Call for Papers from the Journal of Philosophy in Schools– From the campus to the classroom: university philosophy outreach programs

University philosophy outreach programs are proliferating. On campuses across the world, students and staff are taking philosophy out to the wider community, and especially to children and young people in schools. Their mission is to engage the public in philosophical discussion and to make a notoriously abstract and arcane subject accessible, meaningful and useful.

As yet, there is little published research on these programs. They give rise to two clusters of questions deserving of scholary attention. First, there are questions about the rationale for philosophy outreach. What is the purpose of taking philosophy into the community? What are the intended benefits of these programs, to the children and young people who participate in them, to the students and staff who lead them, to society at large, or to the discipline of philosophy itself? How do these aims inform the selection of philosophical topics, texts, tools and techniques? The second group of questions have to do with the success of philosophy outreach. What attempts have been made to evaluate these programs and their outcomes? Do they, in fact, yield the benefits intended by those who design and deliver them? Are there any drawbacks to participation, or benefits other than the intended ones? What challenges (financial, institutional, pedagogical, psychological) have been encountered by those engaged in philosophy outreach and how have they been overcome?

Papers are invited for a special issue of Journal of Philosophy in Schools (JPS) on university philosophy outreach programs. Papers may be theoretical or empirical and may focus on any of the questions suggested above. Prospective authors are welcome to contact the editors of the special issue – Michael Hand (m.hand@bham.ac.uk) and Jane Gatley (j.o.gatley@bham.ac.uk) – to discuss their ideas.

In the first instance, please submit an abstract (max 200 words), summarising your proposed paper, to m.hand@bham.ac.uk by 31 May 2022.

Full submissions will be due on 31 October 2022 and should conform to the usual JPS author guidelines (https://jps.bham.ac.uk/about/submissions/).

JPS is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access online journal hosted by the University of Birmingham UK and affiliated with the Federation of Asia-Pacific Philosophy in Schools Associations (FAPSA).