What's new?

Here's a selection of the resources and projects I have been involved in developing as an educational consultant over the last 12 months.

RE Hubs P4C page in the Upskill free resources section

RE Vocabulary Project - research project as part of the Culham Leadership Programme.  As presented at Strictly RE and in the Professional Reflection section of RE Today magazine.

Thinking with Nature - collaborating with Gina Parker(Mullarkey) on developing a new course for SAPERE as part of the Green PLACE Project with Cumbria Development Education Centre. Course information here.

Met Office for Schools - P4C guide for integrating a philosophical approach for exploring weather and climate.  See full resource here.

RSPCA - The Table Talking Archive Project is a P4C inspired approach to increasing dialogue around RSPCA themes of Women and the RSPCA, Wartime Animal Rescue, and Impact of environmental Disaster. See full resource here.

British Council - Mental Health and Well-being full resource - creating an open and safe space for well-being. See full resource here.

Virtual Voices for Religious Education (VVRE) - Padlet resource for introducing religion and worldviews.  See full resource here.

UCL, DERC - Global Learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.  See my 2022 research project here.

Philosofun games for developing collaborative thinking in micro-communities. See here for further information and event dates.

Don't forget to subscribe/check out my P4C YouTube Channel for inspiring animations/films for P4C. See link here.

See below for resources I've been involved in developing in previous years - or on my What is P4C page here  Watch this space for new resources from current projects with Cumbria SACRE on RE and Science for secondary schools - Templeton World Project -  Thinking Through Science and RE

Resources I've been involved in developing or presenting

Global Education Derby With many young people using social media and digital technology more through being at home during Covid-19, GED offers an fantastic range of resources for thinking critically and creatively about social media.  Special mention to the Thinking Again, Thinking Critically Toolkit for KS3

Sankofa Storytelling Project - Stories and approaches linked to the SDGs with a focus on values and P4C.

Non-Violent Action: A Force for Change Lesson Plans | DECSY - as an associate tutor for Cumbria DEC, I am involved in providing workshops on this wonderful resource.

Stories and storytelling for P4C

“Gate-keeping takes place in the selection of starting points by P4C practitioners and the ground rules of the practice.”  Darren Chetty (2014) in The Elephant in the Room

I don't recommend P4C book lists as I think they can be problematic.  In my opinion, book lists can be reductive of P4C and are usually timebound.  They can include bias towards underlying values and interests of the book selector as the 'gate-keeper'.  Book lists also take away the imperative for P4C practitioners to do the work themselves in critically evaluating books. This should be part of being a philosophical teacher. Classrooms are full of storybooks - start by looking at the stories you already have in your classroom and explore for their philosophical potential.  

However, I do think making suggestions of books to colleagues which have rich themes is really valuable. Stimuli beyond stories can be interesting too.  Nothing suggested below is definitive - it's merely an invitation to explore a range of different websites for possible P4C resources.

Empathy Lab book collections - a brilliant yearly collection of books. A perfect starting place.  What I like is that new books are suggested. It has been a priviledge to be involved with Empathy Lab in providing input on social action and promotion.

My YouTube P4C Playlist - icluding my sugggestions for stories and storytelling from and for diverse and inclusive audiences.  Please note these are subjective to my own values, interests and bias so may not suit the students you have around your circle of P4C.  

SANKOFA Storytelling - Global Learning London storytelling by Alia Alougzbi with questions by myself.  

SANKOFA Storytelling Project - Resources and Learning guide for Storytelling with P4C and values approach. I was involved in the initial development group for this project.

Other recommendations

Storytent - The Storybank contains six sets of stories which come from different religions and worldviews.  Stories are read by a 'voice' with lived experience of the religion of the story.

What makes me, me? and other interesting ideas on fairness, ownership and good  BBC site

What's the Big Idea? CBBC programme on different concepts 

Diversity and inclusion

Beyond the Secret Garden Regular series of articles examining black, Asian and minority ethnic voices in children’s literature by Darren Chetty and Karen Sands-O'Connor in Books for Keeps online magazine for children's books. Important background reading and suggested books.

Mirror Me Write is an independent book seller run by the wonderful Ayesha who is based in Manchester - the only diverse and inclusive seller in the North West. I try and buy all my diverse and inclusive books from here.  Lots of books about anti-racism and many stories with rich themes for P4C.  I especially like the two books by by Ahmadreza Ahmadi (Author) and Ehsan Abdollahi (illustrator) available on the Mirror Me website. 

Anti-Racist Cumbria  Resources and articles to explore and explain racism.  Do check out their new film on microagressions. Plus suggested books. 

Empathy Lab  The 2021 Empathy Book colletion has 42% authors and illustrators of colour.  The judges include people of colour. The books recommended by Empathy Lab always have rich empathy themes around feelings and situations e.g. friendship, kindness, fear, anxiety, refugees and homelessness.  This can make a very good starting point if you are particularly looking for newly published books for P4C.

