Secondary Philosophy Curriculum

Philosophy in the secondary curriculum would build and develop intellectual virtues 
through doing regular philosophical enquiry the classroom and would add further 
elements such as written work, learning about the history of ideas, developing meta­
cognitive skills through self­facilitation and also the explicit learning of critical thinking 
skills.

In the early stages of the curriculum students would learn to philosophise, and the
curriculum would help cultivate a philosophical aptitude that will enhance children’s
learning as a whole. A philosophical aptitude includes:

 The ability to consider the implications and consequences of conditional and

counter-factual situations, in other words, to develop hypothetical sensitivity
 The ability to compose counter-examples, that is, examples that aim to refute a
proposed idea (creative and applied thinking)
 To draw conceptual distinctions (“There’s two kinds of ‘good’: there’s ‘good’ when
you are ‘good at’ something and there’s ‘good’ when you are a ‘good person’, you
know, when you help people.”)
 To rethink or re-evaluate ideas, both their own and those presented to them (critical
evaluation)
 Doing philosophy also increases a child’s ability to follow or formulate complex
steps of reasoning and to think in the abstract.
 They will be better able to go beyond the factual and empirical considerations
towards more general considerations (for example, to consider the nature of
‘fairness’ in general rather than be always confined to particular instances of
fairness).
 To be able to spot logical inconsistencies and develop good conceptual thinking are
also learned through doing philosophy.
 Second-order / meta-level thinking. (Not just doing philosophy but discussing what
philosophy is; not just thinking but thinking about what thinking is)
 To formulate and analyse formal arguments in normal discussions.
 To have a disposition towards thinking on metaphysical, ethical and
epistemological issues.

The overall aims of doing philosophy with secondary students, as with any student, is to
develop within the students a disposition towards good thinking, so that it becomes
naturalized and promotes life-long learning; to improve student’s abilities to follow a
train of thought to a greater degree of depth; and to be able to give clearer expression to
their thoughts and ideas. Philosophical enquiry, and other P4C methodologies also
develops speaking and listening skills to the level of dialectic - that is rational, critical,
creative and collaborative exploration through discussion. By getting the students to build
on each other’s ideas constructively and to critically evaluate each other’s, and their own,
claims respectfully philosophical enquiry develops critical and creative thinking skills, as
well as developing important social skills.

As students progress through the curriculum they will be encouraged to find ways to
apply the thinking habits they develop in philosophy to other areas of the school
curriculum. We would do this by linking the philosophy sessions to the curriculum they
are studying.

Our experience in secondary schools also highlights the importance of running sessions
that have meaning to the students, and also the importance of teaching content.

Example of a session have developed for secondary schools, linking to the art curriculum.

Selfie-Portrait
Doing
Ask the learners to get into pairs and take ten selfies on their phones or on
school tablets. When they are finished ask them to pick one form the ten to share
with the group.

Doing Question: which selfie did you chose and why?

Next show them a selfie alongside Vincent Van Gough’s Self-Portrait with a
Bandaged Ear.

Task Question: "One of these images is an act of self-expression, the other is

pure vanity.” Discuss.

Questions to take you further

◦ Is the selfie art?
◦ Is art an act of vanity?
◦ What is art?
◦ What is vanity?
◦ What is self-expression?
◦ Can you take a non-vain selfie?

Iffing
◦ What if I told you that the selfie was selected from one hundred selfies that
day?
◦ What if I told you it was selected from a pool of one selfie?
◦ What if I told you that Van Gough painted this portrait after cutting off his ear
and sending it to an unrequited love?
◦ What if I told you that the figure in the selfie took the photo to send to an
unrequited love?