Creativity and critical thinking and what it means for schools

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

  • Ravi Gurumurthy

About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

Joysy John

Director of Education

Joysy was the Director of Education and led Nesta's work in education across innovation programmes, research and investment.

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

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Creativity is one of the most critical skills for the future. Without creativity, there would be no innovation. However, there is mixed evidence on how to develop it and whether it is transferable. OECD has done research with schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial resources to develop creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education. At Nesta, we’d like to see the UK do more to engage with this community of innovative practice, and test the most promising solutions developed in other contexts.

An OECD event 24-25 September , where Nesta Chief Executive Geoff Mulgan was invited to speak, helped to share emerging answers to the question “How can creative thinking across all disciplines including the arts, sciences and humanities be supported by the current education system?”. There were lots of examples on how to foster and assess creativity and critical thinking. The upcoming Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2021 will have a creativity assessment.

Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at OECD said, “Memorisation is less useful as problems become more difficult.” In the data that he showed, in many countries, there seems to be a significant gap between what teachers report to be desirable pedagogies and what actually happens in classrooms. What was surprising was that UK has highest level of prevalence of memorisation in classrooms.

“The dilemma for educators is that routine academic knowledge (the skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test) are exactly the skills that are also easiest to digitise" Andreas Schleicher

“The dilemma for educators is that routine academic knowledge (the skills that are easiest to teach and easiest to test) are exactly the skills that are also easiest to digitise, automate and outsource. However, educational success is no longer about reproducing content knowledge, but about extrapolating from what we know and applying that knowledge creatively in novel situations, and about thinking across the boundaries of subject-matter disciplines.”

Creativity is not solely related to arts and culture. There is also the development of cross-disciplinary creative thinking skills (e.g. coming up with original & creative ideas in science). There is evidence that these skills give us an edge in a world driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and new technologies. We know that creative thinking is not sufficiently supported within the current curriculum in England. Sir Nicholas Serota, chair of Arts Council England spoke about the upcoming Durham Commision report. He mentioned the Manifesto for a Creative Britain created by young people back in 2008 but not a single recommendation has been implemented by the government.

Much of the development in this space is being driven on the international stage and by countries like the US and Australia. Promisingly, the Welsh government has included a focus on ‘creativity and innovation’ within its new curriculum. We would like to see similar changes in England.

How Nesta is moving the agenda forward

At Nesta, part of our work in Education is based on the belief that young people need a broader education so that everyone thrives in a fast changing world.

More recently we have been asking ourselves - what will be the long-term impact of the decline of arts in schools? Are creative careers and pursuits increasingly elitist? How will AI challenge our preconceptions around human creativity? How do we turn the tide and bridge the growing ‘creativity divide’?

Nesta’s research shows that creativity will become even more important to the growth of jobs between now and 2030. Based on analysis of 35 million job adverts, research from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre found that creative industries don’t have a monopoly on creativity.

We must use and apply this labour market research to education. What transferable skills are employers looking for and what are the most effective ways of giving young people the creative skills needed to thrive now and in the future .

We will be developing new partnerships and programmes to support this work. To date, we have researched and supported wider skills linked to creativity, including collaborative problem solving , social and emotional skills.

We are bringing business and education together to create new opportunities for learners. We are supporting innovative approaches to providing multidisciplinary, real-world learning and collaborative problem solving opportunities to young people. Some examples of work that we are doing include:

  • Maths Mission - working with Tata on the Cracking the Code challenge, where we have made links between problem-solving, maths and creativity. Secondary school students work in teams to design a maths game and present their idea combining maths, creativity and communication skills.
  • Longitude Explorer Prize - working on building AI skills, entrepreneurial and innovation skills in 11-16 year olds by getting them to solve problems they care about. This is in partnership with businesses and government to build future talent pipeline.
  • Future Ready Fund - supporting ten high-potential approaches to developing social and emotional skills in young people. We contributed to the manifesto on social and emotional skills and the setup of Karanga , a global alliance for social emotional learning and life skills.

With the Durham Commission launching their long-awaited report next month, we believe there is an opportunity to build a revitalised coalition and consensus on the importance of creativity - and move from talk to action. We will be developing new partnerships and programmes supporting high-potential approaches, building on our expertise in both the creative economy and education.

Despite recognition of the importance of these skills, funding, policy and provision in the UK has not yet caught up. We are commissioning new research on social and emotional skills to develop an understanding of ‘what works’ in building these skills, and we're exploring new approaches to bridge the gap between labour market demand and supply of skills . We are also funding low-cost, high-quality interventions which will support provision in schools.

We invite you to help us build the evidence for what works in developing creative skills that improve life outcomes, and campaign for reimagining education. Please get in touch at [email protected]

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Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Assessment, Certification, and Promotion of 21st Century Skills for the Future of Work and Education

Branden thornhill-miller.

1 Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK

2 International Institute for Competency Development, 75001 Paris, France

Anaëlle Camarda

3 LaPEA, Université Paris Cité and Univ Gustave Eiffel, 92100 Boulogne-Billancourt, France

4 Institut Supérieur Maria Montessori, 94130 Nogent-Sur-Marne, France

Maxence Mercier

Jean-marie burkhardt.

5 LaPEA, Univ Gustave Eiffel and Université Paris Cité, CEDEX, 78008 Versailles, France

Tiffany Morisseau

6 Strane Innovation, 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Samira Bourgeois-Bougrine

Florent vinchon, stephanie el hayek.

7 AFNOR International, 93210 Saint-Denis, France

Myriam Augereau-Landais

Florence mourey, cyrille feybesse.

8 Centre Hospitalier Guillaume Regnier, Université de Rennes 1, 35200 Rennes, France

Daniel Sundquist

Todd lubart, associated data.

Not Applicable.

This article addresses educational challenges posed by the future of work, examining “21st century skills”, their conception, assessment, and valorization. It focuses in particular on key soft skill competencies known as the “4Cs”: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. In a section on each C, we provide an overview of assessment at the level of individual performance, before focusing on the less common assessment of systemic support for the development of the 4Cs that can be measured at the institutional level (i.e., in schools, universities, professional training programs, etc.). We then present the process of official assessment and certification known as “labelization”, suggesting it as a solution both for establishing a publicly trusted assessment of the 4Cs and for promoting their cultural valorization. Next, two variations of the “International Institute for Competency Development’s 21st Century Skills Framework” are presented. The first of these comprehensive systems allows for the assessment and labelization of the extent to which development of the 4Cs is supported by a formal educational program or institution. The second assesses informal educational or training experiences, such as playing a game. We discuss the overlap between the 4Cs and the challenges of teaching and institutionalizing them, both of which may be assisted by adopting a dynamic interactionist model of the 4Cs—playfully entitled “Crea-Critical-Collab-ication”—for pedagogical and policy-promotion purposes. We conclude by briefly discussing opportunities presented by future research and new technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

1. Introduction

There are many ways of describing the massive educational challenges faced in the 21st century. With the appearance of computers and digital technologies, new means of interacting between people, and a growing competitiveness on the international level, organizations are now requiring new skills from their employees, leaving educational systems struggling to provide appropriate ongoing training. Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2020 “Future of Jobs Report”, studying 15 industries in 26 advanced and emerging countries, up to 50% of employees will need some degree of “reskilling” by 2025 ( World Economic Forum 2020 ). Although many national and international educational efforts and institutions now explicitly put the cultivation of new kinds of skills on their educational agendas, practical means of assessing such skills remains underdeveloped, thus hampering the valorization of these skills and the development of guidance for relevant pedagogy ( Care et al. 2018 ; Vincent-Lancrin et al. 2019 ; for overviews and discussion of higher education in global developmental context, see Blessinger and Anchan 2015 ; Salmi 2017 ).

This article addresses some of these challenges and related issues for the future of education and work, by focusing on so-called “21st Century Skills” and key “soft skills” known as the “4Cs” (creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration), more particularly. It begins with a brief discussion of these skills, outlining their conceptual locations and potential roles in the modern educational context. A section on each “C” then follows, defining the C, summarizing research and methods for its scientific assessment at the individual level, and then outlining some means and avenues at the systemic level for fostering its development (e.g., important aspects of curriculum, institutional structure, or of the general environment, as well as pedagogical methods) that might be leveraged by an institution or program in order to promote the development of that C among its students/trainees. In the next section, the certification-like process of “labelization” is outlined and proposed as one of the best available solutions both for valorizing the 4Cs and moving them towards the center of the modern educational enterprise, as well as for benchmarking and monitoring institutions’ progress in fostering their development. The International Institute for Competency Development’s 4Cs Framework is then outlined as an example of such a comprehensive system for assessing and labelizing the extent to which educational institutions and programs support the development of the 4Cs. We further demonstrate the possibility of labelizing and promoting support for the development of the 4Cs by activities or within less formal educational settings, presenting a second framework for assessment of the 4Cs in games and similar training activities. Our discussion section begins with the challenges to implementing educational change in the direction of 21st century skills, focusing on the complex and overlapping nature of the 4Cs. Here, we propose that promoting a “Dynamic Interactionist Model of the 4Cs” not only justifies grouping them together, but it might also assist more directly with some of the challenges of pedagogy, assessment, policy promotion, and ultimately, institutionalization, faced by the 4Cs and related efforts to modernize education. We conclude by suggesting some important future work for the 4Cs individually and also as an interrelated collective of vital skills for the future of education and work.

“21st Century Skills”, “Soft Skills”, and the “4Cs”

For 40 years, so-called “21st century skills” have been promoted as those necessary for success in a modern work environment that the US Army War College ( Barber 1992 ) has accurately described as increasingly “VUCA”—“volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous”. Various lists of skills and competencies have been formulated on their own or as part of comprehensive overarching educational frameworks. Although a detailed overview of this background material is outside the scope of this article (see Lamri et al. 2022 ; Lucas 2022 for summaries), one of the first prominent examples of this trend was the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), whose comprehensive “Framework for 21st Century Learning” is presented in Figure 1 ( Battelle for Kids 2022 ). This framework for future-oriented education originated the idea of the “4Cs”, placing them at its center and apex as “Learning and Innovation Skills” that are in need of much broader institutional support at the foundational level in the form of new standards and assessments, curriculum and instructional development, ongoing professional development, and appropriately improved learning environments ( Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2008 ). These points are also consistent with the approach and assessment frameworks presented later in this article.

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Object name is jintelligence-11-00054-g001.jpg

The P21 Framework for 21st Century Learning. (© 2019, Battelle for Kids. All Rights Reserved. https://www.battelleforkids.org/ ; accessed on 17 January 2023).

Other important organizations such as the World Economic Forum ( 2015 ) have produced similar overarching models of “21st century skills’’ with the 4Cs at their center, but the term “21st century skills’’ has been rightly criticized for a several reasons: the skills referred to are not actually all unique to, or uniquely important to, the 21st century, and it is a term that is often used more as an advertising or promotional label for systems that sometimes conflate and confuse different kinds of skills with other concepts that users lump together ( Lucas 2019 ). Indeed, though there is no absolute consensus on the definition of a “skill”, they are often described as being multidimensional and involve the ability to solve problems in context and to perform tasks using appropriate resources at the right time and in the right combination ( Lamri and Lubart 2021 ). At its simplest, a skill is a “learned capacity to do something useful” ( Lucas and Claxton 2009 ), or an ability to perform a given task at a specified performance level, which develops through practice, experience. and training ( Lamri et al. 2022 ).

The idea of what skills “are’’, however, has also evolved to some extent over time in parallel to the nature of the abilities required to make valued contributions to society. The digital and information age, in particular, has seen the replacement by machines of much traditional work sometimes referred to as “hard skills’’—skills such as numerical calculation or driving, budget-formulating, or copyediting abilities, which entail mastery of fixed sets of knowledge and know-how of standard procedures, and which are often learned on the job. Such skills are more routine, machine-related, or technically oriented and not as likely to be centered on human interaction. In contrast, the work that has been increasingly valued in the 21st century involves the more complex, human interactive, and/or non-routine skills that Whitmore ( 1972 ) first referred to as “soft skills”.

Unfortunately, researchers, educators, and consultants have defined, redefined, regrouped, and expanded soft skills—sometimes labeling them “transversal competencies”, “generic competencies”, or even “life skills” in addition to “21st century skills”—in so many different ways within and across different domains of research and education (as well as languages and national educational systems) that much progress towards these goals has literally been “lost in translation” ( Cinque 2016 ).

Indeed, there is also a long-standing ambiguity and confusion between the terms “competency” (also competence) and “skill” due to their use across different domains (e.g., learning research, education, vocational training, personnel selection) as well as different epistemological backgrounds and cultural specificities ( Drisko 2014 ; Winterton et al. 2006 ; van Klink and Boon 2003 ). The term “competency” is, however, often used as a broader concept that encompasses skills, abilities, and attitudes, whereas, in a narrower sense, the term “skill” has been defined as “goal-directed, well-organized behavior that is acquired through practice and performed with economy of effort” ( Proctor and Dutta 1995, p. 18 ). For example, whereas the command of a spoken language or the ability to write are skills (hard skills, to be precise), the ability to communicate effectively is a competence that may draw on an individual’s knowledge of language, writing skills, practical IT skills, and emotional intelligence, as well as attitudes towards those with whom one is communicating ( Rychen and Hersch 2003 ). Providing high-quality customer service is a competency that relies on listening skills, social perception skills, and contextual knowledge of products. Beyond these potential distinctions, the term “competency” is predominant in Europe, whereas “skill” is more commonly used in the US. Yet it also frequently occurs that both are used as rough synonyms. For example, Voogt and Roblin ( 2012, p. 299 ) examine the “21st century competences and the recommended strategies for the implementation of these skills”, and Graesser et al. ( 2022, p. 568 ) state that twenty-first-century skills “include self-regulated learning, collaborative problem solving, communication (…) and other competencies”. In conclusion, the term “competencies” is often used interchangeably with “skills” (and can have a particularly large overlap with “soft skills”), but it is also often considered in a broader sense as a set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that, together, meet a complex demand ( Ananiadoui and Claro 2009 ). From this perspective, one could argue that the 4Cs, as complex, “higher-order” soft skills, might best be labeled competencies. For ease and convenience, however, in this text, we consider the two terms interchangeable but favor the term “skills”, only using “competency” in some instances to avoid cumbersome repetition.

