A Brief Introduction
Philosophy in schools is not about teaching school-aged students the views of specific philosophers, nor is it about teaching university-style philosophy in schools. It is about making philosophy accessible to students and teachers alike.
In the late 1960s Matthew Lipman developed an educational syllabus known as ‘Philosophy for Children’, founded on philosophical inquiry to improve the thinking skills of school-aged students, which he believed would improve the relationship between deliberative judgments and democratic decision-making. Lipman was influenced by the work of John Dewey who strongly believed that the focus for all schools should be to teach students to think. Dewey favoured reflective education as an approach to teaching and learning, and held the view that the engagement of students in open collaborative inquiry would contribute to the growth of democratic practices. Dewey’s model was grounded in scientific inquiry whereas Lipman used philosophy as a vehicle to develop student’s thinking, reasoning and reflective skills.
Philosophy for children in its early stages referred to a particular methodology, curriculum, syllabus, or program founded and developed by Lipman. It was first introduced into Australian schools by Laurence Splitter in the 1980s and later, as Australian materials were developed and teachers integrated philosophy into their classroom and school curriculum, the work done became known as philosophy in schools to reflect a discipline with its own set of materials, history, and traditions, in which Lipman’s conception of a classroom community of inquiry is pivotal.
The community of inquiry is centred on dialogue and collaborative activity and forms the guiding ideal of classroom practice. The class becomes a community of people who inquire cooperatively and collaboratively in a self-reflective and critical manner about issues of concern to all of them. The participants follow the inquiry where it leads and collaboratively engage in self-correction. To transform the classroom into a community of inquiry is to invite students to become aware of themselves as thinkers who make judgments based on reason and criteria.
What is often referred to as the ‘philosophy for children movement’, which is also variously known as ‘philosophy with children’, ‘classroom philosophy’, and ‘philosophical inquiry in the classroom’, can be somewhat confusing as the pedagogy that underpins this conception of teaching philosophy in schools has been adapted for use not only in primary school, but also in the secondary school and tertiary classroom, and in other educational settings. To add to the confusion ‘philosophy in schools’ broadly speaking can also apply to ‘Socratic Dialogue’ or ‘Modern Socratic Dialogue’ developed by the German philosopher Leonard Nelson and later by his student Gustav Heckmann, or other approaches that teach Socratically or that use philosophy as a method for teaching and learning.
QAPS seeks to promote the teaching of philosophy in schools. Broadly speaking, it supports collaborative, inquiry-based teaching and learning through philosophy, specifically approaches to education that employ philosophy as a method for teaching and learning grounded in Lipman’s classroom pedagogy and Deweyan educational theory and practice. But we encourage and support the establishment of courses in philosophy, and the development of materials to support such courses, in primary and secondary schools and other educational settings, including the Philosophy & Reason Senior Syllabus in Queensland.
