 Philosophy helps students to think more deeply because they share their ideas and they have to listen to each other's ideas and they have to consider each other's ideas and reflect on another person's ideas in light of their own. And then beyond that they have to make connections amongst their ideas, amongst their agreements and disagreements and to see the flaws or faults in their own thinking and to be able to change their mind as well. So I think it makes them very flexible in their thinking as well as it gives them the opportunity and the want to know what other people are thinking and to think more deeply about concepts. As you work with the children in philosophy you have to keep in mind three things, so you have to keep in mind that you're trying to teach them the processes and if you don't get your processes right, if they're not going to listen to each other and be respectful and take turns, that sort of thing, then and build on, you know, you can't get deep into ideas. So you have to do, you have to get the processes right. So every lesson we will talk about the rules at the beginning. We go through the rules, quite often I would have discussions with children about what's the most important rule, which rule is going to help us most, which rule is most useful if we're trying to do whatever, getting them to prioritise what they think is most important. Usually they come up with things like, you know, listening and respect go together and then once you've got those things happening, the building on and the seeking alternatives changing your mind, that all starts to happen as well. So the rules, setting up the processes is integral to the whole thing. Then you have to keep in mind that you've got a topic under discussion, so there's a substantive aspect to the discussion and there's the skills that we're using to discuss this topic. So the kids today, you could see them trying to make that distinction between secrets and promises. So they're trying to see the differences and the similarities between secrets and promises and that's the skill that they're using but the concept that they're discussing, which I was trying to keep focusing them on, was what is a promise, you know? They kept wanting to go off on to what is a secret but we were trying to focus on developing some criteria for what is a promise. So you have to do processes, the rules, you have to do the substantive aspect and you have to be mindful of all the skills they're trying to develop as well. It takes a long time to, at first, you're so focused on the processes and getting that right that you can get very easily muddled about what's actually happening in the discussion. So I think probably the first 18 months or so it takes to just feel comfortable with managing a discussion and then you can really start to hone some skills. Hone your own skills in questioning and your own understanding of the skills that you're trying to develop and your own understanding of the concept under discussion in that lesson I said to the kids a couple of times, you know, I was speaking to my parents on the weekend about what is a promise, you know, because I need to talk to somebody about the aspects of promises as well before I can actually come to the discussion and I did some reading in a philosophical text that I've got about promises and the relationship between promises and duty and obligations and when it might be okay to break those promises when it's not okay so that I've got some understanding of the philosophical terrain where this might go, you know, before I come to the class and talk to them about it so that what, you know, I can pick up on what's being said by the children and see the connections and see where else I need to take them through questioning. So again, your questions are focused on those three areas. So you're thinking about the processes. You're trying to think about has everybody had a turn. So pass the ball to, you know, hand up if you haven't had a turn. Try and make sure that everybody's included. So that's one level of questioning. Are we listening? Are we being respectful, focused on the processes? There's another level of questioning which is more socratic about the content that we're dealing with, you know, so that we're thinking very deeply about what promises are and we know that we're asking questions that will take us across the philosophical terrain and not just keep us saying the area of ethics, promise would take you to ethics because it's about duty and obligation but are we actually also thinking like they were some of their questions, what is a promise? What makes a promise? Taking us into metaphysics or, you know, what follows if you don't keep a promise, the logic of promises, you know, so that we're covering all those areas of philosophy. So we think that teaching philosophy helps children in all learning, not just academic learning but social learning as well. And in the academic learning, the other area of questioning is about the skill, you know, well, are you trying to make a distinction between such and such and such and such, like today with secrets and promises. But we think that they, not only do they learn to think deeply about concepts which can help them in any area of their learning, like Hector was saying about politics, you know, so it can be about history or it can be the theme in the book that they're reading for English or the children were saying, you know, it helps them in their problem solving in maths. It can help them not to jump to conclusions with a science experiment, you know, to seek or get their evidence first before they jump to a conclusion. So being able to think and reflect themselves individually and being able to consider other people's ideas can help them across a range of subjects, you know, in things like poetry and, you know, in their music and their, you know, it helps them to be more creative and think more laterally about, you know, all sorts of options, not just what's right in front of their face. Some of the long-term effects of teaching philosophy have been the way the children interact with each other, which then assists their learning academically, socially. They, and because it's taught in every year level, they start building the skills from prep and it's reinforced all the way through and the children who come in new to the school in, say, year four or five very quickly see that it's a different way of operating from what they've been used to in other schools. It's a very different power structure when you give children the opportunity to ask questions and you don't know what's coming. And so that's why it's really important to get those processes in place because if you don't get them to be appropriate and relevant and reasonable, and if they won't listen to each other or be respectful of each other, it might not work, you know, like it's very important to get those processes in place and not through your own authority but through them understanding that if they be respectful to each other and listen to each other, it actually benefits them. It's good for them. It's good for their learning. It's good for them as a class. It's good for the whole school.