1. How, when and where did P4C get started in Catalonia?

GrupIREF was created in February 1987, after a P4C course at Mendham, NJ, USA, in which Josep M. Terricabras, Carme Gimenez, Josep Cullell, Eulàlia Bosch and Irene de Puig took part. 

2. How widely has it been implemented?

In 2010, in Catalonia and other Catalan-speaking countries (Balearic Islands and Valencia) more than 250 schools, more than 1500 teachers and approx. 35.000 girls and boys are working with P4C. We also give courses in other regions of Spain.

3. Which materials do you work with?

a) We use the IAPC Philosophy for Children’s programmes of Kio and Gus, Pixie, Harry Stottlemeier’s Discovery (all by Matthew Lipman), and our own Lipman’s supervised adaptation of Lisa, Elisa.

b) Rounding out the P4C curriculum at the levels where we felt it was better to have local materials appropriate to our educational system, we created the following programmes: Juguem a pensar (Playing to think) for Pre-school education, 3-5 years of age; Pensar amb els sentits (Thinking with senses) for first and second Primary level, 6-7 years of age (both in Catalan and Spanish). For ages 16-18 we have published CINÈFIL, a book of philosophical themes and cinema (based upon Truman Show, The Great Dictator, etc.), and on the history of philosophy (The Odyssey, The Name of the Rose, Matrix, High Noon, etc.)

c) We have put together an aesthetic proposal for all programmes. More details here.

d) Rounding out the programmes:

1. ECODIALOGO
2. We used to create materials related to special events, or themes for example, the bicentennial of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen (Andersen Dossier, in Catalan only, at: Andersen Dossier ) Jules Verne Year thinking on tales, Cinema and Philosophy, Children’s Rights and Cinema, etc.
3. Adapting Secondary IAPC materials to the new curricular requirements: We have revised Lisa and turned it into a more flexible and readable ELISA, and adapted it to the reflection on ethics applied through a cinematographic link: Gattaca, Twelve Angry Men, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, The Insider, Unfair Competition. (Files for each film are here, in Catalan only, if you are interested in them, we suggest using some kind of on line translator.)
4. We have written a book about figure analogical evaluation, which we have incorporated as a teaching practice in the classroom and teacher training courses. It is titled Reavaluar and is available in Catalan and Spanish.
5. The practical relationship between classroom and research is omnipresent in GrupIREF’s activities. The reports that teachers present at the end of the course are a good example of this. Five GrupIREF members have received year-long study grants from the government to work in areas related to the project: Irene de Puig in education in values, Manuela Gómez in critical thinking, Iñaki Andrés in multiculturalism and art, Anna Baiges in cinema and philosophy and Félix de Castro in the class group. Over the years we have had more than five doctoral theses, and much research work supported by the Catalan Department of Education. We also work regularly with the Philosophy Teaching Department of the University of Girona,whith whom we created and developed Master on line on Filosofia 3/18-FpN-P4Cin 2007.

 

4. Who is doing the curriculum development?

The curriculum itself, presently Irene de Puig, Angélica Sátiro, Manuela Gómez and Anna Baiges, but in related aspects we have material on multiculturalism by Iñaki Andrés and an analysis of the class group by Félix de Castro. 

5. Has any experimental research been conducted in Catalonia? 

-The practical relationship between classroom and research is omnipresent in GrupIREF’s activities. The reports that teachers present at the end of the course are a good example of this. -Five GrupIREF members have received year-long study grants from the government to work in areas related to the project: Irene de Puig in education in values, Manuela Gómez in critical thinking, Iñaki Andrés in multiculturalism and art, Anna Baiges in cinema and philosophy and Félix de Castro in the class group. -Over the years we have had more than five doctoral theses, and much research work supported by the Catalan Department of Education. We also work regularly with the Philosophy Teaching Department of the University of Girona,whith whom we created and developed Master on line on Filosofia 3/18-FpN-P4C in 2007.