I first came across the work of Mat Lipman more than twenty years ago and, like many teachers, was inspired by his vision of Philosophy for Children (P4C). What, I wondered, would be the impact of this radical idea on the learning and achievement of children in the UK? I started by trying to use Lipman’s methods and materials with my own primary class. What surprised me was the quality of the questioning and dialogue prompted by Mat’s simple but philosophically-charged stories. It transformed my ideas about what children could do, think and become through the practice of philosophical discussion.
Later, I took part in one of the annual training programmes at Mendham, run by Mat Lipman and Ann Sharp – not far from their Institute for Advancement of Philosophy for Children (IAPC) in Montclair State University, New Jersey. While working with educators from more than a dozen countries, I realized that Mat had inspired a global movement. When I returned to the UK, I continued researching P4C with children of all ages and abilities. I found Lipman’s ‘Community of Enquiry’ (a rigorous classroom dialogue based around questions raised and chosen by pupils) to be a powerful strategy for developing children’s thinking across the curriculum.
I helped to found – with Roger Sutcliffe, Karin Murris and others – SAPERE, the UK organization for P4C (www.sapere.net). We adapted Lipman’s approach to make it more accessible for UK teachers. Thus followed my Stories for Thinking series and other resources including Karin Murris’s use of picture books, Roger Sutcliffe’s and Steve Williams’s use of news stories and Sara Liptai’s use of music, art and photographs. These new developments increased the range of materials and methods for creating communities of philosophical enquiry with children.
Mat Lipman remained the inspiration for all this work. So when Julie Winyard, the Headteacher of Benhall St Mary’s Cof E VCP Suffolk, told me she was going to see Mat as part of her recent visit to the USA, I suggested she interview him and chronicle the event. I hope you enjoy her ‘Close Encounter of the Philosophical Kind’. Robert Fisher