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A Philosothon is an annual competition wherein students explore philosophical and ethical issues. Students are scored highly where they demonstrate rigour and clarity of thought. Philosothons are held in most Australian states and the UK. These events have grown in number over the past eight years from a local competition involving eight schools in Perth Western Australia to involve many hundreds of schools. An essential component of a Philosothon is the pedagogical model for teaching Philosophy to young people called Community of inquiry. The event has grown alongside and within the Philosophy for Children movement. The first Australasian Philosothon was held at Cranbrook School, Sydney in 2011 and the first UK Philosothon was held in 2012 at King's College, Taunton.
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History
In 2007, Hale School in Perth Western Australia initiated a project to promote higher order thinking among secondary school students. At the first Philosothon nine high school teams, each including of five students from Perth came together at Hale School.
Recent history
Following the first Philosothon it was decided to promote the event more broadly to other schools around the country and later in the UK. Philosothons now take place annually in each Australian capital city and in regional locations around the country. They also take place in the UK Recently Primary school Philosothons have been conducted in various Art Galleries in some Australian states and in the UK.
Rationale and process
The rationale for the Philosothon methodology is based on empirical evidence that teaching children reasoning skills early in life greatly improves other cognitive and academic skills and greatly assists learning in general. Students are given the topic questions in advance and some stimulus reading materials.
Examples of topic questions from recent Philosothons are these:
Students, teachers and parents gather on a particular evening each year for the event. The students participate in a series of Communities of Inquiry which are facilitated by teachers or Phd. philosophy students from the local universities. While participating in this process students are scored by Philosophy lecturers also from local universities. The scores are then collated, ranked and later in the evening awards are given to students at each age level and encouragement awards to the most promising male and female philosopher. Also a trophy is awarded to the winning school.
Criticisms and responses
Some might argue that Philosophy cannot be undertaken in the context of a competition. They believe that by ranking individuals the process of developing a Community of Inquiry is fundamentally compromised. However, others have responded that many students forget they are involved in a competition and engage in the exact sort of investigation and collaboration we would hope to see in Philosophy. Others have suggested that the same process is undertaken in any academic institution, tertiary or secondary where students are ranked against criteria. The only difference is that one of the more important criteria in a COI is collaboration.
Australasian Philosothon
In July 2011 the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA) decided to host the first National Philosothon at Cranbrook School. Each Australian state sent three teams (those schools that won the 2010 Philosothon in each state) and so twelve schools in total arrived in Sydney to participate in the inaugural event.
The 2012 Australasian Philosothon was held at Bond University and AB Paterson College on the Gold Coast. Hale School took out first place and Guildford Grammar School took out second place. The 2013 FAPSA Australasian Philosothon was held in Melbourne, Victoria. The event was hosted by the National Art Gallery of Victoria and Ballarat Grammar's City campus. Raffles Girls School (Singapore) came first and Wesley College (Perth) came second. In 2014 Hale School in Perth Western Australia hosted the fourth FAPSA Australasian Philosothon. Thirteen schools participated in this event. and in 2015 North Sydney Girls High School hosted the 5th Annual FAPSA Australasian Philosothon.
Other countries
Philosothons have been run in the UK since 2013. Revd. Mark Smith & Julie Arliss from the Philosophy of Religion and Ethics Department at King's College, Taunton, UK, have spearheaded the Philosothon movement in the United Kingdom in collaboration with Dr Michael Lacewing from Heythrop College and Lizzy Lewis from Sapere. Wells Cathedral College won the first event. Since then Philosothons have been run annually around the UK including many Primary School Philosothons hosted by the Philosophy Foundation. The most recent UK Philosothon was won by Wells Cathedral College. Other Philosothons have been held around the UK.
Primary and Middle School Philosothons
In 2012 an inaugural Primary School Philosothon was held at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV). The following response was indicative of the proceedings. In 2013 the first WA Primary school Philosothon was hosted by John XXIII College at the Art Gallery of WA. Since then Annual Primary School Philosothons have been conducted in Victoria, WA and the UK.