Media Coverage

11/09/2017: FAPSA receives Templeton Grant to fund Philosothon Project: The Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA) is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a substantial grant from the Templeton Religion Trust to fund a philosophy in schools project over the next three years.

30/08/2016: ‘Want to improve NAPLAN scores? Teach children philosophy‘: From The Conversation website. Discussions of the research evidence in support of Philosophy in schools programs and possibility for Philosophy in re-addressing the ‘NAPLAN problem’.

10/07/2015: Philosophy sessions ‘boost primary school results’: BBC News. Weekly philosophy sessions in class can boost primary school pupils’ ability in maths and literacy, a study says.

23/03/2014 ‘Ethics Program Aims to Teacher Children to Think Well’ The Age. Please click this link to read this article from The Age (Apr. 23rd, 2014).

31/07/2012: Philosophy for Children: A reflective approach to human rights education by Michelle Sowey. When educating children, how can we do justice to the complex and contested nature of human rights?

07/05/2012: Schoolchildren tackle philosophy by Michelle Duff. Philosophy and meditation are on the timetable at two Wellington schools, which have introduced the unorthodox subjects to engage children and help them to use their minds in different ways… What has a mind? How should we treat our friends? Should we always think for ourselves? Such questions are the basis for a philosophical discussion at primary school. Read more…

19/04/2012: I play, therefore I am: philosophy for children by Hamish Cardwell. “A visiting Fulbright scholar has swapped the lectern for the mat and is teaching Island Bay School pupils to ask some of life’s big questions. American philosophy professor Tom Wartenberg is a guest teacher in the school’s Philosophy for Children programme.Read more..

3/11/2011 Philosothon 2011 – the first Australasian high school philosophy competition – ABC Radio National – transcript and audio available.

26/06/2011: Students swap Play-Doh for Plato by Andrew Taylor. Great philosophers cannot agree on whether stealing is ever justified so it’s little wonder year 1 and year 2 students at Bondi Public School are engaged in lively, but civilised debate on the question. Read more…

May 2011: Showcasing Quality Work, Australian Teacher Magazine. Philosophy has taken off as a subject area, and with their June conference the Victorian Association for Philosophy in Schools (VAPS) aims to help current teachers improve their teaching, but also introduce new teachers to the subject. Read more…

18/3/2011: When art becomes a thought bubble by Elisabeth Tarica (The Age)

8/7/2010: Should philosophy be taught in schools? by Peter Worley. The three ‘R’s’ in education that teach children their basic foundation skills are commonly known as Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. A fourth ‘R’, Reasoning, must be added.

8/4/2010: The Examined Life, Age 8, by Abby Goodnough. A few times each month, second graders at a charter school in Springfield, Mass., take time from math and reading to engage in philosophical debate. There is no mention of Hegel or Descartes, no study of syllogism or solipsism. Instead, Prof. Thomas E. Wartenberg and his undergraduate students from nearby Mount Holyoke College use classic children’s books to raise philosophical questions, which the young students then dissect with the vigor of the ancient Greeks.

8/4/2009: Five-year-olds taught philosophy of Plato in bid to encourage reading, by Rebecca Camber. For the average five-year-old, you might expect playtime rather than Plato to be upmost in their thoughts. But now the sound of neo-Socratic dialogue can be heard in primary school classrooms throughout the land as infants debate life’s great mysteries in philosophy lessons.

20/03/2009: Curriculum: Philosophy – I can make kids think, by Meabh Ritchie. Imagine you’re teaching a class of Year 2 pupils and you ask them to do the simple sum of 2 + 2. One child says four, “because it’s my lucky number”, another proceeds to do the calculation by counting on their fingers, but answers five because of a small error. Which one knows the answer? When this question is posed to a class of Year 5 pupils at Holy Trinity Primary School, south London, they are so keen to answer that their raised hands are almost elevating them out of their chairs.

7/2/2008: Children as young as FIVE get philosophy lessons – and here are the questions they will be asked, by Laura Clark. While other five-year-olds are learning to spell their names and tie up shoelaces, infants at one school are debating life’s great mysteries – in philosophy lessons. Staff say that instead of “thumping each other” in the playground, pupils now challenge each other’s ideas when they disagree.

2 July 2008: Schools of thought: teach children philosophy, experts urge, by Anthea Lipsett. Children of all ages should study philosophy in school to develop their critical thinking skills, education experts said today. Academics suggest that, rather than start off with Socrates, teachers use common classroom disputes to help children learn about abstract philosophical principles such as fairness, morality and punishment. They give the example of apportioning blame for spilling paint.

17/2/2008: Five-year-olds taught philosophy. Five-year-old children are being asked to ponder on philosophical questions about life, death and God in an east London state school.

28/4/2006: Thinking Skills: Child Philosophers. A 30-minute programme featuring P4C in a secondary context.

16/05/2005: Ponder this, by Roslyn Guy. Our educators are doing more than just instructing children in the three Rs, they are doing something revolutionary – teaching them how to think. It’s nearly lunchtime but the 12 students in Pat Gay’s philosophy class are in no hurry to eat. There are too many important questions to ponder.

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