TEACHERS AND LECTURERS PREPAREDNESS TO TEACH THINKING SKILLS

The current educational emphasis on thinking skills, lifelong learning, innovation and enterprise implies the necessity for changes in teaching and assessment practices from traditional knowledge dissemination-orientation and paper-pencil tests in the classroom. This study examines one critical aspect of the new learning framework: the readiness of teachers and lecturers to teach and assess these new skills such as problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, judgment and decision-making, leadership, teamwork, communication and other effective habits of the mind. A sample of teacher-trainees in their final semester from various disciplines in the Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Program at the National Institute of Education/Nanyang Technological University (NIE/NTU), Singapore was involved in this study together with lecturers in a local University in Malaysia. They were required to answer a survey questionnaire, modified and adapted from a similar study undertaken in Japan (Wai & Hirakawa, 2001); focusing on problem-solving skills: thinking, judgment and expression. It was found that while teacher-trainees and lecturers generally agreed that these new skills are important, many are uncertain how to teach these skills in a systematic manner. Teachers and lecturers across all disciplines are confident in teaching "hard" skills such as data analysis and interpretation and logical writing. However, there are concerns on how to teach the "soft" skills such as identification of problems by oneself, application of knowledge and ways of thinking to a different area of study, judgment skills based on moral reasoning or social values, public speaking and assertiveness in interaction of ideas. In terms of evaluation of these skills among students, teacher-trainees and lecturers recognized the importance of multiple modes of assessments. Nevertheless, they foresee difficulty in assessing certain aspects of thinking and judgment skills. In conclusion, the study suggests that further training in the "soft" skills is appropriate as is adequate exposure to assessment issues surrounding alternative modes of assessment in the real-world, authentic context.