Even having defined soft skills as a potentially more narrow and manageable focus, we are still aware of no large-scale study that has employed a comprehensive enough range of actual psychometric measures of soft skills in a manner that might help produce a definitive empirical taxonomy. Some more recent taxonomic efforts have, however, attempted to provide additional empirical grounding for the accurate identification of key soft skills (see e.g., Joie-La Marle et al. 2022 ). Further, recent research by JobTeaser (see Lamri et al. 2022 ) surveying a large, diverse sample of young workers about a comprehensive, systematic list of soft skills as actually used in their professional roles represents a good step towards some clarification and mapping of this domain on an empirical basis. Despite the fact that both these studies necessarily involved assumptions and interpretive grouping of variables, the presence and importance of the 4Cs as higher-order skills is evident in both sets of empirical results.

Various comprehensive “21st century skills” systems proposed in the past without much empirical verification also seem to have been found too complex and cumbersome for implementation. The 4Cs, on the other hand, seem to provide a relatively simple, persuasive, targetable core that has been found to constitute a pedagogically and policy-friendly model by major organizations, and that also now seems to be gaining some additional empirical validity. Gathering support from researchers and industry alike, we suggest that the 4Cs can be seen as highest-level transversal skills—or “meta-competencies”—that allow individuals to remain competent and to develop their potential in a rapidly changing professional world. Thus, in the end, they may also be one of the most useful ways of summarizing and addressing the critical challenges faced by the future of work and education ( National Education Association 2011 ).

Taking them as our focus, we note, however, that the teaching and development of the 4Cs will require a complex intervention and mobilization of educational and socio-economic resources—both a major shift in pedagogical techniques and even more fundamental changes in institutional structures ( Ananiadoui and Claro 2009 ). One very important issue for understanding the 4Cs and their educational implementation related to this, which can simultaneously facilitate their teaching but be a challenge for their assessment, is the multidimensionality, interrelatedness, and transdisciplinary relevance of the 4Cs. Thus, we address the relationships between the Cs in the different C sections and later in our Discussion, we present a “Dynamic Interactionist Model of the 4Cs’’ that we hope will assist in their understanding, in the further development of pedagogical processes related to them, and in their public promotion and related policy. Ultimately, it is partly due to their complexity and interrelationships, we argue, that it is important and expedient that the 4Cs are taught, assessed, and promoted together.

2. The 4Cs, Assessment, and Support for Development

2.1. creativity.

In psychology, creativity is usually defined as the capacity to produce novel, original work that fits with task constraints and has value in its context (for a recent overview, see Lubart and Thornhill-Miller 2019 ). This basic definition, though useful for testing and measurement, is largely incomplete, as it does not contain any information about the individual or groups doing the creating or the nature of physical and social contexts ( Glăveanu 2014 ). Moreover, Corazza ( 2016 ) challenged this standard definition of creativity, arguing that as it focuses solely on the existence of an original and effective outcome, it misses the dynamics of the creative process, which is frequently associated with periods of creative inconclusiveness and limited occasions of creative achievements. To move away from the limitations of the standard definition of creativity, we can consider Bruner’s description of creativity as “figuring out how to use what you already know in order to go beyond what you currently think” (p. 183 in Weick 1993 ). This description echoes the notion of potential, which refers to a latent state that may be put to use if a person has the opportunity.

Creativity is a multifaceted phenomenon that can be approached from many different angles. There are three main frameworks for creativity studies: the 4Ps ( Rhodes 1961 ), the 5As ( Glăveanu 2013 ), and the 7Cs model ( Lubart 2017 ). These frameworks share at least four fundamental and measurable dimensions: the act of creating (process), the outcome of the creative process (product), the characteristics of creative actor(s) enacting the process (person), and the social and physical environment that enable or hinder the creative process (press). Contrary to many traditional beliefs, however, creativity can be trained and taught in a variety of different ways, both through direct, active teaching of creativity concepts and techniques and through more passive and indirect means such as the development of creativity-supporting contexts ( Chiu 2015 ; Thornhill-Miller and Dupont 2016 ). Alongside intelligence, with which it shares some common mechanisms, creativity is now recognized as an indispensable element for the flexibility and adaptation of individuals in challenging situations ( Sternberg 1986 ).

2.1.1. Individual Assessment of Creativity

Drawing upon previous efforts to structure creativity research, Batey ( 2012 ) proposed a taxonomic framework for creativity measurement that takes the form of a three-dimensional matrix: (a) the level at which creativity may be measured (the individual, the team, the organization, and the culture), (b) the facets of creativity that may be assessed (person/trait, process, press, and product), and (c) the measurement approach (objective, self-rating, other ratings). It is beyond the scope of this article to offer a literature review of all these dimensions, but for the purposes of this paper, we address some important aspects of individual-level and institutional-level assessment here.

Assessing creativity at an individual level encompasses two major approaches: (1) creative accomplishment based on production and (2) creative potential. Regarding the first approach focusing on creative accomplishment , there are at least four main assessment techniques (or tools representing variations of assessment techniques): (a) the historiometric approach, which applies quantitative analysis to historically available data (such as the number of prizes won or times cited) in an effort to understand eminent, field-changing creativity ( Simonton 1999 ); (b) the Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT) ( Amabile 1982 ), which offers a method for combining and validating judges’ subjective evaluations of a set of (potentially) creative productions or ideas; (c) the Creative Achievement Questionnaire ( Carson et al. 2005 ), which asks individuals to supply a self-reported assessment of their publicly recognizable achievement in ten different creative domains; and (d) the Inventory of Creative Activities and Achievements (ICAA) ( Jauk et al. 2014 ; Diedrich et al. 2018 ), which includes self-report scales assessing the frequency of engagement in creative activity and also levels of achievement in eight different domains.

The second major approach to individual assessment is based on creative potential, which measures the cognitive abilities and/or personality traits that are important for creative work. The two most popular assessments of creative potential are the Remote Associations Test (RAT) and the Alternative Uses Task (AUT). The RAT, which involves identifying the fourth word that is somehow associated with each of three given words, underscores the role that the ability to convergently associate disparate ideas plays as a key capacity for creativity. In contrast, the AUT, which requires individuals to generate a maximum number of ideas based on a prompt (e.g., different uses for a paperclip), is used to assess divergent thinking capacity. According to multivariate models of creative potential ( Lubart et al. 2013 ), there are cognitive factors (e.g., divergent thinking, mental flexibility, convergent thinking, associative thinking, selective combination), conative factors (openness, tolerance of ambiguity, intuitive thinking, risk taking, motivation to create), and environmental factors that all support creativity. Higher creative potential is predicted by having more of the ingredients for creativity. However, multiple different profiles among a similar set of these important ingredients exist, and their weighting for optimal creative potential varies according to the profession, the domain, and the task under consideration. For example, Lubart and Thornhill-Miller ( 2021 ) and Lubin et al. ( forthcoming ) have taken this creativity profiling approach, exploring the identification and training of the components of creative potential among lawyers and clinical psychologists, respectively. For a current example of this sort of comprehensive, differentiated measurement of creative potential in adults in different domains and professions, see CreativityProfiling.org. For a recent battery of tests that are relevant for children, including domain-relevant divergent-exploratory and convergent-integrative tasks, see Lubart et al. ( 2019 ). Underscoring the growing recognition of the importance of creativity assessment, measures of creative potential for students were introduced internationally for the first time in the PISA 2022 assessment ( OECD 2019a ).

2.1.2. Institutional and Environmental Support for Development of Creativity

The structural support that institutions and programs can provide to promote the development of creativity can be described as coming through three main paths: (1) through design of the physical environment in a manner that supports creativity, (2) through teaching about creativity, the creative process, and creativity techniques, and (3) through training opportunities to help students/employees develop personal habits, characteristics, and other ingredients associated with creative achievement and potential.

Given the multi-dimensionality of the notion of creativity, the environment can positively influence and help develop creative capacities. Studies have shown that the physical environment in which individuals work can enhance their positive emotions and mood and thus their creativity. For example, stimulating working environments might have unusual furniture and spaces that have natural light, windows open to nature, plants and flowers, a relaxing atmosphere and colors in the room (e.g., green and blue), or positive sounds (e.g., calm music or silence), as well as inspiring and energizing colors (e.g., yellow, pink, orange). Furthermore, the arrangement of physical space to promote interpersonal exchange rather than isolation, as well as the presence of tools, such as whiteboards, that support and show the value of exchange, are also important (for reviews, see Dul and Ceylan 2011 ; Samani et al. 2014 ).

Although it has been claimed that “creativity is intelligence having fun” ( Scialabba 1984 ; Reiman 1992 ), for most people, opportunities for fun and creativity, especially in their work environment, appear rather limited. In fact, the social and physical environment often hinders creativity. Corazza et al. ( 2021 )’s theoretical framework concerning the “Space-Time Continuum”, related to support for creativity, suggests that traditional education systems are an example of an environment that is “tight” both in the conceptual “space” it affords for creativity and in the available time allowed for creativity to happen—essentially leaving little room for original ideas to emerge. Indeed, though world-wide data suggest that neither money nor mere time spent in class correlate well with educational outcomes, both policies and pedagogy that direct the ways in which time is spent make a significant difference ( Schleicher 2022 ). Research and common sense suggest that teachers, students, and employees need more space and time to invest energy in the creative process and the development of creative potential.

Underscoring the importance of teaching the creative process and creativity techniques is the demonstration, in a number of contexts, that groups of individuals who generate ideas without a specific method are often negatively influenced by their social environment. For example, unless guarded against, the presence of others tends to reduce the number of ideas generated and to induce a fixation on a limited number of ideas conforming to those produced by others ( Camarda et al. 2021 ; Goldenberg and Wiley 2011 ; Kohn and Smith 2011 ; Paulus and Dzindolet 1993 ; Putman and Paulus 2009 ; Rietzschel et al. 2006 ). To overcome these cognitive and social biases, different variants of brainstorming techniques have shown positive effects (for reviews of methods, see Al-Samarraie and Hurmuzan 2018 ; Paulus and Brown 2007 ). These include: using ( Osborn 1953 ) initial brainstorming rules (which aim to reduce spontaneous self-judgment of ideas and fear of this judgment by others); drawing attention to ideas generated by others by writing them down independently (e.g., the technique known as “brainwriting”); and requiring incubation periods between work sessions by forcing members of a problem-solving group to take breaks ( Paulus and Yang 2000 ; Paulus and Kenworthy 2019 ).

It is also possible to use design methods that are structured to guide the creative process and the exploration of ideas, as well as to avoid settling on uncreative solution paths ( Chulvi et al. 2012 ; Edelman et al. 2022 ; Kowaltowski et al. 2010 ; see Cotter et al. 2022 for a valuable survey of best practices for avoiding the suppression of creativity and fostering creative interaction and metacognition in the classroom). Indeed, many helpful design thinking-related programs now exist around the world and have been shown to have a substantial impact on creative outcomes ( Bourgeois-Bougrine 2022 ).

Research and experts suggest the utility of many additional creativity enhancement techniques (see, e.g., Thornhill-Miller and Dupont 2016 ), and the largest and most rapid effects are often attributed to these more method- or technique-oriented approaches ( Scott et al. 2004 ). More long-term institutional and environmental support for the development of creativity, however, should also include targeted training and understanding of personality and emotional traits associated with the “creative person” (e.g., empathy and exploratory habits that can expand knowledge, as well as increase tolerance of ambiguity, openness, and mental flexibility; see Lubart and Thornhill-Miller 2021 ). Complementing these approaches and focusing on a more systemic level, recent work conducted by the OECD exemplifies efforts aimed to foster creativity (and critical thinking) by focusing simultaneously on curriculum, educational activities, and teacher support and development at the primary, secondary, and higher education levels (see Vincent-Lancrin et al. 2019 ; Saroyan 2022 ).

2.2. Critical Thinking

Researchers, teachers, employers, and public policymakers around the world have long ranked the development of critical thinking (CT) abilities as one of the highest educational priorities and public needs in modern democratic societies ( Ahern et al. 2019 ; Dumitru et al. 2018 ; Pasquinelli et al. 2021 ). CT is central to better outcomes in daily life and general problem solving ( Hitchcock 2020 ), to intelligence and adaptability ( Halpern and Dunn 2021 ), and to academic achievement ( Ren et al. 2020 ). One needs to be aware of distorted or erroneous information in the media, of the difference between personal opinions and proven facts, and how to handle increasingly large bodies of information required to understand and evaluate information in the modern age.

Although much research has addressed both potentially related constructs, such as intelligence and wisdom, and lists of potential component aspects of human thought, such as inductive or deductive reasoning (for reviews of all of these, see Sternberg and Funke 2019 ), reaching a consensus on a definition has been difficult, because CT relies on the coordination of many different skills ( Bellaera et al. 2021 ; Dumitru et al. 2018 ) and is involved in, and sometimes described from the perspective of, many different domains ( Lewis and Smith 1993 ). Furthermore, as a transversal competency, having the skills to perform aspects of critical thinking in a given domain does not necessarily entail also having the metacognitive ability to know when to engage in which of its aspects, or having the disposition, attitude, or “mindset” that motivates one to actually engage in them—all of which are actually required to be a good critical thinker ( Facione 2011 ).

