Critical thinking from the perspective of university teachers

Abstract

Since the development of competency-based learning, there has been a great interest in critical thinking in higher education. Furthermore, enterprises have seen this competence as essential for professional development in an innovative environment. Several authors have studied its concepts and processes as a key element in education and in training. This article is a study about how university teachers understand critical thinking as well as the importance given to this competence. The research, both quantitative and qualitative with 230 teachers involved, shows interesting results, as the majority of teachers link this competence to processes of analysis and reasoning and some to questioning, evaluation, and decision making, but very few understand it as action and commitment. Nevertheless, all of these aspects are very important aspects of university education. Moreover, these results have far-reaching implications for the teaching-learning of critical thinking in higher education.