P4C is a philosophical approach to learning and teaching that enables students to think with others and to think for themselves.

In busy classrooms and a changing world, P4C makes space for the conversations that count.

P4C has given our pupils the opportunity to discuss issues and ideas that directly affect them and the world around them. It has developed their skills in communication and broadened their horizons. They leave Victoria Park as interested and engaged learners and active participants in the world.

Ian Irwin, Year 3 teacher at Victoria Park Primary School in Bristol, SAPERE Gold Award 2019

What is P4C?

P4C is an approach to teaching and learning that explores the big ideas that arise in all areas of education and life experience. P4C uses philosophical dialogue and enquiry to help learners to think, to speak, to listen, to learn and to live together more effectively.

Who is P4C for?

P4C is an inclusive and adaptable pedagogy that meets the needs of learners and enhances the practice of educators in a wide range of settings.

P4C is practised in nurseries with children as young as 3 and 4, throughout primary and secondary school, and in post-16 education. It can also be found in higher education, including initial teacher education, and in adult education where learners often meet in informal community spaces. P4C is practised in alternative education provision such as pupil referral units, special schools and summer programmes as well as by home educators. It can also be found in the other places people learn including hospitals, prisons, museums and online.

What does P4C involve?

P4C involves regular classroom enquiries in which children, young people or adult learners share a stimulus, identify concepts — such as equality, identity, truth and beauty — and formulate questions that capture what they find curious.

With the support of a teacher as facilitator, P4C participants explore these questions drawing on the perspectives of others to deepen their own understanding. P4C concludes with reflection on the process of enquiry and on the skills and dispositions that P4C develops: critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinking. During these reflections, learners also influence the direction of their next enquiry.

Is P4C philosophy?

P4C is a way of doing philosophy that anyone can try, with support. Students and teachers don’t need to be familiar with the ideas of famous philosophers to get started, as P4C begins with the ideas that are already in the room.

P4C identifies concepts and questions that unlock aspects of the curriculum and help students to make connections between their learning and life experiences. It is not another subject to squeeze in, but an approach to thinking more deeply about the ideas that are all around us.

While there is an emphasis on accessibility, P4C remains philosophical because it focuses on fundamental questions and concepts that are contestable – that is, their truth, meaning, value and connections to other ideas are ambiguous or undecided. While these concepts and questions emerge in everyday life and learning, they are rarely explored adequately. P4C provides a structured philosophical method for investigating these issues in a satisfying way.

Why practise P4C?

P4C develops thinking skills and dispositions

SAPERE’s 4Cs thinking model supports the development of

  • caring thinking: listening carefully, appreciating, thanking, showing interest, showing sensitivity, waiting your turn
  • collaborative thinking: responding, supporting, building on other’s ideas, inviting, sharing tasks, negotiating, joining in
  • critical thinking: questioning, reasoning, evaluating, weighing evidence, making distinctions, testing ideas, applying criteria
  • creative thinking: making connections, suggesting alternatives, giving examples, exploring possibilities, considering perspectives
P4C supports better learning and teaching

Learners learn better because:

  • they choose the subject matter, their voices are heard and valued
  • in justifying their positions and listening to others, their vocabulary expands
  • they learn how to disagree respectfully, which increases their tolerance and resilience
  • they think and reflect more deeply, so their understanding improves

Teachers teach better because:

  • they learn how to facilitate meaningful discussion
  • they develop new teaching strategies that can be used throughout their practice
  • they see students’ potential as independent thinkers 
  • by listening more, educators’ relationships with their students flourish
P4C connects to the curriculum

A knowledge-rich curriculum is full of concepts that require unpacking. When we explore the contested meanings of these ideas though P4C, the curriculum comes alive and new connections between stages and subjects emerge. There are opportunities for philosophy in every area of the curriculum:

  • Science: Is there anything science can’t tell us?
  • English: Can bad people write good stories?
  • Maths: Are numbers invented or discovered?
  • RE: Is faith a virtue?
  • History: Can we re-write the past?
  • IT: What is intelligent about AI?
  • Languages: Could there be a perfect translation?

Read more about P4C and the curriculum here.

P4C addresses big social issues

There has never been a greater need for the kind of mutual understanding that P4C brings. Today’s learners are growing up in a period of significant instability where economic inequality, global health crises, racism and discrimination, armed conflict, political polarisation, and the climate crisis loom large, even for very young children.

These developments raise vital philosophical questions about safety, fairness and freedom. The exploration of these concepts forms a vital part of helping learners process their complex thoughts and feelings about these issues in a supportive space.   

P4C promotes playfulness and fun

P4C is also a place for play. Young children ask questions about ideas that are alive for them, such as magic, friendship and play. When they do, they reveal to adults, and to themselves, their interests and inner lives. Children enjoy philosophy as a special space to experiment with ideas, express themselves and be challenged. Many adults enjoy the experience so much that they do it for fun in cafes and pubs. P4C enquiries can be an opportunity for imaginative and joyful exchanges and even when the subject matter is serious, philosophers of all ages focus not only on what is the case, but on what could be. P4C is valuable way in which learners can envisage and create, a better future.

P4C transforms teacher-student relationships

P4C has value for teachers as well as students, shifting the dynamic in which teachers ask all of the questions and know all of the answers.

In classrooms that regularly practise P4C, learners have more freedom to ask questions, set the agenda and arrive at their own conclusions but this also comes with responsibility. In a P4C enquiry, participants must to listen attentively and try their best to understand and respond to what others have to say. In this sense it is an example of dialogue for change. For teachers, this often represents a shift in their expectations of students, revealing them to be independent thinkers with unique life experiences. For many educators this it is also a chance to be the kind of teacher they want to be, someone who can follow their students’ interests, help them explore new ideas and take ownership of their education. 

P4C enhances oracy

Oracy is our ability to communicate effectively using spoken language. This means having the ability to:

  • express yourself effectively and with confidence
  • speak eloquently, articulate ideas and thoughts
  • influence through talking and to listen/respond to others
  • have the vocabulary to say what you want to say
  • structure your thoughts so that they make sense to others 

These are all skills that we explicitly teach and practise in P4C.

P4C promotes dialogue for change

Dialogue and discussion is a well-established pedagogy for exploring opinions, prejudices, values and perspectives. But often, ordinary dialogue and discussion doesn’t lead to change. Ordinary dialogue can leave people in their own bubbles of comfort, failing to recognise their own and other perspectives. Ordinary dialogue can result in people accommodating competing voices and paying only lip service to alternative points of view. Dialogue for change needs to engage young people more deeply and more meaningfully so that beliefs are really challenged and can really change. P4C is a pedagogy of dialogue for change.

Research evidence
Academic research on the transformative power of P4C
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P4C case studies
Read about how schools have successfully implemented P4C
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P4C and the curriculum
Our courses will show you how to use a P4C approach
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P4C videos
See P4C in action
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The history of P4C
Educators have been practising P4C since the 1960s
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