Resource
P4C: The Fairest Queen of All
Created by
This brilliant fictional story from The Philosophy Man tells the tale of a Queen who tries to ensure that the law is fair to all her people. She experiments with different approaches, such as making all wages the same and making all houses equal in size. Each time she is met with negative reactions and so tries to make the laws fairer. The story brings up global themes including:
- The distribution of wealth
- The rule of law
- Inequality
- Power
- Democracy
- Fairness
The resource includes supporting notes, suggestions for how to use this story as a literacy stimulus for Talk for Writing and a supporting story which also covers themes of equality and diversity. It works effectively as a stimulus for a Philosophy for Children (P4C) enquiry or as a piece to base creative writing around in English. The simplicity and flexibility of the story mean it is effective with upper KS1, KS2 and KS3 pupils, as the themes can be explored in varying degrees of detail. With older children, a consideration of the story could also be followed up with an exploration of different global governing styles or political systems, in order to contextualise the discussion.
Topics
Arts, Culture and Religion, Compassionate Values
Age Ranges
KS1: ages 5-7, KS2: ages 7-11, KS3: ages 11-14
Subjects
Citizenship, English / literacy, Philosophy / P4C / Critical thinking, Politics
