Youngest first

One is the youngest. And when you are the youngest, you will be remembered that this is a fact: you are the youngest … and therefore you cannot do / participate in what the ‘older ones’ can.

So, youngest, here is the new rule: when all shall speak, the youngest speaks first! You deserve the opportunity to be the first one to say what you want to say.

Posted by Kim Down on 6th April 2020 at 12:00am


5 year-olds run their own philosophy sessions - a case study

Steve Hoggins is a Philosophy Foundation specialist working with the Gipsy Hill Federation in south east London. He tells us about how an initially quiet class open up and begin to facilitate their own sessions, not only by asking their own questions but also by managing the class themselves.  And they are only five!

Posted by on 1st December 2017 at 12:00am


Category: Philosophy, Education

Tags: philosophy for young children, philosophy for children, early years

Peter Worley | Thought Adventure 41: Here and Elsewhere – thinking about migration and identity

There is a popular approach to doing philosophy with children that involves presenting a stimulus (often a picture book), having the children formulate questions, gathering and sorting the questions and then having the children vote on a question to discuss. There can be great value in this student-centred approach to discussions, however it can make doing P4C in the curriculum more difficult. The reason for this is that, according to the principles of a standard P4C Community of Inquiry in the UK, the children significantly determine the direction of the discussion. So, if you’ve chosen the picture book Elmer by David McKee because you want the class to explore the notion of ‘difference’, there is always the danger that the children will focus on a completely different theme with the question that they vote on or that they naturally move towards during the discussion, such as…

Posted by on 18th November 2015 at 12:00am


Category: Education, P4C, Philosophy

Tags: P4C, Peter Worley, 40 Questions, Migration, Identity