This article presents a study that examines the impact of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) program on teachers in Hong Kong, specifically focusing on its effectiveness in fostering dialogic and inquiry-based teaching approaches. While dialogic teaching has been acknowledged as beneficial for cultivating vital competencies such as creativity, critical thinking, and communication skills, existing literature reveals a prevalent tendency towards monologic teacher-student interactions across various subjects, grades, and countries. By providing training and support to teachers, enabling them to implement P4C in Integrated Humanities and English lessons, this study aimed to evaluate the program’s effectiveness in enhancing teachers’ classroom practices. The results indicated that P4C significantly contributed to improving teachers’ ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry-based teaching, thereby enhancing their overall effectiveness in the classroom. These findings highlight the significant role of P4C in promoting teachers’ professional development and its relevance to innovative teaching pedagogies in higher education. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

As Philosophy for Children (P4C) is increasingly favored as an educational approach in other regions, the absence of P4C in traditional schools in Hong Kong raises controversy regarding its benefits for Hong Kong students. This paper investigates the potential of implementing P4C in Hong Kong by exploring the features of values education in Hong Kong primary schools. The study employs Stake’s curriculum evaluation model for systematic evaluation and suggests that P4C helps bridge the gap between the Intended Curriculum and the Observed Curriculum in the Transactions and Outcomes aspect, addressing the shortcomings of Moral and Civic Education (MCE). This study discusses the possibility of using the P4C approach for values education by comparing P4C and MCE educational principles, pedagogies, and learning outcomes. The two share similarities, indicating the possibility of integrating P4C into values education. Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). 

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of important competencies and skills such as creativity, communication skills and critical thinking skills. Yet, the literature confirms that teacher–student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades and countries. This article reports the results of a study that evaluates the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help enhance the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. © 2023 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.

Little research has been done to examine the development of thinking skills in the context of second language learning and teaching. This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing English as a Second Language (ESL) students’ thinking skills in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for two English teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 4 ESL students during English lessons. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the English curriculum. Also, PIS was found to play an important role in promoting the students’ critical and creative thinking. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the English curriculum can promote critical and creative thinking in ESL students. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Dialogic teaching has been demonstrated to be conducive to the development of important competencies and skills such as creativity, communication skills and critical thinking skills. Yet, the literature confirms that teacher–student interactions in the classroom are predominantly monologic rather than dialogic across subjects, grades and countries. This article reports the results of a study that evaluates the effectiveness of a Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme in facilitating the development of dialogic and inquiry teaching in teachers in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for teachers to enable them to teach P4C to their students during Integrated Humanities and English lessons. P4C was found to help enhance the teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom in terms of their ability to engage in dialogic and inquiry teaching. The findings of this study suggest that P4C plays a significant role in promoting the professional development of teachers. Copyright © 2022 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.

This article reports the results of a study that assesses the effectiveness of a Philosophy in Schools (PIS) programme in developing students' thinking skills and English competence in Hong Kong. In the study, training and support were provided for three Integrated Humanities (IH) teachers to enable them to teach PIS to their Secondary 3 English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The students were found to be capable of reasoning and arguing in a competent way about philosophical problems arising from various stimuli prepared by their teachers according to the IH curriculum. PIS was also found to play a major role in promoting the students' critical and creative thinking and to enhance the development of their English language proficiency to a significant extent. The findings of this study suggest that integrating philosophy into the IH curriculum can promote critical thinking, creative thinking and English language proficiency in ESL students. Copyright © 2020 University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education.