Rachael WIlson – Head Teacher English at Barrenjoey High School completed the two day Introduction to Philosophy in Schools course in May 2016. With her permission we are publishing her comments.

Philosophy for Kids is a learning movement that shifts the classroom focus from the transmission of content and understanding to creating a culture of creative and critical thinking.

Philosophical Inquiry, unlike popular perception, is not giving students research tasks or encouraging them to learn for themselves. Rather, it is the explicit scaffolding of learning experiences that teach students how to ask questions and think deeply and reflectively.

I’ve used philosophical inquiry with all my grades this year. Undoubtedly, the students who love it the most are my year 10 extension class. By providing them with rich stimuli, they learn to ask philosophical questions and engage critically with texts, without being told what to think. Likewise, they come to understand that there is rarely one correct answer to a text, but multiple perspectives and influence interpretation. November 2016 Rachael Wilson

This course assists Literacy teachers to support their students to construct their own rich and fulfilling meaning out of texts and to have the skills to communicate this with others through explicitly teaching the tools of thinking.

• Analysis and exploration of concepts
• Recognition of context
• Drawing inferences (reading between the lines)
• Connecting the flow of narrative
• Alternative ways of interpreting
• Making judgements
• Explaining Truth
• Connecting to a personal experience

One day course content includes:

• Reflections on the Foundation Course
• The relationship between P4C and Literacy.
• Evidence for the claim that P4C improves literacy.
• Explicit introduction to philosophic thinking skills.
• Applying thinking skills to achieve the competencies and outcomes
• Aligning the outcomes to the Literacy Curriculum.
• Evaluation and Assessment.

Completing this course will contribute 6 hours of QTC Registered PD for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.