As pointed out by the American Philosophical Association’s consensus definition, the ideal “critical thinker” is someone who is inquisitive, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded, and keeps well-informed, thus understanding different points of view and perspectives ( Facione 1990b ). These characteristics, one might note, are also characteristic of the “creative individual” ( Facione 1990b ; Lai 2011 ), as is the ability to imagine alternatives, which is often cited as a component of critical thinking ability ( Facione 1990b ; Halpern 1998 ). Conversely, creative production in any domain needs to be balanced by critical appraisal and thought at each step of the creative process ( Bailin 1988 ). Indeed, it can be argued that creativity and critical thinking are inextricably linked and are often two sides of the same coin. Representing different aspects of “good thought” that are linked and develop in parallel, it seems reasonable that they should, in practice, be taught and considered together in teaching and learning ( Paul and Elder 2006 ).

Given its complexity, many definitions of critical thinking have been offered. However, some more recent work has helpfully defined critical thinking as “the capacity of assessing the epistemic quality of available information and—as a consequence of this assessment—of calibrating one’s confidence in order to act upon such information” ( Pasquinelli et al. 2021 ). This definition, unlike others proposed in the field (for a review, see: Bellaera et al. 2021 ; Liu et al. 2014 ), is specific (i.e., it limits the use of poorly defined concepts), as well as consensual and operational (i.e., it has clear and direct implications for the education and assessment of critical thinking skills; Pasquinelli et al. 2021 ; Pasquinelli and Bronner 2021 ). Thus, this approach assumes that individuals possess better or worse cognitive processes and strategies that make it possible to judge the reliability of the information received, by determining, for example, what the arguments provided actually are. Are the arguments convincing? Is the source of information identifiable and reliable? Does the information conflict with other information held by the individual?

It should also be noted that being able to apply critical thinking is necessary to detect and overcome the cognitive biases that can constrain one’s reasoning. Indeed, when solving a problem, it is widely recognized that people tend to automate the application of strategies that are usually relevant in similar and analogous situations that have already been encountered. However, these heuristics (i.e., automatisms) can be a source of errors, in particular, in tricky reasoning situations, as demonstrated in the field of reasoning, arithmetic problems ( Kahneman 2003 ) or even divergent thinking tasks ( Cassotti et al. 2016 ; for a review of biases, see Friedman 2017 ). Though some cognitive biases can even be seen as normal ways of thinking and feeling, sometimes shaping human beliefs and ideologies in ways that make it completely normal—and even definitely human— not to be objective (see Thornhill-Miller and Millican 2015 ), the mobilization of cognitive resources such as those involved in critical reasoning on logical bases usually makes it possible to overcome cognitive biases and adjust one’s reasoning ( West et al. 2008 ).

According to Pasquinelli et al. ( 2021 ), young children already possess cognitive functions underlying critical thinking, such as the ability to determine that information is false. However, until late adolescence, studies have demonstrated an underdevelopment of executive functions involved in resistance to biased reasoning ( Casey et al. 2008 ) as well as some other higher-order skills that underlie the overall critical thinking process ( Bloom 1956 ). According to Facione and the landmark American Philosophical Association’s task force on critical thinking ( Facione 1990b ; Facione 2011 ), these components of critical thinking can be organized into six measurable skills: the ability to (1) interpret information (i.e., meaning and context); (2) analyze information (i.e., make sense of why this information has been provided, identify pro and con arguments, and decide whether we can accept the conclusion of the information); (3) make inferences (i.e., determine the implications of the evidence, its reliability, the undesirable consequences); (4) evaluate the strength of the information (i.e., its credibility, determine the trust in the person who provides it); (5) provide explanations (i.e., summarize the findings, determine how the information can be interpreted, and offer verification of the reasoning); (6) self-regulate (i.e., evaluate the strength of the methods applied, determine the conflict between different conclusions, clarify the conclusions, and verify missing elements).

2.2.1. Individual Assessment of Critical Thinking

The individual assessment of critical thinking skills presents a number of challenges, because it is a multi-task ability and involves specific knowledge in the different areas in which it is applied ( Liu et al. 2014 ; Willingham 2008 ). However, the literature provides several tools with which to measure different facets of cognitive functions and skills involved in the overarching critical thinking process ( Lai 2011 ; Liu et al. 2014 ). Most assessments involve multiple-choice questions requiring reasoning within a particular situation based upon a constrained set of information provided. For example, in one of the most widely used tests, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test ( Facione 1990a ), participants are provided with everyday scenarios and have to answer multiple questions targeting the six higher-order skills described previously. Similarly, the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal ( Watson 1980 ; Watson and Glaser 2010 ) presents test takers with passages and scenarios measuring their competencies at recognizing assumptions, evaluating arguments, and drawing conclusions. Although the Watson–Glaser is one of the oldest and most frequently used assessments internationally for hiring and promotion in professional contexts, its construct validity, like many other measures of this challenging topic, has some limitations ( Possin 2014 ).

Less frequently, case study or experiential methods of assessment are also used. This approach may involve asking participants to reflect on past experiences, analyze the situations they faced and the way they behaved or made judgments and decisions and then took action ( Bandyopadhyay and Szostek 2019 ; Brookfield 1997 ). These methods, often employed by teachers or employers on students and employees, usually involve the analysis of qualitative data that can cast doubt on the reliability of the results. Consequently, various researchers have suggested ways to improve analytic methods, and they emphasize the need to create more advanced evaluation methods ( Brookfield 1997 ; Liu et al. 2014 ).

For example, Liu et al. ( 2014 ) reviewed current assessment methods and suggest that future work improves the operational definition of critical thinking, aiming to assess it both in different specific contexts and in different formats. Specifically, assessments could be contextualized within the major areas addressed by education programs (e.g., social sciences, humanities, and/or natural sciences), and the tasks themselves should be as practically connected to the “real world” as possible (e.g., categorizing a set of features, opinions, or facts based on whether or not they support an initial statement). Moreover, as Brookfield ( 1997 ) argues, because critical thinking is a social process that takes place in specific contexts of knowledge and culture, it should be assessed as a social process, therefore, involving a multiplicity of experiences, perceptions, and contributions. Thus, Brookfield makes three recommendations for improving the assessment of critical thinking that are still relevant today: (1) to assess critical thinking in specific situations, so one can study the process and the discourse related to it; (2) to involve students/peers in the evaluation of critical thinking abilities, so that the evaluation is not provided only by the instructor; and (3) to allow learners or participants in an experiment to document, demonstrate, and justify their engagement in critical thinking, because this learning perspective can provide insight into basic dimensions of the critical thinking process.

Finally, another more recent and less widely used form of assessment targets the specific executive functions that underlie logical reasoning and resistance to cognitive biases, as well as the ability of individuals to resist these biases. This form of assessment is usually done through specific experimental laboratory tasks that vary depending on the particular executive function and according to the domain of interest ( Houdé and Borst 2014 ; Kahneman 2011 ; West et al. 2008 ).

2.2.2. Institutional and Environmental Support for Development of Critical Thinking Skills

The executive functions underlying general critical thinking, the ability to overcome bias ( Houdé 2000 ; Houdé and Borst 2014 ), and meta-cognitive processes (i.e., meta information about our cognitive strategies) can all be trained and enhanced by educational programs ( Abrami et al. 2015 ; Ahern et al. 2019 ; Alsaleh 2020 ; Bellaera et al. 2021 ; Uribe-Enciso et al. 2017 ; Popil 2011 ; Pasquinelli and Bronner 2021 ; Yue et al. 2017 ).

Educational programs and institutions can support the development of critical thinking in several different ways. The process of developing critical thinking focuses on the interaction between personal dispositions (attitudes and habits), skills (evaluation, reasoning, self-regulation), and finally, knowledge (general and specific knowledge, as well as experience) ( Thomas and Lok 2015 ). It is specifically in regard to skills and knowledge that institutions are well suited to develop critical thinking through pedagogical elements such as rhetoric training, relevance of information evaluation (e.g., media literacy, where and how to check information on the internet, dealing with “fake news”, etc.), deductive thinking skills, and inductive reasoning ( Moore and Parker 2016 ). A few tools, such as case studies or concept mapping, can also be used in conjunction with a problem-based learning method, both in individual and team contexts and in person or online ( Abrami et al. 2015 ; Carmichael and Farrell 2012 ; Popil 2011 ; Thorndahl and Stentoft 2020 ). According to Marin and Halpern ( 2011 ), training critical thinking should include explicit instruction involving at least the four following components and objectives: (1) working on attitudes and encouraging individuals to think; (2) teaching and practicing critical thinking skills; (3) training for transfer between contexts, identifying concrete situations in which to adopt the strategies learned; and (4) suggesting metacognition through reflection on one’s thought processes. Supporting these propositions, Pasquinelli and Bronner ( 2021 ), in a French national educational report, proposed practical advice for creating workshops to stimulate critical thinking in school classrooms, which appear relevant even in non-school intervention situations. For example, the authors suggest combining concrete examples and exercises with general and abstract explanations, rules and strategies, which can be transferred to other areas beyond the one studied. They also suggest inviting learners to create examples of situations (e.g., case studies) in order to increase the opportunities to practice and for the learner to actively participate. Finally, they suggest making the process of reflection explicit by asking the learner to pay attention to the strategies adopted by others in order to stimulate the development of metacognition.

2.3. Communication

In its most basic definition, communication consists of exchanging information to change the epistemic context of others. In cooperative contexts, it aims at the smooth and efficient exchange of information contributing to the achievement of a desired outcome or goal ( Schultz 2010 ). But human communication involves multiple dimensions. Both verbal and non-verbal communication can involve large quantities of information that have to be both formulated and deciphered with a range of purposes and intentions in mind ( Jones and LeBaron 2002 ). These dimensions of communication have as much to do with the ability to express oneself, both orally and in writing and the mastering of a language (linguistic competences), as with the ability to use this communication system appropriately (pragmatic skills; see Grassmann 2014 ; Matthews 2014 ), and with social skills, based on the knowledge of how to behave in society and on the ability to connect with others, to understand the intentions and perspectives of others ( Tomasello 2005 ).

Like the other 4Cs, according to most authorities, communication skills are ranked by both students and teachers as skills of the highest priority for acquisition in order to be ready for the workforce in 2030 ( OECD 2019b ; Hanover Research 2012 ). Teaching students how to communicate efficiently and effectively in all the new modalities of information exchange is an important challenge faced by all pedagogical organizations today ( Morreale et al. 2017 ). All dimensions of communication (linguistic, pragmatic, and social) are part of what is taught in school curricula at different levels. But pragmatic and social competencies are rarely explicitly taught as such. Work on social/emotional intelligence (and on its role in students’ personal and professional success) shows that these skills are both disparate and difficult to assess ( Humphrey et al. 2007 ). Research on this issue is, however, becoming increasingly rigorous, with the potential to provide usable data for the development of science-based practice ( Keefer et al. 2018 ). Teachers and pedagogical teams also have an important, changing role to play: they also need to master new information and communication technologies and the transmission of information through them ( Zlatić et al. 2014 ).

Communication has an obvious link with the three other Cs. Starting with critical thinking, sound communication implies fostering the conditions for a communicative exchange directed towards a common goal, which is, at least in educational and professional contexts, based on a fair evaluation of reality ( Pornpitakpan 2004 ). Collaboration too has a strong link with communication, because successful collaboration is highly dependent on the quality of knowledge sharing and trust that emerges between group members. Finally, creativity involves the communication of an idea to an audience and can involve high-quality communication when creative work occurs in a team context.

2.3.1. Individual Assessment of Communication

Given the vast field of communication, an exhaustive list of its evaluation methods is difficult to establish. A number of methods have been reported in the literature to assess an individual’s ability to communicate non-verbally and verbally. But although these two aspects are intrinsically linked, they are rarely measured together with a single tool. Moreover, as Spitzberg ( 2003 ) pointed out, communication skills are supported by different abilities, classically conceptualized as motivational functions (e.g., confidence and goal-orientation), knowledge (e.g., content and procedural knowledge), or cognitive and socio-cognitive functions (e.g., theory of mind, verbal cognition, emotional intelligence, and empathy; McDonald et al. 2014 ; Rothermich 2020 ), implying different specific types of evaluations. Finally, producing vs. receiving communication involve different skills and abilities, which can also vary according to the context ( Landa 2005 ).

To overcome these challenges, Spitzberg ( 2003 ) recommends the use of different assessment criteria. These criteria include the clarity of interaction, the understanding of what was involved in the interaction, the satisfaction of having interacted (expected to be higher when communication is effective), the efficiency of the interaction (the more competent someone is, the less effort, complexity, and resources will be needed to achieve their goal), its effectiveness or appropriateness (i.e., its relevance according to the context), as well as criteria relative to the quality of the dialogue (which involves coordination, cooperation, coherence, reciprocity, and mutuality in the exchange with others). Different forms of evaluation are also called for, such as self-reported questionnaires, hetero-reported questionnaires filled out by parents, teachers, or other observers, and tasks involving exposure to role-playing games, scenarios or videos (for a review of these assessment tools, see Cömert et al. 2016 ; Landa 2005 ; Sigafoos et al. 2008 ; Spitzberg 2003 ; van der Vleuten et al. 2019 ). Results from these tools must then be associated with others assessing underlying abilities, such as theory of mind and metacognition.

2.3.2. Institutional and Environmental Support for Development of Communication Skills

Although communication appears to be a key employability skill, the proficiency acquired during studies rarely meets the expectations of employers ( Jackson 2014 ). Communication must therefore become a priority in the training of students, beyond the sectors in which it is already known as essential (e.g., in medicine, nursing, engineering, etc.; Bourke et al. 2021 ; D’Alimonte et al. 2019 ; Peddle et al. 2018 ; Riemer 2007 ), and also through professional development ( Jackson 2014 ). Training programs involving, for example, communication theory classes ( Kruijver et al. 2000 ) and self-assessment tools that can be used in specific situations ( Curtis et al. 2013 ; Rider and Keefer 2006 ) have had convincingly positive results. The literature suggests that interactive approaches in small groups, in which competencies are practiced explicitly in an open and feedback-safe environment, are more effective ( Bourke et al. 2021 ; D’Alimonte et al. 2019 ; AbuSeileek 2012 ; Fryer-Edwards et al. 2006 ). These can take different forms: project-based work, video reviews, simulation or role-play games (see Hathaway et al. 2022 for a review; Schlegel et al. 2012 ). Finally, computer-assisted learning methods can be relevant for establishing a secure framework (especially, for example, when learning another language): anonymity indeed helps to overcome anxiety or social blockages linked to fear of public speaking or showing one’s difficulties ( AbuSeileek 2012 ). Each of these methods tackles one or more dimensions of communication that must then be assessed as such, by means of tools specifically developed and adapted to the contexts in which these skills are expressed (e.g., see the two 4Cs evaluation grids for institutions and for games outlined in Section 4 and Section 5 , below).

