Abstract:

The level of critical thinking in a process of evaluating the problem from multiple points of view, collecting information, shaping one's own opinion and its subsequent argumentation is reflected in the daily activities of our professional and personal life and undoubtedly influences its quality. In Western countries, the development of critical thinking is a traditional part of educational objectives and teaching methods. In most Eastern European countries, the concept of critical thinking and its partial integration into teaching processes has been introduced in the mid-nineties. The recent researches in the Czech Republic show that despite the efforts to restructure and apply the activation methods of critical thinking into teaching, it has not been possible to revise the traditional concept of teacher as a mediator of information and the classical teaching methods continue to prevail. These findings lead us to analyse the critical thinking skills of students of the doctoral study program Education and its reflection in their teaching and learning process. The aim of this paper is to analyse how critical thinking as a forming factor influences the formation of the professional self-concept of students of the doctoral study program Education from selected Czech universities. What is the level of their critical thinking? Are these students future implementers of new approaches and methods in teaching? How do they develop their critical thinking skills? Critical thinking within the professional self-concept of students of the doctoral study program Education acts as one of the important formative factors affecting the self-concept, values and expectations on both the professional and personal levels.

Keywords:

Critical thinking skills, doctoral students, professional self-concept, professional value orientation.