Critical thinking skills and creativity have been lauded by many as key attributes sought from prospective employees for the future workplace in an ever changing world. Furthermore, a review of existing literature suggested the prevalence of critical thinking skills within design and technology (D&T) tasks. This study aimed to garner the…

This article examines the place of ijtihad in the British Religious Education curriculum. It argues that the concept should be taught to high school students earlier than A-Level. Knowledge of ijtihad enables students to understand diversity of thought and legal interpretation in Islam, and why different conclusions can be reached from the same or…

The gap between academic standards and expectations of British academics and those of international students has a direct impact on student success. And where this expectation gap is identified, the institutions have a responsibility to look to close it. Researchers identified more extensive areas of conflict such as learning styles,…

In the field of higher education, there are two dominant strands of interpretation of criticality, either as a decontextualized skill of logical reasoning, or a sense of action within larger contexts more than mere cognition. This research offers a reclaiming and reimagining of criticality in universities as an affective process, highlighting the…

Many teaching strategies exist to develop critical thinking with students. Art students engage with critical thinking in a "Connected Art" workshop, implemented in three diverse Higher Education (HE) learning environments. Participants are interdisciplinary adult learners in the UK, Germany and Spain. Using joint practice development,…

This study investigates the influence of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), specifically AI text generators (ChatGPT), on critical thinking skills in UK postgraduate business school students. Using Bloom's taxonomy as theoretical underpinning, we adopt a mixed-method research employing a sample of 107 participants to investigate both the…

Demonstrating the ability to think critically is a common requirement of Higher Education (HE) assessments, bridging disciplines and forming a significant part of the feedback given to students. Despite its prominence, more can be learned about how different learner modes influence the propensity to use critical thinking. This article reports on…

This paper reports on a project in which part-time doctoral researchers were engaged in a process of peer assessment and review, with a view to improving their critical writing skills. Our aim was to support the development of students' critical writing skills by involving them in giving and receiving formative, peer feedback over a sustained…

The aim of this research was to investigate the potential for issue-based civic education. Applying the concept of critical pedagogy to civic education, this article presents the findings of a study conducted in a primary school class in a socio-economically deprived area of the United Kingdom. The analysis of interview and focus group,…

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a cross-cultural assessment of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) instrument [Arbaugh, J. B., Cleveland-Innes, M., Diaz, S. R., Garrison, D. R., Ice, P., Richardson, J. C., & Swan, K. P. (2008). Developing a community of inquiry instrument: Testing a measure of the community of inquiry framework using a…

This paper outlines the outcomes from three rounds of action learning sets with a charity that supports vulnerable adults and those with learning disabilities in supported living and residential care. The action learning sets focused on safeguarding cases and how they had been managed by 11 leaders at various levels of the charity (the team). The…

Purpose: Focusing on the quality of teaching and learning, this study aims to explore the perceptions of accountancy students in two emerging UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of the quality of their learning experiences and the impact of these experiences on generic skills development. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire survey was…

The purpose of this article is to share ideas from "5x5x5=creativity," a research initiative established in Bath (UK) in 2000, with the aim of developing and embedding a creative and reflective pedagogy in schools and early years settings. "5x5x5=creativity" research, in partnership with schools, educators, artists, creative…

We report on a case study using Positioning Theory as the basis for the design of a course to support Chinese international master's students understand and apply critical thinking (CT) within the context of higher education (HE) in the United Kingdom. Our aim was to understand the extent to which students found this helpful in their understanding…

This article considers the potential ways for coaching and mentoring practices in higher education to support the development of learner autonomy, a key espoused aim of university education. I argue that coaching and mentoring can foster self-regulated learning, critical thinking, and goal-setting among students, empowering them to take greater…