2.4. Collaboration

Collaborative problem solving—and more generally, collaboration—has gained increasing attention in national and international assessments (e.g., PISA) as an educational priority encompassing social, emotional, and cognitive skills critical to efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation in the modern global economy ( Graesser et al. 2018 ; OECD 2017 ). Understanding what makes effective collaboration is of crucial importance for professional practice and training ( Détienne et al. 2012 ; Graesser et al. 2018 ), as evidenced by the long line of research on group or team collaboration over the past 40 years (for a review, see e.g., Salas et al. 2004 ; Mathieu et al. 2017 ). Although there is no consensus on a definition of collaboration, scholars often see it as mutual engagement in a coordinated effort to achieve a common goal that involves the sharing of goals, resources, and representations relating to the joint activity of participants; and other important aspects relate to mutual respect, trust, responsibilities, and accountability within situational rules and norms ( Détienne et al. 2012 ).

In the teamwork research literature, skills are commonly described across three classes most often labeled Knowledge, Behavior, and Attitudes (e.g., Cannon-Bowers et al. 1995 ). Knowledge competencies refer to the skills related to elaborating the knowledge content required for the group to process and successfully achieve the task/goal to which they are assigned. Behavior includes skills related to the actualization of actions, coordination, communication, and interactions within the group as well as with any other relevant interlocutors for the task at hand. Note here that effective collaboration involves skills that have also been identified elsewhere as essential competencies, including communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Finally, several attitudes have been evidenced or hypothesized as desirable competencies in the team context, for example, attitude towards teamwork, collective orientation, cohesion/team morale, etc. Another common distinction lies between teamwork and taskwork. Teamwork refers to the collaborative, communicative, or social skills required to coordinate the work within the participants in order to achieve the task, whereas taskwork refers to specific aspects related to solving the task such as using the tools and knowing the procedure, policies, and any other task-related activities ( Salas et al. 2015 ; Graesser et al. 2018 ). Furthermore, collaborative competences can have specific (to a group of people or to a task) and general dimensions (i.e., easily transferable to any group or team situation and to other tasks). For example, skills related to communication, information exchange, conflict management, maintaining attention and motivation, leadership, etc. are present and transferable to a large number of group work situations and tasks (team-generic and task-contingent skills). Other skills can, on the other hand, be more specific to a team or group, such as internal organization, motivation, knowledge of the skills distributed in the team, etc.

2.4.1. Individual Assessment of Collaboration

Assessing collaboration requires capturing the dynamic and multi-level nature of the collaboration process, which is not as easily quantifiable as group/team inputs and outputs (task performance, satisfaction, and changes at group/team and individual level). There are indeed multiple interactions between the context, the collaboration processes, the task processes, and their (various) outcomes ( Détienne et al. 2012 ). The integrative concept of “quality of collaboration” ( Burkhardt et al. 2009 ) encapsulates much of what is currently known about collaborative processes and what constitutes effective collaboration. According to this approach, collaborative processes can be grouped along several dimensions concerning communication processes such as grounding, task-related processes (e.g., exchanges of knowledge relevant for the task at hand), and organization/coordination processes ( Burkhardt et al. 2009 ). Communication processes are most important for ensuring the construction of a common referential within a group of collaborators. Task-related processes relate to how the group resolves the task at hand by sharing and co-elaborating knowledge, by confronting their various perspectives, and by converging toward negotiated solutions. Collaboration also involves group management activities such as: (a) common goal management and coordination activities, e.g., allocation and planning of tasks; (b) meeting/interaction management activities, e.g., ordering and postponing of topics in the meeting. Finally, the ability to pursue reflexive activity, in the sense of reflecting not only on the content of a problem or solution but on one’s collaboration and problem-solving strategies, is critical for the development of the team and supports them in changing and improving their practices. Graesser et al. ( 2018 ) identify collaborative skills based on the combination of these dimensions with a step in the problem-solving process.

A large body of methodology developed to assess collaboration processes and collaborative tools has been focused on quantifying a restricted subset of fine-grained interactions (e.g., number of speakers’ turns; number of words spoken; number of interruptions; amount of grounding questions). This approach has at least two limitations. First, because these categories of analysis are often ad hoc with respect to the considered situation, they are difficult to apply in all situations and make it difficult to compare between studies. Second, quantitative variations of most of these indicators are non-univocal: any increase or decrease of them could signify either an interactive–intensive collaboration or else evidence of major difficulties in establishing and/or maintaining the collaboration ( Détienne et al. 2012 ). Alternatively, qualitative approaches based on multidimensional views of collaboration provide a more elaborated or nuanced view of collaboration and are useful for identifying potential relationships between distinctive dimensions of collaboration and aspects of team performance, in order to identify processes that could be improved. Based on the method of Spada et al. ( 2005 ) in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) research, Burkhardt et al. ( 2009 ) have proposed a multi-dimensional rating scheme for evaluating the quality of collaboration (QC) in technology-mediated design. QC distinguishes seven dimensions, grouped along five aspects, identified as central for collaboration in a problem-solving task such as design: communication (1, 2), task-oriented processes (3, 4), group-oriented processes (5), symmetry in interaction—an orthogonal dimension—(6), and individual task orientation (7). This method has recently been adapted for use in the context of assessing games as a support to collaborative skills learning.

2.4.2. Institutional and Environmental Support for Development of Collaboration and Collaborative Skills

Support for individuals’ development of collaborative skills provided by institutions and programs can take a variety of forms: (a) through the social impact of the physical structure of the organization, (b) the nature of the work required within the curriculum, (c) content within the curriculum focusing on collaboration and collaborative skills, and (d) the existence and promotion of extracurricular and inter-institutional opportunities for collaboration.

For instance, institutional support for collaboration has taken a variety of forms in various fields such as healthcare, engineering, public participation, and education. Training and education programs such as Interprofessional Education or Team Sciences in the health domain ( World Health Organization 2010 ; Hager et al. 2016 ; O’Carroll et al. 2021 ), Peer-Led Team Learning in chemistry and engineering domains ( Wilson and Varma-Nelson 2016 ), or Collaborative Problem Solving in education ( Peña-López 2017 ; Taddei 2009 ) are notable examples.

Contextual support recently arose from the deployment of online digital media and new mixed realities in the workplace, in the learning environments and in society at large—obviously stimulated and accentuated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led many organizations to invest in proposing support for synchronous and asynchronous collaboration (notably remote, between employees, between students and educators or within group members, etc.) in various ways, including the provision of communication hardware and software, computer-supported cooperative work and computer-supported collaborative learning platforms, training and practical guides, etc. Users can collaborate through heterogeneous hybrid collaborative interaction spaces that can be accessed through virtual or augmented reality, but also simple video conferencing or even a voice-only or text-only interface. These new spaces for collaboration are, however, often difficult to use and less satisfactory than face-to-face interactions, suggesting the need for more research on collaborative activities and on how to support them ( Faidley 2018 ; Karl et al. 2022 ; Kemp and Grieve 2014 ; Singh et al. 2022 ; Waizenegger et al. 2020 ).

A substantive body of literature on teams, collaborative learning, and computer-supported technologies provides evidence related to individual, contextual, and technological factors impacting the collaboration quality and efficiency. For example, teacher-based skills that are critical for enhancing collaboration are, among others, the abilities to plan, monitor, support, consolidate, and reflect upon student interaction in group work ( Kaendler et al. 2016 ). Research focuses also on investigating the most relevant tasks and evaluating the possibilities offered by technology to support, to assess (e.g., Nouri et al. 2017 ; Graesser et al. 2018 ), and/or to learn the skills involved in pursuing effective and satisfying collaboration (see e.g., Schneider et al. 2018 ; Doyle 2021 ; Ainsworth and Chounta 2021 ).

3. Labelization: Valorization of the 4Cs and Assessing Support for Their Development

Moving from the nature of the 4Cs and their individual assessment and towards the ways in which institutions can support their development in individuals, we can now address the fundamentally important question of how best to support and promote this 21st century educational mission within and among institutions themselves. This also raises the question of the systemic recognition of educational settings that are conducive to the development of the 4Cs. In response to these questions, the nature and value of labelization is now presented.

A label is “a special mark created by a trusted third party and displayed on a product intended for sale, to certify its origin, to guarantee its quality and to ensure its conformity with the standards of practices in force” ( Renard 2005 ). A label is therefore a way of informing the public about the objective properties and qualities of a product, service, or system. The label is usually easily identifiable and can be seen as a proof that a product or service, a company, or an organization complies with defined criteria. Its effectiveness is therefore closely linked to the choice of requirements set out in its specifications, as well as to the independence and rigor of the body that verifies compliance with the criteria.

3.1. Labeling as a Means of Trust and Differentiation

As a sign of recognition established by a third party, the label or certification can constitute a proof of trust aiming to reassure the final consumer. According to Sutter ( 2005 ), there are different means of signaling trust. First, the brand name of a product or service and its reputation can, in itself, constitute a label when this brand name is recognized on the market. Second, various forms of self-declaration, such as internal company charters, though not statements assessed by a third party, show an internal commitment that can provide reassurance. Finally, there is certification or labeling, which is awarded by an external body and requires a third-party assessment by a qualified expert, according to criteria set out in a specific reference framework. It is this external body, a trusted third party, which guarantees the reliability of the label and constitutes a guarantee of credibility. Its objectivity and impartiality are meant to guarantee that the company, organization, product, or service meets defined quality or reliability criteria ( Jahn et al. 2005 ).

Research on populations around the world (e.g., Amron 2018 ; Sasmita and Suki 2015 ) show that the buying decisions of consumers are heavily influenced by the trust they have in a brand. More specifically, third-party assurances and labelization have been shown to strongly influence customer buying intentions and purchasing behavior (e.g., Kimery and McCord 2002 ; Lee et al. 2004 ). Taking France as an example, research shows that quality certification is seen as “important” or “significant” by 76% of companies ( Chameroy and Veran 2014 ), and decision makers feel more confident and are more willing to invest with the support of third-party approval than if their decision is merely based on the brand’s reputation or its demonstrated level of social responsibility ( Etilé and Teyssier 2016 ). Indeed, French companies with corporate social responsibility labels have been shown to have higher than average growth rates, and the adoption of quality standards is linked with a 7% increase in the share of export turnover ( Restout 2020 ).

3.2. Influence on Choice and Adoption of Goods and Services

Studies diverge in this area, but based on the seminal work of Parkinson ( 1975 ); Chameroy and Veran ( 2014 ), in their research on the effect of labels on willingness to pay, found that in 75% of cases, products with labels are chosen and preferred to those without labels, demonstrating the impact of the label on customer confidence—provided that it is issued by a recognized third party. Thus, brands that have good reputations tend to be preferred over cheaper new brands, because they are more accepted and valued by the individual social network ( Zielke and Dobbelstein 2007 ).

3.3. Process of Labelizing Products and Services

The creation of a label may be the result of a customer or market need, a request from a private sector of activity or from the government. Creating a label involves setting up a working group including stakeholders who are experts in the field, product managers, and a certification body in order to elaborate a reference framework. This is then reviewed by a specialized committee and validated by the stakeholders. The standard includes evaluation criteria that must be clearly defined ( Mourad 2017 ). An audit system is set up by a trusted third party. It must include the drafting of an audit report, a system for making decisions on labeling, and a system for identifying qualified assessors. The validity of the assessment process is reinforced by this double evaluation: a first level of audit carried out by a team of experts according to a clearly defined set of criteria and a second level of decision making assuring that the methodology and the result of the audit are in conformity with the defined reference framework.

3.4. Labelization of 21st Century Skills

The world of education is particularly concerned by the need to develop and assess 21st century skills, because it represents the first link in the chain of skills acquisition, preparing the human resources of tomorrow. One important means of simultaneously offering a reliable, independent assessment of 21st century skills and valorizing them by making them a core target within an educational system (schools, universities, and teaching and training programs of all kinds) is labelization. Two examples of labelization processes related to 21st century skills were recently developed by the International Institute for Competency Development ( 2021 ; see iicd.net; accessed on 20 November 2022) working with international experts, teachers, and researchers from the University of Paris Cité (formerly Université Sorbonne Paris Cité), Oxford University, and AFNOR UK (an accredited certification body and part of AFNOR International, a subsidiary of the AFNOR group, the only standards body in France).

The last two or three decades has seen the simultaneous rise of international ranking systems and an interest in quality assurance and assessment in an increasingly competitive educational market ( Sursock 2021 ). The aim of these labelization frameworks is to assist in the development of “quality culture” in education by offering individual programs, institutions, and systems additional independent, reliable means of benchmarking, charting progress, and distinguishing themselves based on their capacity to support and promote the development of crucial skills. Importantly, the external perspectives provided by such assessment system should be capable of being individually adapted and applied in a manner that can resist becoming rigidly imposed external standards ( Sursock and Vettori 2017 ). Similarly, as we have seen in the literature review, the best approach to understanding and assessing a particular C is from a combination of different levels and perspectives in context. For example, important approaches to critical thinking have been made from educationally, philosophically, and psychologically focused vantage points ( Lai 2011 ). We can also argue that understandings of creativity are also results of different approaches: the major models in the literature (e.g., the “4Ps” and “7Cs” models; see Lubart and Thornhill-Miller 2019 ) explicitly result from and include the objectives of different education-focused, process-focused, and “ingredient” or component-focused approaches.

