Secondary Schools!
Brent Silby!
Philosophy
Today I will attempt to convince you that Philosophy needs to be
offered in all schools.
An example
Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti
Survey of students
Was Philosophy enjoyable?
Volunteer group 96.67% enjoyed Philosophy
Forced group 87.76% enjoyed Philosophy
Survey of students
Did Philosophy help with other subjects
Volunteer group 88.33% Yes
Forced group 55.10% Yes
3. Ethics
How should we live our lives? What’s right or wrong? And how do we know?
Is abortion morally acceptable?
Ought we to help the poor?
Is it morally permissible to eat meat?
Quote from our Teaching and Learning Guidelines
Philosophy is the subject that specializes in exploring fundamental questions about the
world and our place in it. For example: What is reality? What does it mean for me to
‘know’ something? What is reasoning? What is a Mind? Does God exist? How should I
live, and who should decide?
Philosophy is highly discussion based and aims to develop critical thinking skills.
Through a range of applied Philosophical topics, students learn how to assess
arguments for validity and soundness. They also learn how to refute arguments logically
and construct their own rationally convincing arguments.
Philosophy, true holistic teaching
Both these people know what music people like. But why do people like their music?
Philosophy, true holistic teaching
Music theory Neuroscience
Chord progressions
How are neural patterns set up? Anthropology
Rhythm patterns Do musical pattern representations interact Cultural significance
Key changes with other modules in brain? of music
Can we point to where the “feeling” is?
Evolutionary Psychology
We are evolved beings, why
Physics has natural selection provided us with
Sound waves joy of music? What selective advantage
How do different instruments
does it serve?
produce different sounds?
Biology Technology/ICT
What happens in the ear? Build instruments
How does data get from ear to the brain? Produce music
What do students get from Philosophy?
It is amazing to walk passed students at lunchtime and hear them discussing
Philosophy. It’s a stark contrast to what we often hear students chatting about.
If exposed to nothing but narrow commercial influences their conversations will center
around these ideas. Their neural wiring will reflect this influence.
Philosophy broadens the ability to think flexibly and creatively about a range of ideas.
Their interpersonal relationships reflect this skill, and their brains hook up more broadly
Since the end of 2008, a group of Philosophy teachers have been working with the
MoE to construct Teaching and Learning Guidelines for the subject.
Students asking for more of these days, and we are planning Café Philosophy nights
The Future of Philosophy in Secondary Schools
Current Challenge:
There are no Achievement Standards specific to Philosophy, which means either:
• Students do Philosophy with no credits; or
• Courses are run by pinching credits from other learning areas
Our long term goal has been to write Achievement Standards for Philosophy, but this
will not happen for a couple of years, and there is no guarantee that we will be given
the license to do so.
Do we really need more Achievement Standards? Best to make better use of what we
have.
The Future of Philosophy in Secondary Schools
Suggested Solution:
Standards could be generic, with no specific name. Students could achieve the
standards in context.
Example:
Fred achieves a “conduct a speech” standard in the context of History, while
Mary achieves a “conduct a speech” standard in the context of Philosophy.
Their transcripts could contain this type of information….this is obviously “blue sky”
thinking.
The Future of Philosophy in Secondary Schools
Despite the fact it has no Achievement Standards, many students are choosing
to do courses in Philosophy.
I would like to encourage all teachers of Social Sciences to support the growth of
Philosophy in Secondary schools – maybe even introduce Philosophical thinking
into existing courses.
The Future of Philosophy in Secondary Schools
For more information on Philosophy teaching in schools, visit the NZAPT site
www.nzapt.net
Or contact
brent.silby@unlimited.school.nz