 |
| Photograph: Steve Hoggins |
Como me tornei professor de filosofia
Why I became a philosophy teacher: to get kids thinking about life's big
ideas
The emphasis on
knowledge in schools led Steve Hoggins to take up philosophy
teaching and encourage more thinking and questioning in the classroom
Teaching primary school children philosophy has really
helped with their confidence, says Steve Hoggins.
·
I didn't have a clue
what philosophy was when I chose it as one of my AS levels. The most
fascinating thing for me was hearing about concepts and ideas that I had
started wondering about before I ever studied philosophy. My older brother died
when I was 11 so I'd thought a lot about what death is. I thought I couldn't
tell anyone what I thought about this and then I met philosophers who had all
these ideas.
I failed all my
A-levels apart from one E grade in English. I had moved schools for sixth form
and my priority was trying to be cool and having loads of friends. I spent more time in pubs
underage drinking than doing my home work. I thought my life was over, then Lampeter
University threw me a lifeline and said I could do a one-year
diploma and then go on to do a degree but, by a strange administrative error, I
ended up doing the degree straight away anyway.
My own experience of education means I can really
relate to young people at both secondary and primary level who don't want to do
something because they are told to do it. I can also understand and admire the
brilliance of young minds who find a way to get round rules and still get to do
what they want. These kids resonate with me.
After my degree I went to work in Italy and Portugal as
a TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) teacher. I found I loved making
the potentially very dry task of learning English fun using performance and
playing games. For the first time I felt really proud about what I was doing. I
came back to the UK and did a primary PGCE at the College of
St Mark and St John.
In my final placement at a school in Bradninch in
Devon I worked with a great year 6 teacher who was into doing critical thinking
and I started experimenting with Socratic questioning. That same week I read a
magazine article about Pete Worley from the Philosophy
Foundation describing using philosophy in class. I remember
thinking: "That's it! There's a philosophy shaped hole in the
curriculum." We focus so much on knowledge, there isn't enough thinking
going on.
So after my PGCE I came down to London and did a
course with the Philosophy Foundation. I did my teaching practice at Rathfern
Primary school in south east London, working at
first with a year 6 class. The headteacher watched me delivering the session
and encouraged me to apply for a full-time job as a class teacher to complete
my NQT year.
So I started teaching
a year 4-5 class. It was the worst year of my life. I was living alone without any
network of friends or family and I found the work so hard. All the boxes to tick were a huge problem for me. Part
of me said I can't do it and another part said the children shouldn't have to
do it and I generally just fell to pieces.
I failed some lesson observations and the head was
worried I'd fail my NQT year. I thought I should just leave the school but the
head suggested I try working in early years and foundation stage (EYFS). I didn't know what else to do, so I took up the head's
offer.
Teaching in EYFS was one of the best
experiences of my teaching life. When you mark work of older children you do so
on levels of certain criteria. So if you have a piece of writing that has
terrible spelling, no connectives, no capital letters you have to give it a
terrible grade, even though in its concept the piece of writing really made you
think and was fascinating. The ideas in it can't be graded. I found that so
depressing and frustrating.
But in EYFS you can approach a child anywhere, not
just at the table; for example, at the water tray and ask questions and they
can explore ideas. It's a lot more fluid, and you can find opportunities to hit
the objectives.
I'd always kept in touch with the Philosophy
Foundation and had run an after school philosophy club at Rathfern. So when the foundation offered
me the opportunity to work with them, I jumped at the chance.
Now I work particularly closely with primaries Holy Trinity and Kelvin Grove and am also the inhouse
philosophy consultant at Ravenscroft
school where the head wants to get philosophical inquiry
imbedded into their whole curriculum. I also do philosophy sessions with Harris Aspire, a new secondary school set up
to turn around he education of children who were struggling in year 7 and 8.
The first lesson I ever did with the year 8 and 9s at Harris Aspire was awful, they ground me to
dust. But my work there is going from strength to strength. We've been able to
cover really difficult issues in a really intense way, from beating children to
whether we should obey laws and rules, so it's in a real-life context. My work
in primary schools stays fun and friendly.
The effect on children of doing philosophy sessions is
huge. The most obvious change is confidence in speaking out in front of a
group. Children aren't expected to know the answer or to correctly guess the
teacher's ideas. That's a big change from ordinary lessons. If you know
something because the teacher has told you or because you read it in a book you
can say it quite confidently. But when children can give a set of reasons for
something that they've worked though, discussed and thought for themselves that
gives an entirely different level of confidence.
I want to carry on doing this, my dream is for every
child to do philosophy. Getting people thinking is a massive thing with life
changing and potentially world changing consequences.
Steven Hoggins is development
director at the Philosophy Foundation, working in
schools, mentoring newly-trained specialists and part of the training team.
This content is brought to you by Guardian
Professional. Looking for your
next role? Take a look at Guardian jobs for schools for thousands of the latest teaching, leadership
and support jobs.
Sunday 27 October 2013 07.00 GMT
Lola
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário