Constructing Critical Thinking with Psychology Students in Higher Education: Opportunities and barriers

‘Critical thinking’ is a concept which has become widely discussed in debates around innovative learning and teaching in higher education. It has long been considered a valuable skill for students to develop. However, a closer examination of the use of the term reveals essentialised versions which are superficial. This paper will review theories which stem from critical psychology and will examine their value for teaching in psychology. It will then present examples of psychology teaching experiences which have attempted to incorporate these principles, reflecting on what can be achieved and on the barriers which make such practice difficult. The desire to develop ‘critical thinking’ skills in students of higher education is expressed by governments, academia and psychology alike. Increasingly, often in response to the labour market, governments advocate generic skills which all graduates should develop in degree courses. Critical thinking is positioned as one such desirable graduate attribute. In the UK for example, it first emerged as a generic skill in the Dearing Report (Dearing, 1997, Recommendation 21), and in Australia as a key graduate attribute in the Higher Education Council’s ‘Achieving Quality’ (Australian Government, 1992, p. 22). While the complexity of national skills or attributes has now increased, with universities taking up similar but varying forms of generic graduate outcomes, Constructing Critical Thinking with Psychology Students in Higher Education: Opportunities and barriers Rachael Fox