Blog | P4C is challenging prejudice and supporting mental wellbeing

To mark World Mental Health Day, School Improvement Officer and Advanced SAPERE P4C trainer, Julie McCann shares how Philosophy for Children (P4C) strives to ensure that children practise thinking and behaving in a way that is caring, collaborative, critical and creative.

“P4C is a powerful teaching methodology which supports children to ask questions and think together about meaningful concepts and ideas relevant to their lives.

Within a philosophical enquiry, the teacher takes the role of facilitator ensuring children’s thinking goes beyond mere polite conversation. 

The community of enquiry grapple with ideas in a genuine attempt to answer a question through a rigorous process of dialogue, building on one another’s thinking, suggesting alternatives, making connections, providing evidence and being prepared to see things from different perspectives.

• Caring thinking - listening and valuing other viewpoints; showing interest in and sensitivity to others’ experiences and values; ensuring that everybody is included and shown respect.
• Collaborative thinking - responding to and supporting others; building on ideas through appropriate language (I dis/agree because …, I would like to add to that…); achieving a common understanding and purpose.
• Critical thinking - questioning assumptions, accepted truths or previously held beliefs; seeking meaning, evidence and reasons; judging reasons and detecting bias to make better judgements.
• Creative thinking - connecting ideas; suggesting new or alternative possibilities; providing comparisons or examples; asking “what if…?”

It is essential that all four tenets of ‘P4C thinking’ are present for an enquiry to be truly philosophical, and therefore challenge all members of the community.

Children have shared with me that it helps them better express their opinions and ideas and that sometimes they even change their minds! It helps them communicate differently and cooperate better – with everyone having a fair chance to speak and being able to disagree respectfully without offending their peers.

I have supported many schools to achieve SAPERE awards and to embed the skills of P4C throughout their curriculum. Through P4C I’ve supported schools to develop parents/carers P4C, cross-age P4C, philosophical sessions and even extra-curricular clubs.

It’s clear from the schools I work with that P4C is not only improving academic outcomes and enriching the curriculum but is also challenging prejudice and supporting mental wellbeing."

Upcoming P4C Training

Foundation Level 1
30 January & 6 February 2025

• A two-day P4C Foundation Course to enable you to start practising P4C with pupils
• An introduction to the theory and practice
• It provides tools to develop pupils' questioning and thinking skills
• It enables you to facilitate philosophical enquiry and dialogue linked to the curriculum

Find out more…
 

You can also contact [email protected] if you would like to arrange in-school training or support on P4C

Videos and case studies showing the impact of P4C

• P4C in Liverpool Primary and Secondary schools: https://vimeo.com/55009112
• P4C in Manchester EYFS: https://youtu.be/LMXQLUQDYu0
• P4C in London Secondary: https://youtu.be/p1FwaFlIeS0  
• How CPD Changed My View of Teaching (Emma-Jane Smith of Middlefield discusses the impact of P4C training in Teach Primary): https://ace-mags.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/tw/TP-15.8/58/index.html
• Enriching the curriculum and deepening thinking at Lander Road Primary in Liverpool https://www.sapere.org.uk/why-sapere-p4c/case-studies/using-research-evidence-to-choose-p4c/