Critical skills for students: Curriculum and practice in South African higher education

Every year, a new cohort of students enters higher education in both public and private institutions. In South Africa, approximately one third will not complete their first-year or degrees due to academic, financial, or personal challenges. Some higher and further education staff see these first-year students as underprepared, irresponsible, or challenging to deal with. While some institutions commit to putting experienced educators in front of inexperienced students, some just seek available educators, who may be discipline specialists but are not always equipped with the relevant educational expertise to engage the most effectively with these students and induct them into higher education.

The author has been engaging with educators over the years, and has observed how certain patterns and challenges were repeated and conversations seemed to circle around the same issues and opinions. These were echoed in conversations with specialists at other institutions and in the literature. Most often, first-year students are positioned as deficient or attitudinally challenged. And yet, it emerged that competencies like being able to use a calculator, critical thinking, communicating well and the willingness to ask for help were differentiators in whether students persisted and succeeded or not.

In secondary education, when students pass a subject that requires a 50% (or lower) pass rate to enter higher education, the assessors are presenting a judgement that there is something in that subject that students do not know, and the ‘what’ part of the curriculum these students do not know differs from student to student. Yet the context of the first-year class often results in large groups, relatively standardised curricula and time challenged educators. Assumptions are made about what students know and should know.

Similar to the foundation phase of school, the first-year experience is critical to obtaining a higher education qualification and will shape students perceptions of their abilities, their potential and suitability for certain fields. Students make decisions about what to study and what to major in, based on their success or experiences in first year. For academics and sponsors, academic success at the end of the first year is a good predictor of success generally in higher education. The first-year results will open and close doorways in several subjects and the consequences may affect employability and futures.

Given this, and the intellectual challenges of higher education, it is no surprise that many regard critical thinking as essential to higher education success. Associated competencies from creative thinking to problem solving and even ‘common-sense’ are often cited in discussion about what students need to be able to do to succeed in higher education.

This book outlines the importance of critical thinking, based on growing research in what develops critical thinking and shows how educators should nurture the developing of critical thinking in their students both in higher education and other types of schooling.