The two assessment frameworks outlined in the sections that follow were formulated with these different perspectives and objective needs in mind. Given the complexity and very different natures of their respective targets (i.e., one assessing entire formal educational contexts such as institutions or programs, whereas the other targets the less multi-dimensional, informal educational activities represented by games), the assessment of the individual Cs also represents what experts consider a target-appropriate balance of education- and curriculum-focused, process-focused, and component-focused criteria for assessing each different C.

4. The International Institute for Competency Development’s 21st Century Competencies 4Cs Assessment Framework for Institutions and Programs

One comprehensive attempt to operationalize programmatic-level and institutional-level support for the development of the 4Cs is the International Institute for Competency Development’s 4Cs Assessment Framework ( International Institute for Competency Development 2021 ). Based upon expert opinion and a review of the available literature, this evaluation grid is a practical tool that divides each of the 4Cs into three “user-friendly” but topic-covering components (see Table 1 and definitions and further discussion in the sections that follow). Each of these components is then assessed across seven dimensions (see Table 2 , below), designed to cover concisely the pedagogical process and the educational context. Examples for each point level are provided within the evaluation grid in order to offer additional clarity for educational stakeholders and expert assessors.

Three different components of each C in IICD’s 21st Century Skills 4Cs Assessment Framework.

Creative ProcessCreative EnvironmentCreative Product
Critical thinking
about the world
Critical thinking
about oneself
Critical action and
decision making
Engagement and
participation
Perspective taking
and openness
Social regulation
Message formulationMessage deliveryMessage and
communication feedback

Seven dimensions evaluated for the 3 different components of each C.

Aspects of the overall educational program teaching, emphasizing, and promoting the 4Cs
Availability and access to different means, materials, space, and expertise, digital technologies, mnemonic and heuristic methods, etc. to assist in the proper use and exercise of the 4Cs
Actual student and program use of available resources promoting the 4Cs
Critical reflection and metacognition on the process being engaged in around the 4Cs
The formal and informal training, skills, and abilities of teachers/trainers and staff and their program of development as promoters of the 4Cs
Use and integration of the full range of resources external to the institution available to enhance the 4Cs
Availability of resources for students to create and actualize products, programs, events, etc. that require the exercise, promotion, or manifestation of the 4Cs

* Educational-level dependent and potentially less available for younger students or in some contexts.

The grid itself can be used in several important and different ways by different educational stakeholders: (1) by the institution itself in its self-evaluation and possible preparation for a certification or labelization process, (2) as an explicit list of criteria for external evaluation of the institution and its 4Cs-related programs, and (3) as a potential long-term development targeting tool for the institution or the institution in dialogue with the labelization process.

4.1. Evaluation Grid for Creativity

Dropping the component of “creative person” that is not relevant at the institutional level, this evaluation grid is based on Rhodes’ ( 1961 ) classic “4P” model of creativity, which remains the most concise model today ( Lubart and Thornhill-Miller 2019 ). The three “P” components retained are: creative process , creative environment , and creative product . Creative process refers to the acquisition of a set of tools and techniques that students can use to enhance the creativity of their thinking and work. Creative environment (also called “Press” in earlier literature) is about how the physical and social surroundings of students can help them be more creative. Finally, creative product refers to the evaluation of actual “productions” (e.g., a piece of art, text, speech, etc.) generated through the creative process.

4.2. Evaluation Grid for Critical Thinking

Our evaluation grid divides critical thinking into three main components: critical thinking about the world , critical thinking about oneself (self-reflection), as well as critical action and decision making . The first component refers to having an evidence-based view of the exterior world, notably by identifying and evaluating sources of information and using them to question current understandings and solve problems. Self-reflection refers to thinking critically about one’s own life situation, values, and actions; it presupposes the autonomy of thought and a certain distance as well as the most objective observation possible with regard to one’s own knowledge (“meta-cognition”). The third and final component, critical action and decision making, is about using critical thinking skills more practically in order to make appropriate life decisions as well as to be open to different points of view. This component also addresses soft skills and attitudes such as trusting information.

Our evaluation framework for critical thinking was in part inspired by Barnett’s “curriculum for critical being” (2015), whose model distinguishes two axes: one defined by the qualitative differences in the level of criticality attained and the second comprised of three different domains of application: formal knowledge, the self, and the world. The first two components of our framework (and the seven dimensions on which they are rated) reflect and encompass these three domains. Similar to Barrett’s proposal, our third rubric moves beyond the “skills-plus-dispositions” model of competency implicit in much theorizing about critical thinking and adds the importance of “action”—not just the ability to think critically and the disposition to do so, but the central importance of training and practicing “critical doing” ( Barnett 2015 ). Critical thinking should also be exercised collectively by involving students in collective thinking, facilitating the exchange of ideas and civic engagement ( Huber and Kuncel 2016 ).

4.3. Evaluation Grid for Collaboration

The first component of collaboration skills in the IICD grid is engagement and participation , referring to the active engagement in group work. Perspective taking and openness concerns the flexibility to work with and accommodate other group members and their points of view. The final dimension— social regulation —is about being able to reach for a common goal, notably through compromise and negotiation, as well as being aware of the different types of roles that group members can hold ( Hesse et al. 2015 ; Rusdin and Ali 2019 ; Care et al. 2016 ). (These last two components include elements of leadership, character, and emotional intelligence as sometimes described in other soft-skill and competency-related systems.) Participation, social regulation, and perspective taking have been identified as central social skills in collaborative problem solving ( Hesse et al. 2015 ). Regarding social regulation in this context, recognizing and profiting from group diversity is key ( Graesser et al. 2018 ). When describing an assessment in an educational setting of collaborative problem solving (with a task in which two or more students have to collaborate in order to solve it, each using a different set of resources), two main underpinning skills were described for the assessment: the social skill of audience awareness (“how to adapt one’s own behavior to suit the needs of the task and the partner’s requirements”, Care et al. 2016, p. 258 ) and the cognitive skill of planning and executing (developing a plan to reach for a goal) ( Care et al. 2016 ). The former is included in the perspective taking and openness rubric and the latter in the social regulation component in the IICD grid. Evans ( 2020 ) identified four main collaboration skills consistently mentioned in the scientific literature that are assessed in the IICD grid: the ability to plan and make group decisions (example item from the IICD grid: teachers provide assistance to students to overcome differences and reach a common goal during group work); the ability to communicate about thinking with the group (assessed notably in the meta-reflection strand of the IICD grid); the ability to contribute resources, ideas, and efforts and support group members (included notably in the engagement and participation as well as the social regulation components); and finally, the ability to monitor, reflect, and adapt individual and group processes to benefit the group (example item from the IICD grid: students use perspective-taking tools and techniques in group activities).

4.4. Evaluation Grid for Communication

The evaluation grid for communication is also composed of three dimensions: message formulation, message delivery, and message and communication feedback . Message formulation refers to the ability to design and structure a message to be sent, such as outlining the content of an argument. Message delivery is about effectively transmitting verbal and non-verbal aspects of a message. Finally, message and communication feedback refers to the ability of students and teachers to understand their audience, analyze their social surroundings, and interpret information in context. Other components of communication skills such as theory of mind, empathy, or emotional intelligence are also relevant and included in the process of applying the grid. Thompson ( 2020 ) proposes a four-component operationalized definition of communication for its assessment in students. First, they describe a comprehension strand covering the understanding and selection of adequate information from a range of sources. Message formulation in the IICD grid captures this dimension through its focus on content analysis and generation. Second, the presentation of information and ideas is mentioned in several different modes, adjusted to the intended audience, verbally as well as non-verbally. The message delivery component of the IICD grid focuses on these points. Third, the authors note the importance of communication technology and its advanced use. The IICD grid also covers the importance of technology use in its tools and techniques category, with, for example, an item that reads: students learn to effectively use a variety of formats of communication (social media, make a video, e-mail, letter writing, creating a document). Finally, Thompson ( 2020 ) describes the recognition of cultural and other differences as an important aspect of communication. The IICD grid aims at incorporating these aspects, notably in the meta-reflection category under each of the three dimensions.

5. Assessing the 4Cs in Informal Educational Contexts: The Example of Games

5.1. the 4cs in informal educational contexts.

So far, the focus has been on rather formal ways of nurturing the 4Cs. Although institutions and training programs are perhaps the most significant and necessary avenues of education, they are not the sole context in which 4Cs’ learning and improvement can manifest. One other important potential learning context is game play. Games are activities that are present and participated in throughout human society—by those of all ages, genders, and socio-economic statuses ( Bateson and Martin 2013 ; Huizinga 1949 ; Malaby 2007 ). This informal setting can also provide favorable conditions to help improve the 4Cs ( van Rosmalen et al. 2014 ) and should not be under-appreciated. Games provide a unique environment for learning, as they can foster a space to freely explore possibilities and one’s own potential ( de Freitas 2006 ). We argue that games are a significant potential pathway for the improvement of the 4Cs, and as such, they merit the same attention as more formal ways of learning and developing competencies.

5.2. 4Cs Evaluation Framework for Games

Compared to schools and educational institutions, the focus of IICD’s evaluation framework for games (see International Institute for Competency Development 2021 ) is more narrow. Thus, it is fundamentally different from the institutional grid: games, complex and deep as they can sometimes be, cannot directly be compared to the complexity of a school curriculum and all the programs it contains. The evaluation of a game’s effectiveness for training/improving a given C rests on the following principle: if a game presents affordances conducive to exercising a given skill, engaged playing of that game should help improve that skill.

The game’s evaluation grid is scored based on two criteria. For example, as a part of a game’s rating as a tool for the development of creativity, we determine the game must first meet two conditions. First, whether or not the game allows the opportunity for creativity to manifest itself: if creativity cannot occur in the game, it is obviously not eligible to receive ratings for that C. Second, whether or not creativity is needed in order to perform well in the game: if the players can win or achieve success in the game without needing creativity, this also means it cannot receive a rating for that C. If both conditions are met, however, the game will be considered potentially effective to improve creativity through the practice of certain components of creative behavior. This basic principle applies for all four of the Cs.

As outlined in Table 3 , below, the evaluation grid for each of the four Cs is composed of five components relevant to games that are different for each of the Cs. The grid works as follows: for each of the five components of each C, we evaluate the game on a list of sub-components using two yes/no scales: one for whether it is “possible” for that subcomponent to manifest and one for whether that sub-component is “required for success” in the game. This evaluation is done for all sub-components. After this, each general component is rated on the same two indicators. If 60% (i.e., three out of five) or more sub-components are positively rated as required, the general component is considered required. Then, the game is evaluated on its effectiveness for training and improving each of the 4Cs. If 60% or more components are positively rated as required, the game will be labelized as having the potential to be effective for training and improving the corresponding C.

Five different components evaluated for each C by the 4Cs assessment framework for games.

OriginalityDivergent ThinkingConvergent ThinkingMental FlexibilityCreative Dispositions
Goal-adequate judgment/ discernmentObjective thinkingMetacognitionElaborate eeasoningUncertainty management
Collaboration fluencyWell-argued deliberation and consensus-based decisionBalance of contributionOrganization and coordinationCognitive syncing, input, and support
Social InteractionsSocial cognitionMastery of written and spoken languageVerbal communicationNon-verbal communication

The evaluation grid for creativity is based on the multivariate model of creative potential (see Section 2.1.1 and Lubart et al. 2013 for more information) and is composed of four cognitive factors and one conative factor: originality , divergent thinking , convergent thinking , mental flexibility , and creative dispositions . Originality refers to the generation of ideas that are novel or unexpected, depending on the context. Divergent thinking corresponds to the generation of multiple ideas or solutions. Convergent thinking refers to the combination of multiple ideas and the selection of the most creative idea. Mental flexibility entails changing perspectives on a given problem and breaking away from initial ideas. Finally, creative dispositions concerns multiple personality-related factors conducive to creativity, such as openness to experience or risk taking.

The evaluation grid for critical thinking echoes Halpern’s ( 1998 ) as well as Marin and Halpern’s ( 2011 ) considerations for teaching this skill, that is, taking into consideration thinking skills, metacognition, and dispositions. The five components of the critical thinking grid are: goal-adequate discernment, objective thinking, metacognition, elaborate reasoning, and uncertainty management. Goal-adequate discernment entails the formulation of inferences and the discernment of contradictions when faced with a problem. Objective thinking corresponds to the suspension of one’s own judgment and the analysis of affirmations and sources in the most objective manner possible. Metacognition, here, is about questioning and reassessing information, as well as the awareness of one’s own cognitive biases. Elaborate reasoning entails reasoning in a way that is cautious, thorough, and serious. Finally, uncertainty management refers to the dispositional propensity to tolerate ambiguity and accept doubt.

The evaluation grid for collaboration is based on the quality of collaboration (QC) method ( Burkhardt et al. 2009 ; see Section 2.4.2 for more details) and is composed of the following five components: collaboration fluidity, well-argued deliberation and consensus-based decision, balance of contribution, organization and coordination, and cognitive syncing, input, and support. Collaboration fluidity entails the absence of speech overlap and the presence of a good flow in terms of turns to speak. Well-argued deliberation and consensus-based decision is about contributing to the discussion and task at hand, as well as participating in discussions and arguments, in order to obtain a consensus. Balance of contribution refers to having equal or equivalent contributions to organization, coordination, and decision making. Organization and coordination refers to effective management of roles, time, and “deadlines”, as well as the attribution of roles depending on participants’ skills. Finally, cognitive syncing, input, and support is about bringing ideas and resources to the group, as well as supporting and reinforcing other members of the group.

The five components used to evaluate communication in games include both linguistic, pragmatic, and social aspects. Linguistic skills per se are captured by the mastery of written and spoken language component. This component assesses language comprehension and the appropriate use of vocabulary. Pragmatic skills are captured by the verbal and non-verbal communication components and refer to the efficient use of verbal and body signals in the context of the game to achieve one’s communicative goals ( Grassmann 2014 ; Matthews 2014 ). Finally, the grid also evaluates social skills with its two last components, social interactions and social cognition, which, respectively, refer to the ability to interact with others appropriately—including by complying with the rules of the game—and to the understanding of other people’ mental states ( Tomasello 2005 ).

