A Skills Based Approach to P4C — Philosophy: Fairy Tales and the Foundation Stage

Abstract

This article will focus on the classroom practice of Philosophy for Children (P4C) through a skills based approach to Enquiry. The sessions involved a maximum of 27 full time reception pupils aged four and five at Chapel Break First School, Norwich. The school has a wide socio-economic mix where the figures for SEN, EAL and free school meals are all higher then the national average. P4C was introduced six years ago in response to low baseline scores, decreasing communication and poor social skills. It compliments the school's ethos of accelerated learning and higher order thinking. This article will show how parents are involved in P4C with their children and aims to show the progression of philosophical skills the children experienced in the first few weeks of starting school.