An article on the Guardian ‘Comment is Free’ website responds to the AQA exam board’s proposals for a new A-level philosophy specification. Under the title ‘Philosophy is not religion. It must not be taught that way’ Charlie Duncan Saffrey raises major problems with the changes.  I agree with the thrust of his argument which is the need to distinguish philosophy at A-level. The author has taught the current specification and values its breadth and depth of engagement with philosophy...

The British Philosophical Association has posted a statement on its website concerning the proposed changes to the AQA A-level Philosophy specification.  In my last post I criticised the proposals for the restrictions they place on the areas of philosophy that can be studied and their similarity to the religious studies A-levels.  The BPA offer a defence of the proposed changes which refers to urgent problems with the current specification.

Many concerns have been raised about the clarity of...

The mailing list Philos-l brings alarming news about The Future of A-level Philosophy.  In a previous post I sought to defend this qualification and to question the increasing move towards the philosophical aspects of the religious studies A-level in school sixth forms.  Rather than going into either subject in sufficient depth and breadth there is a tendency to focus on the areas these two subjects have in common.  Now AQA are planning changes to A-level philosophy which bring it much closer...

Lately I have been considering the current state of the teaching of philosophy at A-level.  There is a philosophy A-level offered by AQA.  This is an excellent course because it requires students to develop significant subject knowledge and to tackle core problems in philosophy.  However, increasingly schools are offering the subject of ‘philosophy and ethics’ at A-level when this refers to certain modules on the various A-levels in religious studies offered by OCR, AQA and Edexcel.

My...

An article on the Guardian ‘Comment is Free’ website responds to the AQA exam board’s proposals for a new A-level philosophy specification. Under the title ‘Philosophy is not religion. It must not be taught that way’ Charlie Duncan Saffrey raises major problems with the changes.  I agree with the thrust of his argument which is the need to distinguish philosophy at A-level. The author has taught the current specification and values its breadth and depth of engagement with philosophy...

The British Philosophical Association has posted a statement on its website concerning the proposed changes to the AQA A-level Philosophy specification.  In my last post I criticised the proposals for the restrictions they place on the areas of philosophy that can be studied and their similarity to the religious studies A-levels.  The BPA offer a defence of the proposed changes which refers to urgent problems with the current specification.

Many concerns have been raised about the clarity of...

The mailing list Philos-l brings alarming news about The Future of A-level Philosophy.  In a previous post I sought to defend this qualification and to question the increasing move towards the philosophical aspects of the religious studies A-level in school sixth forms.  Rather than going into either subject in sufficient depth and breadth there is a tendency to focus on the areas these two subjects have in common.  Now AQA are planning changes to A-level philosophy which bring it much closer...

Lately I have been considering the current state of the teaching of philosophy at A-level.  There is a philosophy A-level offered by AQA.  This is an excellent course because it requires students to develop significant subject knowledge and to tackle core problems in philosophy.  However, increasingly schools are offering the subject of ‘philosophy and ethics’ at A-level when this refers to certain modules on the various A-levels in religious studies offered by OCR, AQA and Edexcel.

My...