Dustin Webster

Co-director, Penn P4Y

Dustin has long been interested in engaging in philosophy with children and adolescents. He is a strong proponent of how valuable and fulfilling philosophy outside of the academy can be for both young students and teachers alike. His background includes work in a variety of K-12 educational roles and contexts including in after school programs (where he first began doing philosophy with elementary students), as an English teacher in South Korea, and as a 5th grade teacher of students with learning disabilities. Dustin has been trained by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children in the Lipman-Sharp Community of Inquiry method of philosophy for children. In addition to philosophy for children and pre-college philosophy, Dustin's research interests include normative evaluations of using education for social mobility, the relationship of education to work, character and virtue education, and educational ethics. Dustin has a PhD in the Philosophy of Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His work has appeared in journals such as Educational Theory, Theory and Research in Education, and The Journal of Social Philosophy.