When I go into schools to facilitate philosophical enquiries (using my PhiE model) with classes of primary and secondary pupils for The Philosophy Foundation (which I’ve been doing since 2002), I usually attend the class for an hour each week. The school, therefore, commits to finding an hour’s space in the school curriculum for the targeted classes, usually for around a term each year.
So, what is the justification for taking away an hour of numeracy, literacy, history or whatever is put aside for this philosophy space? There has been research into P4C (‘Philosophy for Children’), attempting to show how doing philosophy improves reading, maths comprehension, confidence, metacognition, that it reduces psychosis and so on, and some of this research has been successful (The Philosophy Foundation has conducted research that shows improvements in metacognition, critical thinking and affective self-management).
This research might provide some good reasons to do philosophy, but I don’t think these are the main reasons head teachers, who continue to pay for The Philosophy Foundation’s services year in and year out, get us in. Here is a summary of the core values at the heart of PhiE, taken from my latest book, Corrupting Youth (Vol. 1), that I believe teachers and headteachers are giving space to when they make space for philosophy in their school.
Exploration: space to look around
Most of what pupils have to do at school is highly specific. There are certain aims and objectives to each and every aspect of what they learn at school. And, in addition, the curriculum is crowded. As a result, most pupils and teachers do not have time to do anything other than get as much of this done in the short amount of time available. The one thing there is very little time for is exploration. Rarely do pupils have time to look around, to wander and to wonder, to stray beyond the boundaries, to make mistakes or to try things out.