Teaching Controversial Issues  Oxfam's updated guide for teaching controversial issues

Unpack your backpack - links for Vanessa Andreotti's colonial backpack and Peggy MacKintosh's knapsack of white privilege 

Visual stimulus for P4C

Visual literacy is the ability to read, write and create visual images.  The simple use of the  Visible Thinking practice from Harvard's Project Zero:  I see, I think, I wonder when presenting an image can be an inclusive way to involve all learners, especially if used with a dual coding approach. Visual stimulus can help to explore big and complex ideas and develop critical literacy skills. The use of visual and critical literacy can be a powerful combination in a P4C session.

On a personal level of integrity, I am commited to locating the source, background and motivations of the visual artists I share here and on social media.

Visual art for nature

The project : Xavi Bou - takes long exposure photos of birds in flight. Beautiful stimulus for finding meaning in the patterns in nature.

Spirals in nature - I once did a whole term's maths, RE and P4C project on spirals.  It was one of my most favourite school projects because the learning was so rich and deep with meaning.  Read more on symmetry in nature on The Smart Happy Project

Follow @GrimArtGroup This really appeals to me because although I love the beauty of natural landscapes, I love finding beauty in industrial or urban landscapes.  It's my graffiti art interest I guess. 

Conceptual and illustrative art

Studio Carreras is a design studio in Girona which produces big ideas as simple shapes. I use these as part of my advanced training as a P4C review tool, and as part of aesthetic enquiry.

Surreal and meaningful illustrations by Norwegian Lisa Aisato

I follow a multitude of graphic conceptual artists on my Instagram page

Street art

Instagram account of photo collage artist Uğur Gallen from Turkey who contrasts photos to show injustices in the world.

Where Children Sleep is series of 56 diptychs of children and their bedrooms by James Mollinson by https://www.jamesmollison.com/where-children-sleep  Hugely powerful and thought-provoking images to share as a stimulus for thinking. James has many collections, including play and apes.  (Thanks Rebecca Katsaris from Cyprus for the recommendation)

Dollar Street - 264 families in 50 countries and a collection of 30,000 photos.  Sorting the homes by income, from left to right

Pobble 365  image One picture. One teaching resource. Every day.

Once upon a picture  Images to inspire

Picture News weekly poster related to the news with a thought-provoking question. Free for 4 weeks during Covid-19

Comic art

Blob Tree  effective communication tools for review and 1000s of free images on Facebook page for stimulus 

Wonder Ponder  Visual philosophy from Madrid. 

Grant Snider Words and pictures.  Excellent comic art stimulus on Grant's website and his website Incidental Comics

Other artistic projects

Daily Art and P4C activities on Instagram from Jake Garfield of Line of Thought Where art meets big ideas.... (Jake is Royal Drawing School and Royal College of Art trained)

The Extended Mind Activity Pack from a contemporary exhibition at The Talbot Gallery, Edinburgh by Dr Miranda Anderson who attended my SAPERE P4C course at the University of Edinburgh a few years ago. The Extended Mind exhibition explored an array of ways in which aspects of the world beyond our brain, such as our bodies, objects, language, ideas, other people and environments can, and often do, expand our cognitive capacities.  The activity pack is a real journey of the mind to follow...

Films and animation

Literacy Shed  collection of films for excellent p4c stimulus  (also see Images Shed)

My You Tube channel for P4C stimulus is a growing collection of P4C films and animations

ESMA films Animated films produced by the CG community of the school ESMA

Other P4C organisations

SAPERE Society for Advancing Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection in Education  online search for resources 

Dialogue Works are producing a weekly resources called Hometalk for parents/children incorparating Thinking Moves

Little Chatters works with schools using P4C and the outdoors

Topsy Page supports schools with high quality talk through P4C approaches

Lani Watson is a philosopher who is fascinated by the philosophy of questions.  Check out her wonderful website here.

SAPERE Gold School North Lakes School resources

Wonder Ponder  Visual philosophy from Madrid!  I sell their philosophy boxes on my courses in the UK - please ask me!

Thinking Space free lesson plans by Grace Lockrobin 

Delphi the Philosopher uses interactive storytelling to teach philosophy to children. An excellent free and child friendly section on Delphi's Guide to Athens for history and philosophy. Plus a detailed scheme of work and resource packs for philosophy to purchase online. 

Open Scotland - P4C network in Scotland with resources section

Votes for Schools provides weekly lessons for schools on topical issues. After each lesson pupils can make a vote, making their voice heard on the voting platform Some excellent free downloadable contect e.g. Should you stand up for other people? Can anyone become homeless? Should you break a rule if you knew you wouldn't get caught?

International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children connect with P4C around the world

P4C.com   Online resources for P4C   (subscription with some free resources)

Philosophy Man Subscribe to a free monthy bulletin for resources.