I always say, if academics lose critical thinking they lose everything. Critical analysis and critical thinking are the keys in higher education, in research and in the construction of new knowledge. This does not mean ignoring other elements as scholars and professionals including knowledge, skills, communication and professional behaviour. Professional behaviour, emotional intelligence together with critical thinking should go hand in hand to maximize teaching and learning of our students.

Hi! I think many teachers who also are researchers, are very soundly and actively critical within their own field of research. However, the same person as a teacher can just want to get the teaching work done following the course plan, and not use any time to train critical thinking for the students, or act in a critical and discussing way when teaching. I think that a critical discussion about the content of every single course should be in the course plans so it was not forgotten. Critical thinking is not something only for researchers.

The key to addressing and ultimately answering the question is operationalizing your definition of 'critical thinking.' There are nodes of research around the world shaping the meaning of what it means to 'critically thinking' across numerous contexts at different levels of cognitive development. I would recommend starting with a great piece done by Stassen, Herrington, and Henderson called 'Defining Thinking in Higher Education' (reference below) to clarify your precise meaning of 'critical thinking' and then use it as a lens to look at either teachers or educators at multiple educational levels; e.g., primary, secondary, vocational, technical, higher ed., etc. I also find it valuable to look at any phenomena from a psychometric perspective; who is currently measuring the phenomena, in this case 'critical thinking', the best. Usually the quick answer is ETS. I would look at Liu's et al. work (LINK: Article Assessing Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Current Sta...

Reference

Stassen, M. L., Herrington, A., and Henderson, L. Defining Thinking in Higher Education. In Miller, J. E. and Groccia, J. E., eds. To Improve the Academy, 30. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011.

Hope this is helpful in moving you forward.

Cheers,

Mike

Wonderful question and think the answer sometimes

In figuring out what questions to ask, it's really helpful to look at Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's begins with a knowledge-based question such as, "Who was the first president of the United States?" To answer that question simply requires knowledge.

Hello,

thank you for all your answers and valuable advice (including references). I am very much looking forward to exploring the question in greater depth.

Kind regards,

Jo