REPORT - World Wide Philosophy

Reports from Philosophy with Children Around the World

FAPSA Mini-Conference - Queenscliff, Victoria

For the last weekend of the September holidays, members from the FAPSA (Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Associations) came together in Queenscliff for our biannual Mini-Conference, this year entitled: Trust in Dialogue, Dialogue for Trust.  We stayed at the historic Whitehall Lodge, where we were able to wake up to breakfast and philosophy.  Each day, we participated in the Community of Inquiries about trust, hearing about various projects across the Asia-Pacific region and supporting one another in exploring practical problems in our own areas.  Over lunch and dinner, we continued our journey, sharing life stories and getting to know each other.  The conference was a family-friendly event where young people occasionally engaged in our dialogues to share their thoughts and experiences on trust. This year, we also had special guests from the UK – The Philosophy Men – Jason Buckley and Tom Bigglestone.  They were in Australia doing some work in schools to support Oracy, so it was a happy coincidence that they could join us.

If you would like to know more about FAPSA, please send an email to: bonnie@vaps.vic.edu.au

BRILA PhiloCreation Camp, Montreal

In August, I had the pleasure of attending the BRILA Philocamp on Creativity.  The camp is a North American style summer (and winter) camp for young people.  They have regular camps there throughout the year.  It houses around 40 participants.  This year, adults had the opportunity to attend as part of the NAACI (North American Association for Community of Inquiry) Conference as a Pre-Conference Activity.  It is set in the Canadian wilderness outside of Montreal on a lake surrounded by trees and wildlife.  For the two days that I was ther,e I got to experience what life was like for the young people.  We played games to get to know each other (there were about 20 adults from various places in the world – UK, South Africa, Brazil, France, Australia, New Zealand, Italy), and engage in Communities of Philosophical Inquiry, all around the concept of creativity.  We also got opportunities to be creative and silly, with a ‘talent show’ and the creation of a PhiloZine.  It was an amazing experience that I hope others can attend in the future.  BRILA offer a training program for practitioners of CoI. https://www.brila.org/minicamp-en

NAACI Conference 2025, Montreal

After the BRILA Camp, I then went on to the NAACI Conference, first with a tourist day around Montreal, seeing some of the sights and experiencing some of the food (Poutine was on the menu). This was followed by three intense days of conferencing and learning about different projects around the world, listening to the latest research on p4c and CoI, exploring questions about the role of creativity in Philosophical dialogue.  VAPS member Harry Galatis accompanied me. Both he and I presented at the conference. Harry presented on moral imagination, and I presented on the connection between creativity and the Victorian Curriculum’s capabilities.  It was an amazing three days with our international colleagues.