Philosophy in schools

Philosophy with Children includes other traditions also used in the classroom, such as Leonard Nelson’s Socratic Dialogue, which is popular in Europe and is used by people such as Louis Marinoff in the United States, whose Plato Not Prozac places emphasis on philosophical counseling rather than classroom pedagogy. Since, a number of schools around Australia have developed their own approach to implementing philosophy throughout the school. Philosophy for Children is about process and not content. In Australia, like other countries where philosophy for children has been implemented in classrooms, teachers have different reasons for introducing philosophy into the classrooms as well as different ways of introducing it. All teachers are concerned with enhancing students’ thinking skills. Philosophy is not a compulsory key learning area in Australian schools, although in some States philosophy is an optional subject at the senior level and teachers are required teach the syllabus.