We need to think outside the box on education

THE critical and analytical thinking that employers want from workers is hard to measure. But responses of 12,700 third-level students in the first major survey of its kind go some way to analysing how much they are getting to use or develop such skills.

‘Higher-order thinking’ involves applying theories or concepts to practical problems or in new situations. The gap between first-year and final-year students in Ireland on higher-order thinking appears minor, as an index of how often such thinking is used rises from 57 to 61, respectively, between both groups against a benchmark of 100. But Irish Survey of Student Engagement (ISSE) project manager, Sean O’Reilly, says a small numerical difference can be significant.

“That increase for higher-order thinking, for example, is fractionally smaller in Australasia. But we need a couple of years of data to know exactly what it tells us in an Irish context,” he says.