group.
It supports Personal, Social and Health Education and complements many government
initiatives and education strategies.
© SAPERE 2012

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What can Philosophy for Children do for your school?
For your pupils
•Increased motivation to enquire and learn
•More critical and reflective thinkers and learners
•Improved confidence and self-esteem
•Enhanced literacy, numeracy and oracy
For your teachers
•New strategies to enhance teaching skills
•Greater confidence with using open-ended
questioning and dialogue
•Greater pupil engagement in learning and
curriculum
For your school as a whole
•Uplift in standardised test scores
•Improvements in classroom and playground
behaviour
•Whole school impact on learning and teaching,
communication with parents and the community
Overview of Benefits
© SAPERE 2012

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What can Philosophy for Children (P4C) do for your school?
•P4C sessions once a week for a school year can increase IQ by an average of 6 points as measured by CAT scores
•This correlates with a 20% improvement in the chance of achieving a particular grade at GCSE
•Lower and middle ability students tend to benefit more than the highest ability students
•Improvement is sustained even after pupils move from primary to secondary school
Source: Trickey and Topping – British Journal of Educational Psychology (2007)
Academic Benefits
Cognitive Ability Sustainability
94
96
98
100
102
104
106
108
Pre-intervention Post-test intervention 2 years later
MeanCATScore
P4C Pupils
Control Pupils
Cognitive Ability Gain by Ability Quartile
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
First quartile Second quartile Third quartile Fourth quartile
MeangaininCATscore
© SAPERE 2012

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What can Philosophy for Children do for your school?
Evidence that regular practice of P4C can bring
improvements in:
•Self esteem and self confidence
•Reflection and reasoning
•Ability to communicate, state reasons and argue a
case
•Concentration, engagement and motivation to learn
•Behaviour in and out of the classroom
•Listening, co-operative and social skills
•Emotional/psychological wellbeing
Personal, Social and Behavioural Benefits
Findings from multi-school Scottish P4C project with
105 year 6 primary school children:
•Rate of pupils supporting their views with reasons
doubled in the P4C group over a six-month period
•Teachers using P4C doubled their use of an open-
ended follow-up question in response to pupil
comments
•Percentage of time that pupils were speaking
(compared to the percentage of time that the teacher
was speaking) increased from 41% to 66%
•Length of pupil utterances in the experimental
classes increased on average by 58%
© SAPERE 2012

7. 7
How does Philosophy for Children work?
How do you know someone is really your
friend?
Example P4C Questions
Asking questions drives thinking:
Starting with a stimulus, such as a story, children are
encouraged to ask their own questions. The whole
group then decides (e.g. by voting) which question it
would most like to discuss. The teacher gives children
time to think and reason individually about the chosen
question before exchanging ideas and opinions as a
group – a community of enquiry.
Through discussing their questions children learn to
listen carefully, to explore differences of opinion
respectfully and to value the ideas of others.
Regular P4C sessions help children to build their self-
confidence and increase their willingness to participate,
especially those who start with lower levels of self-
esteem. As P4C uses a mainly verbal approach it is
particularly motivating for children who struggle with
writing.
Typical session lasts 40 – 60 minutes
Does the mind grow old in the same way
as the body?
Should you follow the rules or do what you
think is right ?
Is it possible to have a fair race ?
Who is most intelligent, you or a
computer?
See P4C in action at Rokeby School
Student-produced video on whole school
application of P4C at Rokeby Secondary School,
Newham, London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzXayKz0
maM
© SAPERE 2012

