Primary education in the European school system: promotion of critical thinking from curriculum design to classroom practice

Research in educational policy recognizes the importance of strengthening
children’s capacity to think critically in order to form critical citizens. In a context of schooling, this means teaching children to make judgements using fact-based knowledge and to adopt an open and inquiring mindset. To achieve these goals at policy level, a strong integration of critical thinking into the school curricula is necessary. However, this is rather limited in primary education practice nowadays.
Therefore, the first objective of this dissertation was to investigate how primary
school curriculums refer to the concept of critical thinking, and what characteristics, core skills and approaches to critical thinking are reflected in textbooks and syllabi. Official policy documents of the primary school curriculum and syllabi of the European Schools System were investigated. Consequently, the second objective in the subsequent studies was to examine primary school teachers’ perceptions and experiences of the concept of critical thinking in their classroom practice and professional background. The studies were conducted within the European Schools System in Belgium. The main results stress: (i) European Schools’ primary school curriculum offers support to critical thinking, although it should be implemented with all the core skills in a structured manner across the syllabi; (ii) the need to foster a studentcentred classroom environment is considered crucial to stimulate critical thinking by promoting active learning and allocating more responsibility to pupils; (iii) valuable teaching practices are used to stimulate critical thinking skills, making pupils aware of their learning processes; (iv) teachers have a good understanding of the concept of critical thinking based on their professional background, but there is still a need for additional practical support (e.g., guidelines, courses) for teacher professional development in this field.
Through this body of research, this thesis aims to contribute to defining critical
thinking in the context of curriculum design and the professional development of primary school teachers. The results provide insights for future practice and
research on innovative teaching methods to promote critical thinking in primary
education.