A year of weekly P4C improved Key Stage 2 progress in reading and maths relative to business-as-usual¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 Pupils receiving P4C made approximately two additional months' progress in reading (effect size +0.12) and maths (+0.10) compared with control pupils. → Gorard et al. 2015

Evidence¶

Gorard et al. 2015¶

Stephen Gorard, Nadia Siddiqui and Beng Huat See. (2015). Philosophy for Children: Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581147

q3 · i1 · causal · r2

School-level randomised controlled trial with waitlist control across 48 schools; 1,550 treatment and 1,609 control pupils pre-tested, KS2 results from the National Pupil Database for 1,529 original Year 5 pupils, analysed as KS1-to-KS2 gain scores. The report's results table prints effect sizes of +0.12 for reading and +0.10 for maths, described as "+2 months" of progress.

"The evaluation found evidence that P4C had a positive impact on pupils' Key Stage 2 (KS2) progress in reading and maths."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• P4C effects on Cognitive Abilities Test scores were mixed by starting year group, with only a small overall improvement — related
• P4C gains at Key Stage 2 were greater for FSM-eligible pupils in all subjects — related
• P4C showed no evidence of improvement at Key Stage 2 for writing — related
• Teachers and pupils reported that P4C benefited wider outcomes such as confidence to speak, listening, and self-esteem — related
• Affordable Online Maths Tuition showed no evidence of impact on the Key Stage 2 maths test compared with business-as-usual teaching in Year 6 — related