Ten-stage P4C enquiry session structure from stimulus to review¶
Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited
Description¶
SAPERE's P4C session follows ten named stages: getting set, presentation of stimulus, thinking time, question making, question airing, question choosing, first thoughts, building, last thoughts, and review. Pupils and teacher sit in a circle, pupils generate and vote on the dialogue question, and in the building stage "the rule is to justify opinions with reasons" while the teacher models fallibilism. The stages are a flexible guide and need not all occur in one session.
Design Implications¶
Context¶
Requirements¶
- A classroom protocol that must be adhered to, with pupils and teacher seated in a circle facing each other
Constraints¶
- The stages can be used flexibly as the teacher's expertise grows and do not need to be completed all in one session
Target Learners¶
- Primary school pupils across all education age ranges
Learning Goals¶
- Questioning
- Reasoned argumentation
- Listening to others' views
Claims¶
- Sapere P4C Programme Element [+M]
Related Designs¶
Examples¶
-
Key Sources¶
- Stephen Gorard, Nadia Siddiqui and Beng Huat See. (2015). Philosophy for Children: Evaluation report and Executive summary. Education Endowment Foundation. https://www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
design |
id |
ten-stage-p4c-session-structure |
title |
Ten-stage P4C enquiry session structure from stimulus to review |
description |
SAPERE's P4C session follows ten named stages: getting set, presentation of stimulus, thinking time, question making, question airing, question choosing, first thoughts, building, last thoughts, and review. |
status |
review |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-01 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — stephen-gorard-2015 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.