We had Kate deliver a great day-long workshop with our philosophers on working with Early Years. Great feedback. Great day. Pete Worley, The Philosophy Foundation, London UK.
This one day course has been inspired by Kate’s NSW 2014 Premier’s Early Childhood Teaching Scholarship together with her eight years as a practicing K-6 Philosophy teacher at Bondi Public School. It is targeted to Early Childhood (EY), ES1 and Stage 1 teachers.
The one day focusses on practical activities for engaging young children in philosophical inquiry and is matched to the General Capabilities and the Literacy Capabilities in the ACARA curriculum. Completing this course will contribute 6 hours of QTC Registered PD for Teachers towards maintaining Proficient Teacher Accreditation in NSW.
Course program:
Session One: Defining the ‘child’ and exploring the young child as a philosopher. Examining the binary world of young children and challenging the role of the adult/teacher.
Session 2: Creating a collaborative learning environment – procedural activities
Session 3: Developing skills by introducing thinking skills: asking questions, making suggestions, offering examples and counter examples and examples of activities relating to each of these skills.
Session 4: Exploring abstract concepts using picture books and traditional stories using a ‘community of inquiry’. Collating resources.
Session 5: Developing bespoke activities to commence practice in the early childhood environment.