PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN ASSESSING CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITIONS OF PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS WORLDWIDE

One of the greatest concerns of scholars and educators since the time of Socrates, without any doubt, is critical thinking, which has long been accepted as the central outcome of education worldwide, especially of teacher education. Although scholars are in consensus about the importance of its inclusion and/or integration into education, there is no consensus on what it actually is, how it should be nurtured, and assessed. This was partially related to the varying norms and standards of different educational settings at different cultural groups of different geographical areas. However, the question of whether or not there is a universally accepted criterion for assessing critical thinking is still valid and needs to be answered. For this reason, this research paper suggests solutions for the problems with conceptualizing, nurturing and assessing critical thinking dispositions.