Philosophical Enquiry in Schools

In 2004 the Helen Hamlyn Trust (HHT) developed an integrated education programme for Primary Schools to reach children at the earliest stages of their education, to improve engagement and aspirations thus improving outcomes. In 2005/6 Open Futures, which is based on thinking skills pedagogy (Fisher 1998), was initiated by the HHT and led by Lucy O’Rorke. They began a pilot scheme known as growit cookit, with the Royal Horticultural Society and the RSA Focus on Food Campaign, working together in 10 schools along the south coast. In 2006/7 filmit and askit were added to the Open Futures programme. In collaboration with designer the late Andy Cameron, filmit was developed by HHT, and askit was developed with SAPERE to put enquiry at the heart of the school curriculum and specifically to underpin learning in the context of a skills-based approach. Working with schools and their communities in the UK and India, Open Futures ran with widespread success for over 10 years, reaching more than 50,000 children in the UK (Crabbe et al. 2015).