Critical thinking: are the ideals of OBE failing us or are we failing the ideals of OBE?

Abstract

One of the cornerstones of the Outcomes-based approach adopted by the South African education and training sector is the so-called Critical Outcomes. Included as one of these outcomes is the ability of learners to identify and solve problems, using creative and critical thinking. Underpinned by the Critical Outcomes, Outcomes-based Education (OBE) was introduced in South African schools in 1997. It can therefore be argued that the critical thinking abilities of the cohort of first-year students who entered higher education institutions in 2006 were challenged somewhere in their school careers. Based on this assumption, a group of first-year education students were required to complete the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA) to gauge their critical thinking abilities. The results obtained by this means are discussed and some suggestions made to address the way forward with regard to development of learners' critical thinking abilities.