The need for critical thinking in plans for prison education
A letter from Roy van den Brink-Budgen was recently published in the ‘FE Focus’ section of the UK’s ‘Times Education Supplement‘. The letter was concerned with the plan to link the funding of prison education to what happens to its students when they leave prison. The letter argues that the plan has many problems and […]
Critical Thinking to be taught at the New College of Humanities
The planned new university – the New College of Humanities (NCH) – has been greatly in the news recently. The man most associated with NCH is A.C. Grayling, the eminent philosopher. It is highly gratifying that one of the things that he reports as being essential for students of this new university is critical thinking. […]
Well-known publisher sees Critical Thinking as central to society
In a recent interview in the ‘Financial Times’, Sara Miller McCune, the co-founder (with her husband) of the renowned publishing group Sage, has stressed the central value of being able to think critically. As she says, ‘I don’t see how either an individual or society can flourish without education: without learning to think critically and […]
Critical Thinking as the study of the significance of claims
Critical Thinking is the skill of examining the possible significance of claims (statistical claims, historical claims, other evidence-claims, predictions, recommendations, and principles). In this connection, it’s worth noting two points made many hundreds of years apart but which fit well with this central feature of Critical Thinking. The first is from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus […]
Critical Thinking primary school pilot materials
Feedback is starting to come in from primary schools who are trialling the pilot Critical Thinking materials that we have developed. Further feedback is expected by the middle of April. The comments we’re getting will enable us to produce the full version of the course which we plan to make available later this year.
Children’s need for critical thinking
In Richard Watson’s new book ‘Future Minds’, he raises all sorts of questions about the way in which our digitised world reduces the use children make of skills in thinking. He also extends this point to the issue of what is taught in schools, worrying that ‘we have created a society in which schools teach […]
Critical Thinking as a necessary skill
In the UK’s ‘Times Education Supplement’ of 18 February, an article by Dale Bassett of the think-tank ‘Reform’ looks at the issue of what should be taught for the country’s ’21st-century society and economy’. Bassett stresses that ‘Problem solving, critical thinking, data manipulation and analysis, the structuring of an argument’ are ‘transferable, high-level cognitive skills […]
Letter on Critical Thinking in the TES
A letter from Roy van den Brink-Budgen on the subject of Critical Thinking in Hong Kong and Singapore was published in the UK ‘Times Education Supplement’ of 11 February. It points out that these countries are increasingly emphasising critical (including creative) thinking in their curriculums. The value of Critical Thinking is seen in the way […]
Critical Thinking in Hong Kong
In the UK’s ‘Times Education Supplement’ of 28 January, there is an article on education in Hong Kong. This country’s remarkably high performance in the international education league table (the PISA ranking) is explained by Kenneth Chen, the Under-Secretary for Education, in large part because of the emphasis on skills-teaching. He acknowledges that ‘content and […]
Critical Thinking needed in education
A recent book (‘Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities’) by the notable US philosopher Martha Nussbaum stresses that critical thinking should be central to education in democratic societies. Chapter 4 of her book deals with what she refers to as ‘the importance of argument’ in effective teaching. She writes about the value of […]