Development of criticality among undergraduates in two academic disciplines

Mitchell, Rosamond, Johnston, Brenda, Myles, Florence and Ford, Peter (2004) Development of criticality among undergraduates in two academic disciplines Southampton, UK. Economic and Social Research Council 18pp.

Abstract

Although ‘criticality’ and related concepts have long been recognised among the aims of higher education (e.g. Newman 1899/1996), the processes by which criticality is developed, and indeed the nature of the concept in the contemporary university, have been subject to little empirical study. Discussion about criticality has existed uneasily within a debate about the purposes of higher education (for example, how does it relate to the university’s role as provider of specific skills directly usable in employment, or as developer of general intellectual skills which can be used later in different contexts, or as the source of an environment in which personal and cultural development can take place?). Despite some careful analyses of aspects of the critical process, or of the goals of critical education (e.g. Barnett’s 1997 theorisation of criticality; Bailin et al.’s 1999 theorisation of resources needed for critical thinking to take place), practice in universities across a range of disciplines and levels has not been analysed in any detail.

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Contributors

Author: Rosamond Mitchell

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