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How to use Philosophy for Children in your school?
Primary School
•A Roman Catholic Primary School in Cheshire had SAPERE Level 1
•All teachers have P4C inquiries at least once a fortnight
•The head teacher ‘is convinced that P4C has significantly changed
relationships between children and teachers, creating a deeper sense of
trust.’
Embedding P4C in your school is not difficult – here are six examples of different approaches
Staged Introduction
•Launched with challenging year 8 and 9 students in English and
Humanities
•Extended across whole school with fortnightly sessions
•Most staff trained to SAPERE Level 1, 3 staff to level 2 and 18 students
trained as facilitators and P4C champions
Maths Example
•Secondary School in Cumbria – 2 of the Maths team SAPERE Level 1
•P4C was introduced to Y7 then Y11 who did Level 1 and facilitated
enquiries with Y7 and Y3 in a feeder primary
•‘The level of discussion was staggering...we have begun to question
our own current teaching practice.’
Whole School Approach
•20+ teachers trained on 2 day SAPERE Level 1 INSET
•Follow up Developing P4C Practice Day for staff team
•2 staff complete SAPERE Level 2 and lead P4C as co-ordinator of
policy, planning, coaching and resources
Secondary with feeder primaries
•Secondary School in Milton Keynes trained a selected ‘cross-curricular’
team at Level 1 then provided Level 1 for staff and students
•Targeted ‘lost children’ in Y9, KS4 and gifted and talented children
•Established Philosophy Club and outreach liaison with feeder primary
schools and children made presentations in the community
SAPERE School Award
•Celebrate emerging P4C practice (Bronze award)
•Provide a structure to further develop high quality P4C practice (Silver
award)
•Aim for sustainable high quality P4C practice as integral to the school’s
ethos, curriculum and values (Gold award)
© SAPERE 2012

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What do the users say?
“Thinking is Life. If we
didn’t think, we would
just plod along through
life without meaning.”
Ricky, Year 8
“SAPERE has an important role in
the emerging educational climate.
I trust that you will keep doing all
you can to help schools believe
that they can make a difference to
the true education of the young.”
– Mick Waters
“The [Ofsted] inspectors commented on the
range of creative, exciting and thought-
provoking activities provided in the best
lessons, along with effective use of
questioning.” – Secondary school using P4C
“Last years results were from our
first cohort who had regular P4C
during their full 4 years and put us
in the top 3-7% of schools across the
country.”
Head teacher
“Children are far better
able to accept and listen
to the other person’s
viewpoint .” – Head
teacher
“The curriculum for PHSE , including a
programme of Philosophy for Children,
greatly enhanced pupils’ personal
development and well-being.” –
Ofsted report on C of E primary school
“Questions have to make
sense and make a good
argument where you are
all going to have
different views.” Y5 pupil
© SAPERE 2012

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What does the research say?
Research shows that P4C is
highly effective and excellent
value for money
Chart shows effect size and
relative costs of top 11
approaches to spending the
Deprivation Pupil Premium as
identified by the EEF,
compared with 3 research
studies into P4C
Effect size is a standardised
measure of impact. An effect
size of +0.5 implies that the
approach increases the
performance of the
beneficiaries by 0.5 standard
deviations compared to the
control group. If applied to an
IQ test, this would represent
an increase of 7-8 points
£ symbol indicates relative
cost with P4C typically costing
about £50 per pupil
More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=81
Approaches to Spending Deprivation Pupil Premium
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(A)
Effective
feedback
M
eta-cognitive
and
selfregulation
strategies
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(B)
Peertutoring/peer-assisted
learning
strategies
Early
intervention
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(C
)
O
ne-to-one
tutoring
H
om
ew
ork
IC
T
Assessm
entforlearning
Sum
m
erschools
Parentalinvolvem
ent
R
educing
class
sizes
EffectSize
£££ ££££££££££££££ £ ££ £££ £££ ££££££ ££
Sources: EEF Pupil Premium Toolkit;
Trickey and Topping – Clackmannanshire Study (P4C A)
Moriyon, Rebollo, Colom (P4C B)
Philosophy for Children: A Systematic Review (P4C C)
Approaches to Spending Deprivation Pupil Premium
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(A)
Effective
feedback
M
eta-cognitive
and
selfregulation
strategies
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(B)
Peertutoring/peer-assisted
learning
strategies
Early
intervention
Philosophy
forC
hildren
(C
)
O
ne-to-one
tutoring
H
om
ew
ork
IC
T
Assessm
entforlearning
Sum
m
erschools
Parentalinvolvem
ent
R
educing
class
sizes
EffectSize
£££ ££££££££££££££ £ ££ £££ £££ ££££££ ££
Sources: EEF Pupil Premium Toolkit;
Trickey and Topping – Clackmannanshire Study (P4C A)
Moriyon, Rebollo, Colom (P4C B)
Philosophy for Children: A Systematic Review (P4C C)
© SAPERE 2012

