Young Philosophers on City Hall and Baddies

We took our group of Young Philosophers on their first trip of 2016-17 to conduct some philosophical explorations around London Bridge.  We went to City Hall and the nearby Unicorn Theatre to watch a play called 'Baddies: The Musical'.  How do you know if you're a good person?  Is it OK to be bad in some people's eyes?  We continue to wonder...

Posted by Joe Tyler on 1st December 2016 at 12:00am


Category: Education, P4C

Tags: Young Philosophers, Politics, Theatre, community

Dialogues in philosophy with children

Pete offers some practical advice on how to use dialogues to do philosophy with children.  Utilising plays written with philosophy in mind by Paul Bodin, Tim Sprod and others he provides some comments on how this medium can act as a catalyst for enquiry and philosophical discussions.  You can find some examples of plays by following the links in the blog.  You will need to become a member of our website to see them - which you can do for free by clicking the link here: https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/become-a-member

Posted by Joe Tyler on 7th November 2016 at 12:00am


Category: Philosophy, P4C, Education

Tags: dialogue, Socrates, role play

Observations and anecdotes on facilitation of philosophy with children

Recently, Peter Worley was interviewed by Laura Candiotto (PhD in Philosophy), a researcher at the University of Edinburgh for an Italian magazine.  We have published the interview in full (and in English!) as she asks important questions about the methods of The Philosophy Foundation.  Pete clarifies how TPF differs from other ways of doing philosophy with children and offers practical, straight-forward advice for teachers to use these methods in their classrooms.

Posted by Joe Tyler on 18th October 2016 at 12:00am


Category: Philosophy, P4C, Education

Tags: facilitation, Peter Worley, Democritus, Numbers, Ontology, absence principle

Pieter Mostert | On the value of debate and disagreement

Pieter Mostert is a practical philosopher, educational consultant and conversation specialist.
He moved to South Africa in February 2013, where he facilitates different types of learning conversations, from home schooling to teacher training. He holds a PhD from Erasmus University, Rotterdam and is a specialist in making conversations pleasant, fruitful and lasting, under circumstances that may be difficult (in a conflict or dispute, for example) or unusual (in the kitchen or on the train, for example).

Here Pieter offers his views and experiences on what happens with children who are learning to argue and debate well at school.

Posted by Joe Tyler on 10th October 2016 at 12:00am


Category: Philosophy, P4C, Guest Blogger

Peter Worley | Getting Deeper with Poetry

It's National Poetry Day on Thursday 6th October 2016.  Pete offers some suggestions for how you can tackle poetry in a philosophical way with your class.

Posted by Joe Tyler on 3rd October 2016 at 12:00am


Category: Poetry, Philosophy, P4C, Education

Tags: Concept Box, Wordless books, Metaphor