Abstract – teaching critical and creative thinking skills in primary education - teacher trainer and trainee perspectives

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, in an increasingly complex world children need to develop higher level thinking skills in order to find solutions to social, emotional and economic problems, both personally and in the context of the wider world (OECD, 2008).
The need to teach creative and critical thinking skills was made explicit in the National Curriculum for England and Wales (DFEE, 1999), and although less obvious in the new National Curriculum coming into force from September 2014, teachers will be required to continue to embed these cognitive skills, as they remain implicit in the Programmes of Study (DfE, 2013).
While research offers evidence that thinking skills programmes and approaches improve children’s learning and their performance on cognitive and curriculum tests in school settings (Higgins et al, 2005), there is agreement between education leaders and policymakers that the need for real-world, problem-solving requires education to emphasise critical thinking, and creativity.
This research focuses on the way in which teacher trainers prepare trainee teachers to incorporate thinking skills into the new curriculum. The research project integrates findings from a mixed method approach, using qualitative interviews and questionnaires, to analyze the perceived effectiveness of strategies being used within teacher training to promote thinking skills. Moreover, teachers’ perceptions of their understanding of creative and critical thinking skills, and how they are applied to primary practice are to be explored, to invite new critical reflection from other academics and practitioners in view of the new 2014 primary curriculum.