Sydney Philosothon 2024

The Sydney Philosothon is an annual inter-school event running since 2009, organised through a collaboration between the Association of Philosophy in Schools NSW (PinS NSW) and the host school: this year Newington College. We wish to acknowledge and thank the previous schools who have hosted this event: Ascham, Cranbrook, St Andrew’s Cathedral School and North Sydney Girls High School. This event grows each year, as does the number of trained teachers using Philosophy in Schools pedagogy in NSW classrooms. 

The event consists of students engaging in three collaborative philosophical discussions known as Communities of Inquiry (COI). By engaging in philosophical inquiry with peers, students enhance their critical thinking skills, employ their capacity for reasoned argumentation, and broaden their understanding of diverse perspectives. Each COI will be assessed by trained judges, and prizes (generously donated by NewPhilosopher) will be offered to the top three scoring teams and also to the top three individuals overall. 
Here is the stimulus material for the 2024 event; it was included in the most recent newsletter for members of the Association.

The event open to all and is free of charge to schools who are members of PinS NSW (contact the Ass'n for access to these tickets). In 2024, schools may enter one or two teams, each consisting of four students: aged 14, 15, 16 and open. In order to provide a robust judging panel (to ensure a successful and fulfilling experience for all students), each participating school must provide a PinS NSW-certified facilitator/judge.

Teams must be registered by latest 5 July. 

Professional Learning for Facilitation:

-The two day workshop "Introduction to Philosophical Community of Inquiry Workshop" is run several times each year: https://events.humanitix.com/introduction-to-philosophical-community-of-inquiry-workshop 

Professional Learning for Assessment: Benchmarking for judges

- From 2024, we require that each teacher join our judging panel to co-judge the COIs. Benchmarking training is available through the association two times in 2024. The first opportunity will be the workshop on 22 March 2024 to which members of the Association can gain access to discounted tickets. Contact the Association for your discount code and book here - Engaging Questions 2024: Assessment of Philosophical Community of Inquiry | Humanitix

The benchmarking course will be held another date evening date TBC, if required. Further details about evening version of the benchmarking course can be found here: https://www.philosophyinschool... This course has been judged to be fantastic PL to support the use of community of inquiry as part of formal assessment in the Stage 5 and Stage 6 Philosophy courses. To express your interest in this workshop, please email philosophyinschoolsnsw@gmail.com before 1 June 2024, and training will be organised to take place in the second half of Term 2.

Special considerations

Each year one or more independent (non-school) teams may be permitted to participate, by exception. In order to accommodate the additional students in the competition, the host school must agree to supply a teacher/judge for the independent team(s), and parental permission must be granted. To express interest for 2024, please contact philosophyinschoolsnsw@gmail.com

Some bursaries are available to enable students from all backgrounds to be able to participate. To inquire, please email the Philosothon administrative assistant on ksvircev@newington.nsw.edu.au 

If your school is interested to participate but don't meet the above criteria, or if you have any other questions relating to the event, please email the Philosothon administrative assistant on ksvircev@newington.nsw.edu.au