Abstract:

Vocational Education and Training (VET) primarily emphasizes practical skill acquisition, simulating work environments to acquire vocational competencies tailored to labor market demands (Rönnlund et al., 2019; Sanderse, 2021). Recent discourse, however, highlights the growing significance of cultivating 21st-century competencies and higher-order thinking skills, particularly emphasizing the critical thinking development among VET students (Suarniati, Hidayah, Handarini, 2018; Pamungkas and Suharno, 2019; Zuurmond et al, 2023). However, literature identifies two primary challenges in reaching this goal. Firstly, discussions on enhancing critical thinking in vocational schools often revolve around improving students' functionality in the global economy. Specifically, this emphasis predominantly shapes efficient workers without encouraging questioning of the status quo or critical reflection on professional or employer norms and standards. Instead, it gears students towards shaping their careers and active societal engagement (Sanderse, 2021; Zuurmond, Guerin, van der Ploeg, and van Riet, 2023). Secondly, due to a lack of concrete approaches or even guidelines for addressing critical thinking development in VET, the onus is on teachers to foster these skills (Tommasi et al., 2023).

In line with these challenges, this paper aims to propose a theoretical model of teaching for critical thinking in VET derived from the generic model of teaching for critical thinking proposed by author Buchberger (2020, 2022, 2023). This model considers critical thinking as a complex competence encompassing knowledge, skills, and values from a pedagogical perspective.

The generic model of teaching for critical thinking delineates into the following dimensions:
(1) learning outcomes oriented towards critical thinking development,
(2) a critical approach to teaching content,
(3) active teaching methods,
(4) active evaluation methods,
(5) critical action, and
(6) a democratic teaching atmosphere.

This presentation illustrates how these dimensions have been tailored to the specifics of VET, intending for this model to serve as a foundational guide for the acquisition and development of critical thinking competence within vocational subjects in vocational schools.

Keywords:

Vocational education and training, critical thinking, teaching for critical thinking, vocational teachers.