Desiree' Eva Moodley

Desde 1994 Sudáfrica, una democracia en desarrollo, se esfuerza por mejorar la calidad de su educación. La delincuencia, la pobreza y el desempleo, entre otros males socioeconómicos, empañan la calidad de vida. Aunque la política y la economía han impulsado la política educativa y la transformación de los planes de estudio, en la práctica son simbólicas. La pedagogía del pensamiento crítico hace hincapié en la importancia de desarrollar y habilitar la conciencia crítica para una vida de calidad y una ciudadanía sana. Aunque compleja por naturaleza, la pedagogía del pensamiento crítico se considera un enfoque dialógico basado en la investigación y centrado en el alumno. La contextualización de las prácticas pedagógicas del pensamiento crítico integradas en la teoría necesaria para el cambio sostenible y la transformación continua tiene que ver con la educación de calidad, especialmente en la enseñanza superior sudafricana. En consonancia con la exigencia de una educación de calidad por parte de las organizaciones no gubernamentales locales e instituciones internacionales como las Naciones Unidas, este documento pretende contextualizar la pedagogía del pensamiento crítico como un enfoque a través de la cultura de la colaboración y la investigación en la formación del profesorado sudafricano. El documento propone una inclusión explícita de la pedagogía del pensamiento crítico en la formación del profesorado en las instituciones sudafricanas de educación superior. El marco de la Filosofía para Niños de Lipman se ofrece como medio para adoptar un enfoque pedagógico basado en el contexto, la colaboración y la narración de historias, centrado en la justicia, el respeto y la dignidad, sensible a la aplicación local y universal, que podría abordar la educación de calidad.

Higher education institutions play a pivotal role in knowledge creation and distribution. Teacher education is at the forefront of this engagement. The role of teacher educators is significant in engaging teacher knowledge for shaping and informing ways of being and doing in the world. In recent years higher education has undergone considerable transformation. In South Africa there is a call for real-world transformation in pedagogical practices to address academic, socio-economic, and cultural inclusion and emancipation. As a human right for enabling student voices, a key issue for engaging relevant and fair pedagogical practices is critical thinking. Critical thinking is a rich concept and an attribute of consciousness required in all human activity. It is exercised through sound reasoning and dialogue. Critical thinking is also associated with understanding and engaging deep issues of socio–cultural and political domains of power and justice. However, engaging and enabling critical thinking pedagogy in education is complex and contradictory in nature. Conceptualizing critical thinking is expedient as an initial stage. The objective of this article, part of a larger study, is to provide a conceptualisation of critical thinking pedagogy toward addressing: In what ways is critical thinking pedagogy engaged in South African teacher education? Here, this article aims to address the question: what is critical thinking and critical thinking pedagogy? Methodologically, an interdisciplinary psycho–social philosophic educational documentary design is employed based on a selection of key critical thinking proponents. It further presents a conceptualisation of critical thinking pedagogy underpinned in critical theory especially those of Freire and Foucault. This article aims to spotlight the need for engaging critical thinking through a conceptualisation of critical thinking pedagogy in teacher education required for addressing new ways of teaching today.

Doing philosophy for/with children and exposing students to multiple perspectives, exemplified within the Austrian Centre of Philosophy with Children’s implementation project of the Philosophical Enquiry Advancing Cosmopolitan Engagement (PEACE) curriculum in schooling, may offer a valuable written, taught, and tested curriculum for democratic citizenry. This paper provides an analysis that seeks to present, describe, critique, and make recommendations on the PEACE curriculum. The paper asks the question: In what ways does the Philosophical Enquiry Advancing Cosmopolitan Engagement as a 21st century curriculum address education for democratic citizenry? In this evaluation the ways in which issues of culture and identity, human rights and democracy are perceived and addressed, along with issues of critical thinking and reasoning in verbal and non-verbal language are attended. Concepts of collaboration, cooperation, teacher support and development are also critiqued. This critique is based on a ten-day Austrian Center of Philosophy with Children conference and training course on the PEACE curriculum, and consists of open-ended interviews, personal observations, and published reports on pre- and post-test results of the PEACE curriculum. Exploring the integration of the Austrian Center of Philosophy with Children PEACE curriculum and the Philosophy for/with Children methodology, this paper utilizes Hansen’s (1995) five principles for guiding curriculum development practice as a framework for analysis. It is hoped that findings and recommendations from this study may stir further exploration and contribute to the work of Philosophy for/with Children in democratic education for 21st century citizenry worldwide.