People tend to believe that philosophy is only suitable for University level...Philosophy for children (P4C) is a programme that helps develop thinking skills in early stages of education.

In the 70's Matthew Lipman developed what is now known as Philosophy for children with the primary goal to foster critical thinking, defined by himself as “thinking that (1) facilitates judgment because it (2) relies on criteria, (3) is self-correcting, and (4) is sensitive to context.”

Schools that integrate this programme into the curriculum are helping their students to better achieve their academic goals, whilst developing their emotional intelligence.




http://www.grupiref.org/

http://www.edu3.cat/Edu3tv/Fitxa?p_id=17221

http://www.fassers.com/curs0506/infantil/infantil_comu/comucicle/filosofia.html

http://www.escolasadako.com/arees/filosofia/filosofia.htm

http://www.mallorcaweb.net/cpsaquintana/pagines/filosofia.html

living under pressure? Close your eyes and dream...

Can anyone imagine how many hours practice this must have required? Discipline ? Self control ?... And yet, it comes out so easily....

(from a class of Philosophy for Children with 4-5 years old children) - Girl with boat by P.Picasso 1938.

Let me reproduce some of my own experiences when presenting this picture to 4-5 years old children:

(teacher) But, have you ever seen a girl with so many colours on the face?
(student) Well, Picasso must have been mistaken when he painted it!


(teacher) what is that round thing on the left?
(student1) it's a driving wheel...
(student 2) no, it can't be! You cannot have a wheel made of straw.
(student 3) it's not straw ! It's metal!
(teacher) ok, how do you know it's metal?
(student 3) because I see it!


I read this conversation from another teacher's experience in Majorca:

(teacher) what do you think about this girl?
(student 1) she looks weird. Maybe she is Italian.
(student 2) well, my uncle has an Italian girlfriend and she doesn't look like this girl
(student 1) well, then. She must be French...

I always get surprised with the thoughts of "these little people".
We should listen more to what they have to say about the "adult" world.

At the beginnig of my teaching job I used to wonder what self image should I give to my students.

Not paying much attention to some of my teacher friend's recommendations ( be tough or they will get on you! ) I struggled to find my own style. I've swung from being very nice to being really nasty, learning to keep my feelings hidden and in difficult situations saying to myself "calm down, do not shout, wait for the group to unwind".

Only when I truly believe in what I'm doing, do I see my students being really motivated. Well, I must say that embarrassement is not one of my problems!


Just try to get into the class wearing a cook apron, with a cake paper tray and two more small aprons for 2 students. Play to be a cook and ask the students to "prepare" a meal for the rest of the class. Practice a small dialogue and see your 7 year-old students taking the activity over from you... add a small song with some key words from the dialogue and voilà! I bet they will not forget this session!


Our children expect the teacher to be closer to them. To play with them. To laugh with them...bottom line: to empathise with them whilst guiding them in their learning process.
And remember, a motivated teacher guarantees a motivated group!

An experienced consultant in HR is asking in a forum whether priority in professional training should be focussing on either talent & interpersonal skills or mainly on technical skills.

Let me just give you an everyday example I am facing ( allow me to highlight the extremes in order to help draw conclusions).


SCHOOL A.
Children aged 8 are looking for information for themselves ( more or less true, more or less consistent) through books, internet, etc. They must be able to present this information to the rest of their classmates ( so, careful with having too much information! ). They make group essays, where they must interact and cross-learn from others, they must cooperate to finish the task. An 8 years-old student is asking her parents to buy a pen drive in order to have her files and information available.
5th grade students have created a bill that have presented and defended in front of other 5th grade students from other schools in a Parliament session with the attendance of Hble Sr Ernest Benach (president of the Catalan Parliament). They had to propose amendments and vote for the bills.
Some parents of this school believe that the contents the children learn are a bit poor.
At the end of the trimester they get home with an album that is under 100 pages/worksheets. The album follows a chronological order, mixing all the learning subjects.

SCHOOL B.
Children aged 8 are used to patiently and obediently wait for the instructions.
When they’re given a worksheet they will ask “Can I start now?” or “Can I colour it with markers?”
When asked to bring some information, some students will produce a 30 pages document, nicely stapled and with a front page ( ...that parents have printed from wikipedia. Obviously, they are incapable of explaining this information). Individual performance is very good ( but team work ends up in too many competitive disputes).
Children from 5th grade come home with a set of consolidation exercises to complete after a day trip where they have visited the Parliament, the zoo and the surrounding gardens.
The quarterly albums are over 150 pages, including an index, objectives, etc. All classified by dates and with colourful papers to separate the subjects.


In business terms, one would say that children in school B are very efficient, they reach their objectives and know what it means to work hard and accomplish the goals. The school A looks too lax, goals may not be accomplished with not bad consequences after all. Good children will always perform well in this type of school, and children with difficulties will spend a nice time but not really meet the goals.

However, if I had to choose a school for my children I’d would go for the school A without any doubt. The school A is focussing in the methods more than in the contents. The school A is teaching the children to learn to learn, to work cooperatively and develop both their intellectual, group and emotional skills.

Living in a fast changing environment, those who are not capable of adapting to changes – thus, being able to identify opportunities and being prepared to work efficiently with new people, new job, etc – will sooner or later fail at being a competent worker and a happy person.

My answer to this HR consultant is then: your technical skills will be constantly changing anyway . Focus on talent & interpersonal skills since without the latter you will get stuck !