As I and many others have argued, philosophy in community projects provide powerful, immersive introductions to philosophical thinking for participants. Embedded in the philosophy for children pedagogy of community of inquiry, my practice has focused on activity-based stimulus that get young people to think together about questions and issues that matter to them. In the last 12 months my focus has been on ‘youth at risk’, such as young people who are in detention, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, or those who attend community colleges because traditional education systems have failed them.
I have learnt two things in the last year. First, I am no longer doing communities of inquiry (CoI’s), and secondly, I don’t think it matters. Integral to the success of CoI’s is the building of a community over time. But my work is with transient participants, who may or may not attend from session to session, so there is often no time, no continuity that is needed, to build a community. My question today is: Is engaging in philosophical inquiry – evaluating arguments, reasoning, questioning, etc., – enough, or is the building of a thinking community essential to the pedagogy?
Thursday July 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:55pm AEST Steele-206
