P4C has been a pedagogical approach which has been embedded at Alfreton Nursery School for over 5 years. The approach has gradually morphed from being a daily intervention for targeted children, into a whole school, cross curricular approach to teaching and learning.

1. 4Cs

The 4Cs which underpin the P4C philosophy: Caring, Collaborative, Critical and Creative, represent types of thinking to be encouraged within a culture of enquiry. At Alfreton these four approaches to thinking have been adopted as keys to learning and teaching across the curriculum.  Children are reminded, for example, of the need to think in a collaborative way when building with blocks, to show caring thinking when in the home corner, apply critical thinking when solving a maths problem and apply their creative thinking when discussing a story. Teachers explicitly model these four Cs and highlight whenever they witness a child using them and they will mirror the use of these thinking approaches, clearly identifying strategies they too are using.

Within story groups the 4Cs are applied with a differentiated approach. In our first story group the focus remains clearly on Caring thinking.  As children’s understanding grows, they are then supported to explore the concept of collaborative thinking. More able learners are taught to independently apply all four thinking approaches within these sessions.

2. Enquiry based curriculum

The implementation of P4C across the curriculum has meant that children are taught about open mindsets. Children are taught to wonder, question, debate and share in a climate of respect and acceptance. Opinions rather than facts underpin the way children interact with their learning and rather than being passive receptors of knowledge, children are taught to actively engage with their learning. P4C training encourages teacher reflection and the conscious implementation of role within a lesson. At Alfreton Nursery School teaching staff consider within their planning whether they intend to guide learners from a position of open ended potential or instead to teach with a clearly intended outcome. We believe there is space for both within daily interactions but in order to ensure the balance between adult and child voice, teacher role needs to be clear.

Children are taught the importance of empathy for others perspectives and various stimulus are used to provoke challenge.  For more able learners, question quadrants help children understand different types of questions and raise awareness that some questions are void of a clear answer.  Opinion corners are used to enable more able children to illustrate their thinking and to appreciate others ’thinking.  Children are then supported to either maintain their view or on consideration of others thoughts, yield.

3. Circle time enquiries

The more formal enquiry model is used with more able learners, but has been carefully adapted to support young children’s thinking.  An enquiry will take a week of 10 minute sessions daily and will begin with a stimulus. Children are supported to formulate a question and this can require a great deal of teacher support in the initial stages. We find in nursery that young children can find it challenging to formulate a question rather than a headline. This process may take two sessions. One question is then selected to pursue and the question quadrant supports how we will seek an answer.

The rest of the week will be taken with debating and exploring possible answers, and if the question is philosophical in its nature, our final reflection will support children’s acceptance of difference. The social behaviour within an enquiry is an essential element to the process. Respect for others when they are speaking and offering contributions to the group enquiry through gesture, form the parameters of collaboration.

4. Continuous provision

Within the continuous provision of our nursery classroom, Alfreton Nursery School provides specific stimulus for all children, linked to children’s literature. For example, during a focus on stories with a woodland theme, the keyword stimulus may be ‘Nature’. Artefacts and images supporting and challenging the meaning of nature will be available to support developing thinking. Over the course of the week, big, open-ended questions will be collected and displayed to support children’s engagement.

• ‘What is nature?’
• ‘Is nature at my house?’
• ‘Am I nature?’
• ‘Is nature in space?’
  

Talking, writing, drawing, singing, dancing, role play...are all encouraged as a means of responding to a stimulus. 

Conclusion

P4C can be seen as a formal process, and with this assumption comes a belief that nursery children cannot engage fully in the pedagogy.  Alfreton Nursery School refutes such a belief and can demonstrate that an enquiry based curriculum can provide nursery aged children with the freedom to form opinions and explore social influence. Young children need opportunities to reflect on their lived experience and feel exposure to wider concepts. P4C in nursery has powerful impact on children’s development as learners and grows individuals capable of critical and creative thinking within a culture of care and collaboration. All children benefit from a P4C approach, progressing rapidly across the whole curriculum, due to their increased capacity to question, respond to alternative perspectives and work together to solve problems.