‘Philosophy needs to be taught from a younger age’ says Kathryn Keeshan

The axiom ‘Catch them young’ has a special significance for Kathryn Keeshan who is all for introducing philosophy for primary age school children. In an exclusive interview with Edarabia, Keeshan, who will be joining Repton School Dubai as the Head of Junior School in September 2021, also highlighted how developing skills of resilience and mindfulness in children has become ever more imperative in the current climate of uncertainties.

• Can you tell us more about positive education?
• Why do you think it,s important to teach Philosophy at a young age?
• As a teacher, how do you motivate students to stay positive in times like these?
• How do you make sure students stay excited about learning on a daily basis?

Can you tell us more about positive education?

A Positive Education approach brings together the research and understanding around positive psychology with quality first teaching to encourage and support individuals, schools and communities to flourish. I have been involved in incorporating Positive Education into schools since 2016. Positive Education focuses on developing specific skills that assist students to strengthen their relationships, build positive emotions, enhance personal resilience, promote mindfulness, and encourage a healthy lifestyle.

To break Positive Education down further, it is the awareness that our personality is developed and built through the character strengths that we show naturally. Character strengths are values and life skills such as kindness, perseverance, humility, and leadership, amongst others. Everyone will display these through their personality to different extents. By teaching students about all the different character strengths and supporting them in understanding how they can personally develop those that do not come so naturally, a school provides its students with an increased capacity to learn effectively, as well as offering them a strong foundation on which they can build a successful life.

Why do you think it,s important to teach Philosophy at a young age?

Philosophy for primary age children is a powerful tool which encourages students to ‘think about thinking’, and to question their own and other opinions in a positive and constructive manner. By introducing certain teaching techniques through a Philosophy for Children approach it helps students to clearly form their own mindset and improves their emotional awareness and thinking skills.

There has been a lot of educational research based around the benefits of introducing Philosophy for Children into Primary schools and in my experience, the following three are those that stand out:

1. Developments in cognitive ability
2. Developments in critical reasoning skills and dialogue in the classroom
3. Emotional and social developments

Introducing philosophy at a young age provides a forum where students do not just accept everything that they are told but will ask questions in order to fully understand and process the information.

Children become reasonable in both senses of the word — they are adept at reasoning and they are open to the reasoning of others. Successful learners will then have the confidence to talk and explore in situations where differences can be welcomed. Philosophy for Children promotes a forum for open dialogue in which participants are not content to exchange ideas and opinions. Instead, they ask questions, sift arguments and explore alternatives. Above all, they try to understand each other.

As a teacher, how do you motivate students to stay positive in times like these?

Communication is the absolute key to ensuring that students remain positive during such uncertain times. School life has changed dramatically over the past year and as educators it is important that we really understand how our students are feeling about their current circumstances and the effect this is having on their emotional and physical well-being. We can only do this by talking to students, having an open forum for discussion and actually listening. As teachers and leaders, we are then able to make informed decisions based on an intimate understanding of our own students and not a generic feeling.

Students have shown incredible resilience throughout this pandemic and during the periods of lockdown. Whilst there have been notable struggles, there have also been huge achievements and advancements in many ways. We just have to look at how quickly students were able to adapt to on-line distance learning to recognise their flexibility to new situations and how determined they are to succeed and embrace change. Part of the teacher’s role was to funnel this so that students knew how remarkable an achievement this was.

How do you make sure students stay excited about learning on a daily basis?

I consider myself to be a lifelong learner and love the saying ‘Every day is a school day!’ This is something that I promote as an adult and amongst the teaching staff so that it filters down to the student’s level and becomes part of the ethos of the school.

Excitement comes through continuously evolving the curriculum and bringing it alive to meet the ever-changing needs of the students in a forward-thinking world. This can be done by tapping into what interests students and stimulates their curiosity in a context that they are familiar with. Undoubtedly there is statutory coverage, but it is how this is incorporated into the curriculum, which leads to high levels of success. The key is to give teachers the autonomy and time to review and adapt the curriculum to ensure that it is dynamic and vibrant and to put their own personal stamp on it, because if teachers are enthused by what they are teaching, then students will feed off this energy. Ultimately students should not be coming into school knowing what to expect – learning should be full of surprises!