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What does the research say?
Research shows that P4C is
effective across verbal,
quantitative and non-verbal
reasoning – enhancing oracy,
numeracy and literacy.
Chart shows the mean gain in
Cognitive Ability Test scores
by type of reasoning for 105
primary school pupils who
benefited from 16 months of
weekly P4C sessions
compared to a control group.
The impact is significantly
positive for the P4C pupils
across all three areas of
verbal, quantitative and non-
verbal reasoning.
For the control group declines
in CAT scores were seen in all
areas over the same period.
More at:http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=204
Cognitive Gains by Type of Reasoning
-4.0
-2.0
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
Experimental Control
MeanCATScoregain
Verbal
Quantitative
Non-verbal
Overall
Source: Trickey and Topping – British Journal of Educational Psychology (2007)
© SAPERE 2012

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What to do next?
Level 1:
Introduction to
P4C
•Enables teachers to
start practising P4C in
the classroom
•2 day course – Open
or INSET
Level 2:
Extending P4C
Practice
•Certificates teachers
in Theory and
Practice of
Philosophical Enquiry
in Education
•Runs over 4 days
Level 3:
Developing P4C
Practice
•Develops
Advanced Skills
Teachers in P4C
•Self study, taught
sessions and
written assignment
The usual starting point is for the head teacher and/or other senior teachers to familiarise themselves
with P4C, and potentially send one or two staff members on a pilot Level 1 training course
SAPERE Training Courses
Taster:
Understanding
P4C
•Allows you to assess
whether P4C is right
for your school at the
moment
•Public conferences,
twilight sessions,
teacher/governor
presentations
•Led by SAPERE with
no obligation for your
school
More at: http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=108
Outstanding schools are eligible for SAPERE Bronze, Silver and Gold school awards
More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=196
© SAPERE 2012

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What to do next?
Visit www.sapere.org.uk for more information
Contact the SAPERE team in Oxford on 01865 408 333 or email
enquiries@sapere.org.uk
Arrange for a SAPERE trainer to make a presentation at your staff meeting
Arrange for SAPERE to facilitate a twilight session with your staff team and
governors
Send one or two teachers to a Level 1 SAPERE training course or taster day
See videos of Philosophy for Children in practice via the links on the following
page
© SAPERE 2012

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Appendix A: See Philosophy for Children in Practice
Gallions Primary School
•BBC London News report on P4C in an East
London primary school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d
h28kEL23q0
Mathew Lipman on P4C
•Mathew Lipman on the origins of P4C and its
early use in a disadvantaged New York school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P
7fYxuC5lBQ&feature=related
Rokeby Secondary School
•Student-produced video on whole school
application of P4C at Rokeby School, Newham,
London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz
XayKz0maM
© SAPERE 2012

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Appendix B: Research Sources
•Alexander, R. (2002). The Curriculum in Successful Primary Schools: A Response. Text of keynote address given to the HMI Invitation
Conference on the 2002 Ofsted report The Curriculum in Successful Primary Schools: Watermen’s Hall, London, 14 October 2002
•Garcia-Moriyon, F. Rebollo, I. and Colom, R. (2005). Evaluation Philosophy for Children: A Meta-Analysis. Thinking: The Journal of
Philosophy for Children, Vol 17, number 4 pages 14-22.
•Jones, Hanneke (2008). 'Thoughts on teaching thinking: perceptions of practitioners with a shared culture of thinking skills education',
Curriculum Journal, 19: 4, 309 — 324
•Trickey. S and Topping K.J. (2004). ‘Philosophy for Children: a Systematic Review.’ Research Papers in Education. Vol 19, issue 3,
pp365-380
•Topping, K.J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Impact of philosophical enquiry on school students interactive behaviour. International Journal of
Thinking Skills and Creativity, 2(2), 73-84.
•Topping, K. J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive effects at 10-12 years. British Journal
of Educational Psychology, 77, 271–288.
•Topping, K. J. & Trickey, S. (2007). Collaborative philosophical enquiry for school children: Cognitive gains at two-year follow-up. British
Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(4), 787-796.
Research References
© SAPERE 2012

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Appendix C: About SAPERE
Promote Philosophy for Children
in UK
Develop and deliver validated
training courses
Support a national community of
teachers, trainers and schools
Our Role
Manage projects to deliver
Philosophy for Children
Collate and publicise research
into benefits of Philosophy for
Children
Registered charity based in
Oxford
Full and part-time staff of six
people
Network of 60 registered
professional trainers across UK
Our Organisation
National membership of over
800 people
Partnerships including Oxfam,
Helen Hamlyn Trust, SHINE Trust
More at http://sapere.org.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=70
© SAPERE 2012