INTERPRETATION OF CRITICAL THINKING CONCEPT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: THE LITHUANIAN EXPERIENCE

Critical thinking (CT) is considered one of the most important skills which determine the wellbeing of a person and of the society. Irrespectively of its relevance, there is no solid agreement what shall be considered CT. There are different opinions about the expression of CT abilities in various practical situations and spheres of social life. By the research it has been established that universities provide broad education, but the skills like critical thinking, communication are the most desired ones by employers. (Petrauskienė,2016). Critical thinking became one of the concepts defining Western universities (Barnet, 1997). Even 95 per cent of the managing academic staff of the USA higher schools believe that critical thinking is one of the most significant results for the graduates of their institutions (AAC&U, 2011).

Development of critical thinking is declared in many training programs, study subjects and teaching methods. Though a broad agreement on the importance of CT does exist, in the scientific literature it is often stated that the teachers do not always realise the meaning of the concept (Moore, 2013). When analysing interpretations of the concept of critical thinking it is important to identify the elements of the concept of critical thinking and the results of it are emphasized in different fields of science or in different areas of professional activities (Heijltjes; Van Gog; Leppink, & Paas 2015). Critical thinking may be defined as the general competence, non-dependent on a specific discipline, and as a specific competence - linked to a specific area of activity (Hathcoat, Penn, Barnes, & Comer, 2016).

The purpose of the study and of the paper is to identify the scale on which the concept of CT is expressed in the study programs of the Lithuanian higher schools. The analysis was performed ensuring the variety of the directions of studies of the higher schools (mathematics, informatics, natural, life, engineering, technologies, health, veterinary, agriculture, social, law, business and public management, education, arts and sports). From each study direction 3-4 studies were selected (736 study programs were analysed). The data for the analysis of study programs were selected by the method of documents analysis – the descriptions of study programs were analysed focusing on the attention paid to the development of CT and the methods of training (self-training) of such development.