Philosophy for Children Teachers as Collaborative Researchers

Abstract

Introduction:  In an article published in Analytic Teaching (Schleifer, Lebuis, Daniel, Caron, 1990), we argued for a model of ongoing supervision to complement the "official" emphasis on coaching and modelling in teacher-training. We acknowledged that coaching was important but only for the initiation period. After two or three years of experience, however, we had found that the role of the supervisor was much more of a collaborator, or co-philosopher than a coach. What our teachers seemed to be most in need of was to have a resource-person with whom to continue reflecting about their action. This reflexion might centre upon philosophical issues arising from the material, but might also concern itself with two other sets of issues. The first set of issues are mainly pedagogical ones; the second set concerns general problems in the philosophy of education. We argued that our model of supervision (or accompaniment) had to be flexible and ongoing. It had to be flexible enough to adapt to the needs of individual teachers in individual circumstances. It had also to be ongoing in order to continue to serve teachers who had already gone beyond their novice apprenticeship and initiation. The model we advocate is an extension of the community of inquiry. Rather than simply using this at the initial period of initiation, we see it as an ongoing enterprise. Thus the teachers can continue to consult the university professors (supervisors) concerning each of the three types of considerations mentioned above (philosophical materials and issues, pedagogical matters, and philosophy of education). The present article provides a report of how that model has worked in practice.