Bringing philosophy into schools is not easy. During my time as a Religious Studies teacher and later head of RS, I found promoting the importance of my subject was a full time job. As someone with a philosophy degree, my main line of exploration was that, whatever else RS had to offer, the philosophical element of the subject was particularly important. Despite this, students had often never heard of philosophy before, other teachers had little idea of what the subject was about, and it was rare but fortunate when the leadership team felt that it was a worthy use of curriculum time.
In order to promote my subject to my own students, I wanted to be able to present the very best that philosophy, as a discipline, has to offer. When I was doing an MA at UEA, I volunteered as a helper for the Joint Session conference of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association. I remember meeting the philosophers whose work I had studied and seeing them in action speaking about projects that they were currently working on. I wondered why this was only accessible to other academics. Why was the best that philosophy had to offer going on behind closed doors? I also wanted my students to be able to talk to, and meet other students who were studying philosophy. In a small school, within a small department, they thought that they were doing something rare and probably a little strange. They struggled to find other people who were interested in the issues they discussed in philosophy lessons and I think they felt, like I did, a little isolated. I also wanted to create something of the atmosphere of a university, where the people around you are genuinely excited about learning. Where there is a shared love of a subject and a sense of fun about learning.
With all of this in mind, I started inviting philosophers at the top of their field, undergraduates who had that love of philosophy, and other schools to come together to celebrate and enjoy philosophy. So far there have been three successful conferences, and 2019 will see the fourth. Since starting the conference as Head of RS at Worksop College, I am now researching the educational value of philosophy as a full time doctoral researcher. My conviction that it is transformative in a way that other subjects are not is growing. While the conference is instrumentally valuable to anyone wishing to promote their department, excite their students, get to know a community of other interested schools and philosophers, bring about new links between universities and schools, promote university attendance, or simply enjoy learning some philosophy, I also think that the conference has deeper value. One student remarked to their teacher that they had learned more in the two days of the conference than they had during the previous two years of school. The way that studying philosophy prompts new connections, ideas and new ways of thinking in students is something very special. I know that it is very difficult to run school trips, but if you can bring a school group along, I believe that it will pay off for those students.
Jane Gatley (organiser)
In order to promote my subject to my own students, I wanted to be able to present the very best that philosophy, as a discipline, has to offer. When I was doing an MA at UEA, I volunteered as a helper for the Joint Session conference of the Aristotelian Society and Mind Association. I remember meeting the philosophers whose work I had studied and seeing them in action speaking about projects that they were currently working on. I wondered why this was only accessible to other academics. Why was the best that philosophy had to offer going on behind closed doors? I also wanted my students to be able to talk to, and meet other students who were studying philosophy. In a small school, within a small department, they thought that they were doing something rare and probably a little strange. They struggled to find other people who were interested in the issues they discussed in philosophy lessons and I think they felt, like I did, a little isolated. I also wanted to create something of the atmosphere of a university, where the people around you are genuinely excited about learning. Where there is a shared love of a subject and a sense of fun about learning.
With all of this in mind, I started inviting philosophers at the top of their field, undergraduates who had that love of philosophy, and other schools to come together to celebrate and enjoy philosophy. So far there have been three successful conferences, and 2019 will see the fourth. Since starting the conference as Head of RS at Worksop College, I am now researching the educational value of philosophy as a full time doctoral researcher. My conviction that it is transformative in a way that other subjects are not is growing. While the conference is instrumentally valuable to anyone wishing to promote their department, excite their students, get to know a community of other interested schools and philosophers, bring about new links between universities and schools, promote university attendance, or simply enjoy learning some philosophy, I also think that the conference has deeper value. One student remarked to their teacher that they had learned more in the two days of the conference than they had during the previous two years of school. The way that studying philosophy prompts new connections, ideas and new ways of thinking in students is something very special. I know that it is very difficult to run school trips, but if you can bring a school group along, I believe that it will pay off for those students.
Jane Gatley (organiser)
