Philosophy for Children: SAPERE, Evaluation Report and Executive Summary, EEF

Gorard, S; Siddiqui, N; See, BH

Abstract

This study is an independent evaluation of the intervention called ‘Philosophy for Children’ (P4C). The aim of evaluation was to investigate the impact of P4C on year 6 pupils’ academic attainment after a yearlong practice of intervention in the primary schools. The study included a randomised sample of 48 schools from which 2,821 Year 4 and 5 pupils took part in the study. P4C was introduced to 1,366 pupils while the others acted as a control. The intervention tries to help children become more willing and able to question, reason, construct arguments and collaborate with others. The P4C group showed small positive effect sizes of 0.12 in reading, 0.10 in maths, and 0.07 in cognitive attainment, as compared to the pupils who did not receive the intervention. Teachers and pupils reported that P4C had a positive infuence on wider outcomes such as confidence to speak, listening skills and self-esteem. The overall findings of this evaluation study are that P4C could be a useful educational approach and its small positive impact on academic attainment is worth taken seriously if the purpose of the itnervention and the possible impact on wider outcomes are also valued.

Citation

Gorard, S., Siddiqui, N., & See, B. (2015). Philosophy for Children: SAPERE, Evaluation Report and Executive Summary, EEF. [No known commissioning body]

• Report Type: Other
• Publication Date: 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2015
• Additional Information: Type: n/a; Subtype: n/a