1. YEAR 1 FOUNDATION RS Philosophy for Children P4C P for C

2. ‘The unexplained life is not worth living.’ Socrates

3. Would you rather meet: 1. God 2. Your great, great, great, great, grandparents. 3. The cleverest person in the world. 4. Your favourite football player / musician. What would you say?

4. What is Philosophy? Philosophy is a method of thinking, reasoning and making sense of arguments and counter arguments.

5. **WHOLE GROUP ACTIVITY** WHAT IF …  People discovered the secret of eternal youth?  You could end one evil in the world - what would it be?  You were someone else – who would you be?  You could meet someone who is dead, who would it be?  Discuss these with your group. Try to think of some more ‘What ifs’ …

6. There are many benefits from following a P4C programme.  Children are required to reason and explain their thinking.  They learn to listen to the views of others.  They respect the thinking of others.  It can lead to increased self-esteem and confidence.

7. Philosophy for Children. P4C P for Children This is a practical philosophy, it is not dealing with the facts but in the process of exploring philosophical questions. It is the dialogue which is important.

8. The Community of Enquiry  This term is used to describe a group of children and their teacher involved in philosophical discussions.  There needs to be calm and an element of mutual trust and respect between teacher and children.  The teacher takes on the role of guide or facilitator. Group activity

9. Philosophy improves THINKING SKILLS  It is VITAL that our education system teaches children how to think.  How to think well will greatly affect a person’s life chances.  We must give children TIME to think and we must CHALLENGE them to think.

10. Ways to encourage thinking skills:  Through effective questioning.  Using non-verbal signals.  Find an approach which encourages children to think for themselves.  Build confidence and trust.  Through dialogue. Task: Connections

11. GOOD QUESTIONING STRATEGIES  Open questioning.  Give thinking time.  Second questioning.  Ask ALL pupils.  Provide cues for assistance.  Slow the rate of questioning.  Listen.  Withhold judgement.  Keep it simple.

12. Thinking skills include:  Information handling – analysing, interpreting and locating.  Enquiry – planning, predicting, testing conclusions.  Reasoning – giving reason for opinions, making judgements based on evidence.  Creative Thinking –generating ideas, being innovative.  Evaluation – developing a criteria for making judgements.

13. Philosophy improves EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE The life chances of our young are affected by EQ as much as IQ.  Self-awareness.  Self-regulation  Motivation  Empathy  Social Skills.

14. Philosophy improves SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE  Having visions and values  Seeing holistically  Being ‘field independent’  Spontaneously adaptive.

15. The Structure of a Philosophy session  The Focusing exercise This is a simple exercise that helps to focus attention and be ‘in the present’.  Links with the previous week.  The Stimulus Paired, group work

16. Structure continued:  Dialogue The key to the whole programme. Not mere conversation but enquiry. The teacher becomes the facilitator. Modelling open questioning, encouraging all to take part, not always being content with the first answer, allowing deeper thinking. Dialogue stimulates thinking and emotional intelligence, bringing with it self confidence.

17. Inspirational Messages