6. Discussion and Conclusions

Each of the 4Cs is a broad, multi-faceted concept that is the subject of a tremendous amount of research and discussion by a wide range of stakeholders in different disciplines, professions, and parts of the educational establishment. The development of evaluation frameworks to allow support for the 4Cs to be assessed and publicly recognized, using a label, is an important step for promoting and fostering these skills in educational contexts. As illustrated by IICD’s 4Cs Framework for educational institutions and programs, as well as its games/activities evaluation grid, the specific criteria to detect support for each C can vary depending upon the educational context (e.g., formal and institutional level or informal and at the activity level). Yet considering the 4Cs together highlights some additional observations, current challenges, and opportunities for the future that are worthy of discussion.

6.1. Interrelationships between the 4Cs and a New Model for Use in Pedagogy and Policy Promotion

One very important issue for understanding the 4Cs and their educational implementation that can be simultaneously a help and a hindrance for teaching them—and also a challenge when assessing them—is their multidimensionality and interrelatedness. In other words, the 4Cs are not entirely separate entities but instead, as Figure 2 shows, should be seen as four interlinked basic “elements” for future-oriented education that can help individuals in their learning process and, together, synergistically “bootstrap” the development of their cognitive potentials. Lamri and Lubart ( 2021 ), for example, found a certain base level of creativity was a necessary but not sufficient condition for success in managerial tasks, but that high-level performance required a combination of all four Cs. Some thinkers have argued that one cannot be creative without critical thinking, which also requires creativity, for example, to come up with alternative arguments (see Paul and Elder 2006 ). Similarly, among many other interrelationships, there is no collaboration without communication—and even ostensibly individual creativity is a “collaboration” of sorts with the general culture and precursors in a given field. As a result, it ranges from impossible to suboptimal to teach (or teach towards) one of the 4Cs without involving one or more of the others, and this commingling also underscores the genuine need and appropriateness of assessing them together.

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“‘Crea-Critical-Collab-ication’: a Dynamic Interactionist Model of the 4Cs”. (Illustration of the interplay and interpenetration of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication shown in dimensional space according to their differing cognitive/individual vs. social/interpersonal emphases; (© 2023, Branden Thornhill-Miller. All Rights Reserved. thornhill-miller.com; accessed on 20 January 2023)).

From this perspective, Thornhill-Miller ( 2021 ) proposed a “dynamic interactionist model of the 4Cs” and their interrelated contributions to the future of education and work. Presented in Figure 2 , this model is meant to serve as a visual and conceptual aid for understanding the 4Cs and their interrelationships, thereby also promoting better use and understanding of them in pedagogical and policy settings. In addition to suggesting the portmanteau of “crea-critical thinking” as a new term to describe the overlap of much of the creative and critical thinking processes, the title of this model, “Crea-Critical-Collab-ication”, is a verbal representation of the fluid four-way interrelationship between the 4Cs visually represented in Figure 2 (a title meant to playfully repackage the 4Cs for important pedagogical and policy uses). This model goes further to suggest some dimensional differences in emphases that, roughly speaking, also often exist among the 4Cs: that is to say, the frequently greater emphasis on cognitive or individual elements at play in creativity and critical thinking in comparison to the social and interpersonal aspects more central to communication and collaboration ( Thornhill-Miller 2021 ).

Similarly focused on the need to promote a phase change towards future-oriented education, Lucas ( 2019 ) and colleagues have suggested conflating creative thinking and critical thinking in order to propose “3Cs” (creative thinking, communication, and collaboration) as new “foundational literacies” to symmetrically add to the 3Rs (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic) of previous educational eras. Although we applaud these efforts, from our applied research perspective, we believe that the individual importance of, and distinct differences between, creative thinking and critical thinking support preserving them both as separate constructs in order to encourage the greatest development of each of them. Moreover, if only three categories were somehow required or preferable, one could argue that uniting communication and collaboration (as “collab-ication” suggests) might be preferable—particularly also given the fact that substantial aspects of communication are already covered within the 3Rs. In any case, we look forward to more such innovations and collaborations in this vibrant and important area of work at the crossroads between research, pedagogy, and policy development.

6.2. Limitations and Future Work

The rich literature in each of the 4Cs domains shows the positive effects of integrating these dimensions into educational and professional curricula. At the same time, the complexity of their definitions makes them difficult to assess, both in terms of reliability (assessment must not vary from one measurement to another) and of validity (tests must measure that which they are intended to measure). However, applied research in this area is becoming increasingly rigorous, with a growing capacity to provide the necessary tools for evidence-based practice. The development of these practices should involve interdisciplinary teams of teachers and other educational practitioners who are equipped and trained accordingly. Similarly, on the research side, further exploration and clarification of subcomponents of the 4Cs and other related skills will be important. Recent efforts to clarify the conceptual overlap and hierarchical relations of soft skills for the future of education and work, for example, have been helpful and promising (e.g., Joie-La Marle et al. 2022 ; Lamri et al. 2022 ). But the most definitive sort of taxonomy and measurement model that we are currently lacking might only be established based on the large-scale administration of a comprehensive battery of skill-measuring psychometric tests on appropriate cross sections of society.

The rapid development and integration of new technologies will also aid and change the contexts, resources, and implementation of the 4Cs. For example, the recent developments make it clear that the 4Cs will be enhanced and changed by interaction with artificially intelligence, even as 4Cs-related skills will probably, for the same reason, increasingly constitute the core of available human work in the future (see, e.g., Ross 2018 ). Similarly, research on virtual reality and creativity suggest that VR environments assist and expand individual and collaborative creativity ( Bourgeois-Bougrine et al. 2022 ). Because VR technologies offer the possibility of enhanced and materially enriched communication, collaboration, and information availability, they not only allow for the enhancement of creativity techniques but also for similar expansions and improvements on almost all forms of human activity (see Thornhill-Miller and Dupont 2016 )—including the other three Cs.

6.3. Conclusion: Labelization of the 4Cs and the Future of Education and Work

Traditional educational approaches cannot meet the educational needs of our emergent societies if they do not teach, promote, and assess in line with the new learner characteristics and contexts of the 21st century ( Sahin 2009 ). The sort of future-oriented change and development required by this shift in institutional practices, programming, and structure will likely meet with significant resistance from comfortably entrenched (and often outdated) segments of traditional educational and training establishments. Additional external evaluation and monitoring is rarely welcome by workers in any context. We believe, however, that top-down processes from the innovative and competition-conscious administrative levels will be met by bottom-up demands from students and education consumers to support these institutional changes. And we contend that efforts such as labelizing 4C processes will serve to push educators and institutions towards more relevant offerings, oriented towards the future of work and helping build a more successful future for all.

In the end, the 4Cs framework seems to be a manageable, focused model for modernizing education, and one worthy of its growing prevalence in the educational and research marketplace for a number of reasons. These reasons include the complexity and cumbersome nature of larger alternative systems and the 4Cs’ persuasive presence at the core of a number of early and industry-driven frameworks. In addition, the 4Cs have benefitted from their subsequent promotion by organizations such as the OECD and the World Economic Forum, as well as some more direct support from recent empirical research. The promotion, teaching, and assessment of the 4Cs will require a complex social intervention and mobilization of educational resources—a major shift in pedagogy and institutional structures. Yet the same evolving digital technologies that have largely caused the need for these massive, rapid changes can also assist in the implementation of solutions ( van Laar et al. 2017 ). To the extent that future research also converges on such a model (that has already been found pedagogically useful and policy-friendly by so many individuals and organizations), the 4Cs framework has the potential to become a manageable core for 21st century skills and the future of education and work—one that stakeholders with various agendas can already begin building on for a better educational and economic future together.

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, B.T.-M. and T.L.; writing—original draft preparation, B.T.-M., A.C., M.M., J.-M.B., T.M., S.B.-B., S.E.H., F.V., M.A.-L., C.F., D.S., F.M.; writing—review and editing, B.T.-M., A.C., T.L., J.-M.B., C.F.; visualization, B.T.-M.; supervision, B.T.-M., T.L.; project administration, B.T.-M., T.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

B.T.-M. and T.L. are unpaid academic co-founder and project collaborator for the International Institute for Competency Development, whose labelization frameworks (developed in cooperation with Afnor International and the LaPEA lab of Université Paris Cité and Université Gustave Eiffel) are used as examples in this review. S.E.H. and M.A.-L. are employees of AFNOR International. No funding was received to support this research or article, which reflects the views of the scientists and researchers and not their organizations or companies.

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Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking

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(This is the first post in a three-part series.)

The new question-of-the-week is:

What is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom?

This three-part series will explore what critical thinking is, if it can be specifically taught and, if so, how can teachers do so in their classrooms.

Today’s guests are Dara Laws Savage, Patrick Brown, Meg Riordan, Ph.D., and Dr. PJ Caposey. Dara, Patrick, and Meg were also guests on my 10-minute BAM! Radio Show . You can also find a list of, and links to, previous shows here.

You might also be interested in The Best Resources On Teaching & Learning Critical Thinking In The Classroom .

Current Events

Dara Laws Savage is an English teacher at the Early College High School at Delaware State University, where she serves as a teacher and instructional coach and lead mentor. Dara has been teaching for 25 years (career preparation, English, photography, yearbook, newspaper, and graphic design) and has presented nationally on project-based learning and technology integration:

There is so much going on right now and there is an overload of information for us to process. Did you ever stop to think how our students are processing current events? They see news feeds, hear news reports, and scan photos and posts, but are they truly thinking about what they are hearing and seeing?

I tell my students that my job is not to give them answers but to teach them how to think about what they read and hear. So what is critical thinking and how can we integrate it into the classroom? There are just as many definitions of critical thinking as there are people trying to define it. However, the Critical Think Consortium focuses on the tools to create a thinking-based classroom rather than a definition: “Shape the climate to support thinking, create opportunities for thinking, build capacity to think, provide guidance to inform thinking.” Using these four criteria and pairing them with current events, teachers easily create learning spaces that thrive on thinking and keep students engaged.

One successful technique I use is the FIRE Write. Students are given a quote, a paragraph, an excerpt, or a photo from the headlines. Students are asked to F ocus and respond to the selection for three minutes. Next, students are asked to I dentify a phrase or section of the photo and write for two minutes. Third, students are asked to R eframe their response around a specific word, phrase, or section within their previous selection. Finally, students E xchange their thoughts with a classmate. Within the exchange, students also talk about how the selection connects to what we are covering in class.

There was a controversial Pepsi ad in 2017 involving Kylie Jenner and a protest with a police presence. The imagery in the photo was strikingly similar to a photo that went viral with a young lady standing opposite a police line. Using that image from a current event engaged my students and gave them the opportunity to critically think about events of the time.

Here are the two photos and a student response:

F - Focus on both photos and respond for three minutes

In the first picture, you see a strong and courageous black female, bravely standing in front of two officers in protest. She is risking her life to do so. Iesha Evans is simply proving to the world she does NOT mean less because she is black … and yet officers are there to stop her. She did not step down. In the picture below, you see Kendall Jenner handing a police officer a Pepsi. Maybe this wouldn’t be a big deal, except this was Pepsi’s weak, pathetic, and outrageous excuse of a commercial that belittles the whole movement of people fighting for their lives.

I - Identify a word or phrase, underline it, then write about it for two minutes

A white, privileged female in place of a fighting black woman was asking for trouble. A struggle we are continuously fighting every day, and they make a mockery of it. “I know what will work! Here Mr. Police Officer! Drink some Pepsi!” As if. Pepsi made a fool of themselves, and now their already dwindling fan base continues to ever shrink smaller.

R - Reframe your thoughts by choosing a different word, then write about that for one minute

You don’t know privilege until it’s gone. You don’t know privilege while it’s there—but you can and will be made accountable and aware. Don’t use it for evil. You are not stupid. Use it to do something. Kendall could’ve NOT done the commercial. Kendall could’ve released another commercial standing behind a black woman. Anything!

Exchange - Remember to discuss how this connects to our school song project and our previous discussions?

This connects two ways - 1) We want to convey a strong message. Be powerful. Show who we are. And Pepsi definitely tried. … Which leads to the second connection. 2) Not mess up and offend anyone, as had the one alma mater had been linked to black minstrels. We want to be amazing, but we have to be smart and careful and make sure we include everyone who goes to our school and everyone who may go to our school.

As a final step, students read and annotate the full article and compare it to their initial response.

Using current events and critical-thinking strategies like FIRE writing helps create a learning space where thinking is the goal rather than a score on a multiple-choice assessment. Critical-thinking skills can cross over to any of students’ other courses and into life outside the classroom. After all, we as teachers want to help the whole student be successful, and critical thinking is an important part of navigating life after they leave our classrooms.

usingdaratwo

‘Before-Explore-Explain’

Patrick Brown is the executive director of STEM and CTE for the Fort Zumwalt school district in Missouri and an experienced educator and author :

Planning for critical thinking focuses on teaching the most crucial science concepts, practices, and logical-thinking skills as well as the best use of instructional time. One way to ensure that lessons maintain a focus on critical thinking is to focus on the instructional sequence used to teach.

Explore-before-explain teaching is all about promoting critical thinking for learners to better prepare students for the reality of their world. What having an explore-before-explain mindset means is that in our planning, we prioritize giving students firsthand experiences with data, allow students to construct evidence-based claims that focus on conceptual understanding, and challenge students to discuss and think about the why behind phenomena.

Just think of the critical thinking that has to occur for students to construct a scientific claim. 1) They need the opportunity to collect data, analyze it, and determine how to make sense of what the data may mean. 2) With data in hand, students can begin thinking about the validity and reliability of their experience and information collected. 3) They can consider what differences, if any, they might have if they completed the investigation again. 4) They can scrutinize outlying data points for they may be an artifact of a true difference that merits further exploration of a misstep in the procedure, measuring device, or measurement. All of these intellectual activities help them form more robust understanding and are evidence of their critical thinking.

In explore-before-explain teaching, all of these hard critical-thinking tasks come before teacher explanations of content. Whether we use discovery experiences, problem-based learning, and or inquiry-based activities, strategies that are geared toward helping students construct understanding promote critical thinking because students learn content by doing the practices valued in the field to generate knowledge.

explorebeforeexplain

An Issue of Equity

Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at The Possible Project, an out-of-school program that collaborates with youth to build entrepreneurial skills and mindsets and provides pathways to careers and long-term economic prosperity. She has been in the field of education for over 25 years as a middle and high school teacher, school coach, college professor, regional director of N.Y.C. Outward Bound Schools, and director of external research with EL Education:

Although critical thinking often defies straightforward definition, most in the education field agree it consists of several components: reasoning, problem-solving, and decisionmaking, plus analysis and evaluation of information, such that multiple sides of an issue can be explored. It also includes dispositions and “the willingness to apply critical-thinking principles, rather than fall back on existing unexamined beliefs, or simply believe what you’re told by authority figures.”

Despite variation in definitions, critical thinking is nonetheless promoted as an essential outcome of students’ learning—we want to see students and adults demonstrate it across all fields, professions, and in their personal lives. Yet there is simultaneously a rationing of opportunities in schools for students of color, students from under-resourced communities, and other historically marginalized groups to deeply learn and practice critical thinking.

For example, many of our most underserved students often spend class time filling out worksheets, promoting high compliance but low engagement, inquiry, critical thinking, or creation of new ideas. At a time in our world when college and careers are critical for participation in society and the global, knowledge-based economy, far too many students struggle within classrooms and schools that reinforce low-expectations and inequity.

If educators aim to prepare all students for an ever-evolving marketplace and develop skills that will be valued no matter what tomorrow’s jobs are, then we must move critical thinking to the forefront of classroom experiences. And educators must design learning to cultivate it.

So, what does that really look like?

Unpack and define critical thinking

To understand critical thinking, educators need to first unpack and define its components. What exactly are we looking for when we speak about reasoning or exploring multiple perspectives on an issue? How does problem-solving show up in English, math, science, art, or other disciplines—and how is it assessed? At Two Rivers, an EL Education school, the faculty identified five constructs of critical thinking, defined each, and created rubrics to generate a shared picture of quality for teachers and students. The rubrics were then adapted across grade levels to indicate students’ learning progressions.

At Avenues World School, critical thinking is one of the Avenues World Elements and is an enduring outcome embedded in students’ early experiences through 12th grade. For instance, a kindergarten student may be expected to “identify cause and effect in familiar contexts,” while an 8th grader should demonstrate the ability to “seek out sufficient evidence before accepting a claim as true,” “identify bias in claims and evidence,” and “reconsider strongly held points of view in light of new evidence.”

When faculty and students embrace a common vision of what critical thinking looks and sounds like and how it is assessed, educators can then explicitly design learning experiences that call for students to employ critical-thinking skills. This kind of work must occur across all schools and programs, especially those serving large numbers of students of color. As Linda Darling-Hammond asserts , “Schools that serve large numbers of students of color are least likely to offer the kind of curriculum needed to ... help students attain the [critical-thinking] skills needed in a knowledge work economy. ”

So, what can it look like to create those kinds of learning experiences?

Designing experiences for critical thinking

After defining a shared understanding of “what” critical thinking is and “how” it shows up across multiple disciplines and grade levels, it is essential to create learning experiences that impel students to cultivate, practice, and apply these skills. There are several levers that offer pathways for teachers to promote critical thinking in lessons:

1.Choose Compelling Topics: Keep it relevant

A key Common Core State Standard asks for students to “write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.” That might not sound exciting or culturally relevant. But a learning experience designed for a 12th grade humanities class engaged learners in a compelling topic— policing in America —to analyze and evaluate multiple texts (including primary sources) and share the reasoning for their perspectives through discussion and writing. Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care about and connect with can ignite powerful learning experiences.

2. Make Local Connections: Keep it real

At The Possible Project , an out-of-school-time program designed to promote entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, students in a recent summer online program (modified from in-person due to COVID-19) explored the impact of COVID-19 on their communities and local BIPOC-owned businesses. They learned interviewing skills through a partnership with Everyday Boston , conducted virtual interviews with entrepreneurs, evaluated information from their interviews and local data, and examined their previously held beliefs. They created blog posts and videos to reflect on their learning and consider how their mindsets had changed as a result of the experience. In this way, we can design powerful community-based learning and invite students into productive struggle with multiple perspectives.

3. Create Authentic Projects: Keep it rigorous

At Big Picture Learning schools, students engage in internship-based learning experiences as a central part of their schooling. Their school-based adviser and internship-based mentor support them in developing real-world projects that promote deeper learning and critical-thinking skills. Such authentic experiences teach “young people to be thinkers, to be curious, to get from curiosity to creation … and it helps students design a learning experience that answers their questions, [providing an] opportunity to communicate it to a larger audience—a major indicator of postsecondary success.” Even in a remote environment, we can design projects that ask more of students than rote memorization and that spark critical thinking.

Our call to action is this: As educators, we need to make opportunities for critical thinking available not only to the affluent or those fortunate enough to be placed in advanced courses. The tools are available, let’s use them. Let’s interrogate our current curriculum and design learning experiences that engage all students in real, relevant, and rigorous experiences that require critical thinking and prepare them for promising postsecondary pathways.

letsinterrogate

Critical Thinking & Student Engagement

Dr. PJ Caposey is an award-winning educator, keynote speaker, consultant, and author of seven books who currently serves as the superintendent of schools for the award-winning Meridian CUSD 223 in northwest Illinois. You can find PJ on most social-media platforms as MCUSDSupe:

When I start my keynote on student engagement, I invite two people up on stage and give them each five paper balls to shoot at a garbage can also conveniently placed on stage. Contestant One shoots their shot, and the audience gives approval. Four out of 5 is a heckuva score. Then just before Contestant Two shoots, I blindfold them and start moving the garbage can back and forth. I usually try to ensure that they can at least make one of their shots. Nobody is successful in this unfair environment.

I thank them and send them back to their seats and then explain that this little activity was akin to student engagement. While we all know we want student engagement, we are shooting at different targets. More importantly, for teachers, it is near impossible for them to hit a target that is moving and that they cannot see.

Within the world of education and particularly as educational leaders, we have failed to simplify what student engagement looks like, and it is impossible to define or articulate what student engagement looks like if we cannot clearly articulate what critical thinking is and looks like in a classroom. Because, simply, without critical thought, there is no engagement.

The good news here is that critical thought has been defined and placed into taxonomies for decades already. This is not something new and not something that needs to be redefined. I am a Bloom’s person, but there is nothing wrong with DOK or some of the other taxonomies, either. To be precise, I am a huge fan of Daggett’s Rigor and Relevance Framework. I have used that as a core element of my practice for years, and it has shaped who I am as an instructional leader.

So, in order to explain critical thought, a teacher or a leader must familiarize themselves with these tried and true taxonomies. Easy, right? Yes, sort of. The issue is not understanding what critical thought is; it is the ability to integrate it into the classrooms. In order to do so, there are a four key steps every educator must take.

  • Integrating critical thought/rigor into a lesson does not happen by chance, it happens by design. Planning for critical thought and engagement is much different from planning for a traditional lesson. In order to plan for kids to think critically, you have to provide a base of knowledge and excellent prompts to allow them to explore their own thinking in order to analyze, evaluate, or synthesize information.
  • SIDE NOTE – Bloom’s verbs are a great way to start when writing objectives, but true planning will take you deeper than this.

QUESTIONING

  • If the questions and prompts given in a classroom have correct answers or if the teacher ends up answering their own questions, the lesson will lack critical thought and rigor.
  • Script five questions forcing higher-order thought prior to every lesson. Experienced teachers may not feel they need this, but it helps to create an effective habit.
  • If lessons are rigorous and assessments are not, students will do well on their assessments, and that may not be an accurate representation of the knowledge and skills they have mastered. If lessons are easy and assessments are rigorous, the exact opposite will happen. When deciding to increase critical thought, it must happen in all three phases of the game: planning, instruction, and assessment.

TALK TIME / CONTROL

  • To increase rigor, the teacher must DO LESS. This feels counterintuitive but is accurate. Rigorous lessons involving tons of critical thought must allow for students to work on their own, collaborate with peers, and connect their ideas. This cannot happen in a silent room except for the teacher talking. In order to increase rigor, decrease talk time and become comfortable with less control. Asking questions and giving prompts that lead to no true correct answer also means less control. This is a tough ask for some teachers. Explained differently, if you assign one assignment and get 30 very similar products, you have most likely assigned a low-rigor recipe. If you assign one assignment and get multiple varied products, then the students have had a chance to think deeply, and you have successfully integrated critical thought into your classroom.

integratingcaposey

Thanks to Dara, Patrick, Meg, and PJ for their contributions!

Please feel free to leave a comment with your reactions to the topic or directly to anything that has been said in this post.

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Critical thinking in schools: can it be taught – and how.

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

In August, education secretary Bridget Phillipson proposed that children in England should be taught to identify extremist content and misinformation online.

This would be part of a broader effort to embed “critical thinking” throughout the curriculum. The aim is to counteract what she referred to as "putrid conspiracy theories" (see Cutteridge, 2024).

This idea faced scepticism from educational influencers, such as science teacher Adam Boxer, who stated on X: "Reasonably confident that beyond a few very basic heuristics this isn't possible."

There were also more general comments on critical thinking from figures like ResearchED founder Tom Bennett, who remarked, also on X: "A few assemblies on fake news won’t cut it. The best way to nurture generations of informed critical thinkers is by teaching them acres of knowledge-rich domain content and how reasoning works. Critical thinking isn’t a skill separate from these things; it is composed of them."

Critical thinking, then, is clearly a topic of debate – especially in light of the new government’s Curriculum and Assessment Review (DfE, 2024).

Critics argue that it cannot be taught explicitly, as it is too abstract or context-dependent to be effectively integrated into the curriculum. However, supporters believe that critical thinking can and should be taught as a signposted component of modern education, provided it is contextually embedded.

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is about thoughtful analysis and reasoned judgement, requiring a deep understanding of the subject.

While there is debate on what it is, with Derridean deconstructuralist and Foucaultian poststructuralist views out there (Abrami et al, 2015), the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework, which integrates critical thinking into English lessons, defines it as analysing and evaluating ideas, solving problems, and making informed decisions (Silver, 2021). This involves assessing the validity of arguments, discerning biases, and considering alternative perspectives.

In the 21st century, where students are bombarded with information from various sources – some reliable, some not – these skills are more important than ever.

This is particularly crucial given the harmful information exacerbated by artificial intelligence and algorithms, which potentially disseminate one-sided arguments, extremist rhetoric, and conspiracy theories, as referenced by the education secretary.

Standalone subject vs domain-specific skills

One of the central debates, however, is whether critical thinking should be taught as a standalone subject or embedded within other disciplines.

Proponents of the standalone approach argue that critical thinking encompasses a set of generalisable skills that can be applied across various contexts, making it suitable for dedicated courses (Ennis, 2011; Royalty, 1995).

For example, courses that focus exclusively on logical reasoning, argumentation, and the evaluation of evidence can equip students with tools they can use in any subject.

On the other hand, critics of this approach, such as McPeck (1981) and Willingham (2008), argue that critical thinking is inherently context-dependent.

They believe that critical thinking cannot be divorced from the content it is applied to and that teaching it as a standalone subject risks reducing it to a set of abstract skills with limited real-world applicability.

Instead, they advocate for embedding critical thinking instruction within specific subjects, where it can be taught in conjunction with domain-specific knowledge.

Explicit vs discreet instruction

Another layer of debate concerns whether critical thinking should be taught explicitly or more subtly integrated into everyday classroom activities.

Explicit instruction involves direct teaching of critical thinking skills, often through exercises that focus on identifying logical fallacies, analysing arguments, and drawing inferences (Facione, 1990). This approach ensures that students are aware of the skills they are developing and can consciously apply them in different contexts, as they are signposted by teachers in different subject areas.

Conversely, discreet instruction incorporates critical thinking into regular lessons without overtly labelling it as such. For example, a history teacher might encourage students to evaluate the reliability of different sources without explicitly framing the activity as a lesson in critical thinking.

This method can be effective, particularly in helping students see the relevance of critical thinking to their everyday learning, but it risks leaving some students unaware of the skills they are developing (Paul & Elder, 2008).

How critical thinking can work within subjects

Subsequently, there are three positions on critical thinking.

  • To teach it discretely within subjects.
  • To teach it explicitly within subjects, which entails identifying cognitive activities such as reasoning, making judgements and decisions, and problem-solving.
  • To teach it as a standalone subject.

Overall, the research suggests that all three have an impact, although the latter has the least impact (Abrami et al, 2015).

Therefore, despite the debates, there is a consensus that critical thinking can and should be developed within subject-specific contexts as explicit “critical thinking” strategies.

When taught alongside subject matter, critical thinking can deepen students' understanding and enhance their ability to apply knowledge critically.

For example, in a science class, students can learn to “critically evaluate” experimental design and analyse data. In English, they can be taught to “critically assess” the strength of arguments in persuasive texts and to consider multiple interpretations of a literary work (see, for instance, meta-analyses by Abrami et al, 2008, 2015; as well as Halpern, 1998; Ennis, 2011; Heijltjes et al, 2014, for similar examples).

Evidence-based strategies for teaching critical thinking

While most aspects of critical thinking will be contextual to the content taught, researchers such as Halpern and Dunn (2022) and Abrami et al (2015) have suggested that a number of critical thinking strategies show evidence of impact across most curriculum subjects, as well as in standalone critical thinking programmes.

Even Willingham (2008, see appendix C) suggests some of these, albeit with reservations in terms of labelling them as critical thinking skills per se. Here are some examples:

Encourage questioning: One of the most effective ways to foster critical thinking is by encouraging students to ask questions. Open-ended questions that require more than a simple yes or no answer can stimulate deeper thinking. For example, instead of asking, "Did this experiment work?" a teacher might ask, "What variables could have influenced the outcome of this experiment, and how might they be controlled in future studies?" Of course, the importance of questioning, whether closed for factual recall or open for procedural explanations and critical discussion, is well established (see Chiles, 2024).

Teach metacognition: Helping students become aware of their own thinking processes can significantly enhance their critical thinking abilities. This involves teaching them to reflect on how they come to conclusions, identify potential biases, and assess the strength of their arguments. According to Halpern and Dunn (2022), metacognitive strategies are crucial for developing critical thinking because they help students regulate their thinking and approach problems more systematically.

Use real-world problems: Applying critical thinking to real-world problems makes the learning experience more engaging and relevant. When students are tasked with solving real-life issues, they must analyse information, weigh options, and make decisions based on evidence. This process naturally develops critical thinking skills. Abrami et al (2015) found that problem-based learning, which involves real-world problem-solving, significantly improves students' critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.

Debate and discussion: Structured debates and discussions are effective ways to encourage critical thinking. These activities require students to consider multiple viewpoints, develop arguments, and defend their positions. Moreover, they teach students to listen to and critique the arguments of others, which is a critical component of thinking critically (Nisbett, 2015). Kuhn (1999) also supports this approach, arguing that argumentative discourse is central to the development of critical thinking skills.

Integrate technology thoughtfully: Technology can be a powerful tool in teaching critical thinking, but it must be used thoughtfully. Digital platforms that allow students to explore simulations, engage in interactive problem-solving, and collaborate with peers can enhance critical thinking. However, it is important to guide students in distinguishing credible sources from unreliable ones – a skill crucial in the digital age (McDougall, 2023).

Final thoughts

The proliferation of social media, AI, and online misinformation highlights the importance of teaching critical thinking as an explicit, though multi-faceted, skill. However, evidence suggests that critical thinking is most effective when taught within subject domains.

This presents a challenge, as it may be difficult to find space within an already packed curriculum to transfer these skills to address these everyday issues directly, making it clear to students why they need them outside of subject-domains.

Unless schools are already teaching citizenship as required by law – or offering another avenue for media literacy – implementing this may be easier said than done.

Perhaps the Curriculum and Assessment Review will address this? Or perhaps the education secretary should be considering how we improve media literacy, as opposed to critical thinking, in order to combat the issues we are all concerned about.

  • Andrew Jones is assistant headteacher at The Reach Free School in Hertfordshire. Read his previous articles via www.sec-ed.co.uk/authors/andrew-jones  

Further information & resources

  • Abrami et al: Instructional interventions affecting critical thinking skills and dispositions: A stage 1 meta-analysis, Review of Educational Research (78, 4), 2008.
  • Abrami et al: Strategies for teaching students to think critically: A meta-analysis, Review of Educational Research (85, 2), 2015.
  • Chiles: Cultivating a questioning culture: Inspiring student engagement and participation, SecEd, 2024: www.sec-ed.co.uk/content/best-practice/cultivating-a-questioning-culture-inspiring-student-engagement-and-participation  
  • Cutteridge: Schools to wage war on ‘putrid’ fake news in wake of riots, The Telegraph, 2024: www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/08/10/schools-wage-war-on-putrid-fake-news-in-wake-of-riots  
  • DfE: Government launches Curriculum and Assessment Review, 2024: www.gov.uk/government/news/government-launches-curriculum-and-assessment-review  
  • Ennis: The nature of critical thinking: An outline of critical thinking dispositions and abilities, University of Illinois, 2011.
  • Facione: Critical thinking: A statement of expert consensus for purposes of educational assessment and instruction, The Delphi Report, California Academic Press, 1990.
  • Halpern: Teaching critical thinking for transfer across domains: Disposition, skills, structure training, and metacognitive monitoring, American Psychologist (53, 4), 1998.
  • Halpern & Dunn: Thought and Knowledge: An Introduction to Critical Thinking, Routledge, 2022.
  • Heijltjes, Van Gog & Paas: Improving students’ critical thinking: Empirical support for explicit instructions combined with practice, Applied Cognitive Psychology (28, 4), 2014.
  • Kuhn: A developmental model of critical thinking, Educational Researcher (28,2), 1999: https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X028002016  
  • McDougall: Media literacy and citizenship education, ACT Journal, (59), 2023: https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/39951/9/ACT%20journal%20issue%2059%20p14%20Julian%20McDougall.pdf  
  • McPeck: Critical Thinking and Education, St Martin’s Press, 1981.
  • Nisbett: Mindware: Tools for smart thinking, Allen Lane, 2015.
  • Paul & Elder: The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking: Concepts and tools, Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2008.
  • Royalty: The generalizability of critical thinking: Paranormal beliefs versus statistical reasoning, Teaching of Psychology (22, 2), 1995.
  • Silver: Cambridge Life Competencies: Critical Thinking (blog), Cambridge University Press, 2021: www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/2021/01/06/cambridge-life-competencies-critical-thinking  
  • Willingham: Critical thinking: Why is it so hard to teach? American Educator (31, 2), 2008: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/AEPR.109.4.21-32  

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Critical thinking activities and ideas, critical thinking in practice, impactful interleaving strategies that can be used in the classroom.

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Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking

Creativity and critical thinking in everyday teaching and learning, what it means in school.

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Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting. To make it more visible and tangible to practitioners, the OECD worked with networks of schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial a set of pedagogical resources that exemplify what it means to teach, learn and make progress in creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education. Through a portfolio of rubrics and examples of lesson plans, teachers in the field gave feedback, implemented the proposed teaching strategies and documented their work. Instruments to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention in a validation study were also developed and tested, supplementing the insights on the effects of the intervention in the field provided by the team co-ordinators.

What are the key elements of creativity and critical thinking? What pedagogical strategies and approaches can teachers adopt to foster them? How can school leaders support teachers' professional learning? To what extent did teachers participating in the project change their teaching methods? How can we know whether it works and for whom? These are some of the questions addressed in this book, which reports on the outputs and lessons of this international project.

English Also available in: French

  • https://doi.org/10.1787/62212c37-en
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This chapter presents a framework to support teachers in the design of classroom activities that nurture students’ creativity and critical thinking skills as part of the curriculum. Developed collaboratively by participants in the OECD-CERI project, the framework is composed of a portfolio of domain-general and domain-specific rubrics and a set of design criteria to guide teachers in the development of lesson plans that create opportunities for students to demonstrate their creativity and critical thinking while delivering subject content. Teachers across teams in 11 countries worked to adapt their usual teaching practice to this framework and to develop lesson plans in multiple subject areas. The chapter presents a selection of exemplar lesson plans across subject areas and concludes with some key insights.

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Author(s) Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin i , Carlos González-Sancho i , Mathias Bouckaert i , Federico de Luca i , Meritxell Fernández-Barrerra i , Gwénaël Jacotin i , Joaquin Urgel i  and Quentin Vidal i i OECD

12 Nov 2019

Pages: 127 - 164

Teaching and assessing creativity in schools in England

  • Perspective Article
  • Published on: September 12, 2019

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

  • Assessment |
  • Creativity |
  • Curriculum |
  • Leadership |
  • Motivation |
  • Professional learning |
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It is 20 years since the National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE, 1999) offered a simple if daunting definition of creativity:

Imaginative activity fashioned so as to produce outcomes that are both original and of value.

NACCCE also made a landmark recommendation about the need for a national strategy to embed creativity in schools. In the decade following the report, there was notable progress. The Creative Partnerships initiative ran between 2002 and 2011 and the concept of Personal Learning and Thinking Skills (PLTS) was created (QCA, 2009). For the first time, PLTS introduced the idea that there was a set of learnable skills associated with creativity. During this period, the Creativity: Find it, Promote it materials (QCA, 2005) offered significant practical support for the development of creativity.

In recent years creativity has become less visible in schools in England. The National Curriculum ( Department for Education The ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England , 2014) mentions creativity once but only in the sense of an abstract study of the phenomenon:

The national curriculum…introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.

But if things may have been moving sluggishly in England, elsewhere they have been galloping forward. For the last four years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been conducting research across 11 countries exploring the ways in which creative and critical thinking can be taught and assessed in schools (OECD, 2015).

In a study of broader skills across the world, the Brookings Institution has shown that the term ‘creativity’ is mentioned in government education documents (alongside communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and communication) from more than 50 countries (Horton et al., 2017). Australia, for example, makes ‘Critical and Creative Thinking’ a core capability in its national curriculum and the Welsh Government has launched a new curriculum to develop students as ‘enterprising creative contributors’ (Welsh Government, 2019). This year the Durham Commission on Creativity and Education calls for a 4–19 strategy for embedding creativity in all schools in England (Durham Commission, in press).

Perhaps most importantly, given its influence, the Programme for International Student Assessment Abbreviated to PISA, a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school students’ knowledge and skills ( PISA The Programme for International Student Assessment, a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), intended to evaluate educational systems by measuring 15-year-old school students’ knowledge and skills ) has decided that the concept of creativity in schools is a robust one that will be assessed in a new test of ‘Creative Thinking’ in 2021 (OECD Directorate for Education and Skills, 2018, p. 6):

Creative Thinking in PISA 2021 is defined as the competence to engage productively in an iterative process involving the generation, evaluation and improvement of ideas, that can result in novel and effective solutions.

The concept of creativity in schools

Over the last 50 years, creativity has become an established field of study. An early pioneer, Guilford, suggested that there are two kinds of thinking: convergent (coming up with one good idea) and divergent (generating multiple solutions) (Guilford, 1950). Divergent thinking, he argued, was at the heart of creativity. Guilford sub-divided divergent thinking into three components: fluency (quickly finding multiple solutions to a problem), flexibility (simultaneously considering a variety of alternatives) and originality (selecting ideas that differ from those of other people). Creativity is, by common consent, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional (Sternberg, 1996).

Research into creativity in schools really began in the 1970s (Torrance and Myers, 1970). Locating creativity in schools presents immediate challenges given that school life is organised by subject disciplines, with no mention of creativity on a student’s timetable. Indeed, there is an ongoing debate about the degree to which creativity is domain-specific or domain-general – that’s to say whether, for example, being creative is different in maths or drama, at school or in the community, at play or at work. In an even-handed review of this debate (Baer, 2010), there are arguments on both sides. And, while the world is inspired by extraordinary creative genius, schools necessarily focus on what Craft calls ‘little c’ creativity (Craft, 2001, p. 46), the everyday ways in which all young people can harness their creative selves to good effect.

Figure 1 shows a model of creativity increasingly used in schools across the world. Developed by the Centre for Real-World Learning at the University of Winchester, it was trialled in English schools as part of the Creative Partnerships initiative (Lucas et al., 2013). The model is also the prototype for the OECD (OECD, 2015) and is currently being used in 500 secondary schools in Wales as part of an initiative coordinated by Creativity, Culture and Education, as well as in schools in England, the Republic of Ireland, Hungary, Norway and Australia.

Figure 1 is titled "The centre for real-world learning's five-dimensional model of creativity (Lucas et al., 2013)" and shows a circle with five segments. Labels are attached to each segment. The first segment is "Inquisitive" with the labels "Wondering and questioning", "Exploring and investigating", and "Challenging assumptions". The second segment is "Persistence", with the labels "Tolerating uncertainty", "Sticking with difficulty", and "Daring to be different". The third segment is "Collaborative", with the labels "Sharing the product", "Giving and receiving feedback", and "Cooperating appropriately". The fourth segment is "Disciplined", with the labels "Developing techniques", and "Crafting and improving". The fifth circle is "Imaginative", with the labels "Playing with possibilities", "Making connections", and "Using intuition".

  This model reminds us that creativity is important both at an individual and at a group level. It also assumes that creativity exists in every discipline of a school’s curriculum and, as such, takes many forms depending on the subject context in which it is located. Schools that have adopted the model over time have developed a range of pedagogical strategies. In England, Thomas Tallis School (2017) is an excellent example.

Embedding creativity in schools

Figure 2 is titled "A four-step approach to developing creativity in the curriculum (Lucas and Spencer, 2017)". It shows a cycle with the following four steps: "Step 1 - Develop a real understanding of creativity", "Step 2 - Establish the classroom climate: Teacher modelling, language and rewards which show a consistent approach to pedagogy", "Step 3 - Manage the learning: Methods chosen to deliver pedagogical flexibility for different outcomes", "Step 4 - Build learner engagement and commitment to creativity".

Step 1 is the establishment of a robust and practical definition of creativity in schools, as evidenced in this paper.

Step 2 recognises that embedding creativity in schools is at least in part a cultural matter. Many researchers have helped us to understand the climate necessary for creativity to flourish (Torrance, 1970; Cropley, 1997, Lucas, 2001; QCA, 2005), and their thinking can broadly be subsumed within this list (Craft, 2010):

  • focusing on pupils’ motivation to be creative
  • encouraging purposeful outcomes across the curriculum
  • fostering in-depth knowledge of disciplines
  • using language to stimulate and assess imaginativeness
  • offering clear curriculum structures but also involving pupils in creating new routines where appropriate
  • encouraging pupils to go beyond what is expected
  • helping pupils to find personal relevance in their learning
  • modelling the existence of alternatives in the way information is imparted, while also helping pupils to learn about and understand existing conventions
  • encouraging pupils to explore alternative ways of being and doing, celebrating where appropriate their courage to be different
  • giving pupils enough time to incubate ideas
  • encouraging the adoption of different perspectives
  • modelling the variety of ways in which information is discovered, explored and imparted.

Step 3 involves considering those pedagogigcal methods most closely associated with what we want to learn. Such methods are, if you like, the unique DNA or fingerprint of creative thinking. Five interconnected pedagogies are of particular relevance to the cultivation of creative thinkers: problem-based learning, the idea of the classroom as a learning community, playful experimentation, growth mindset The theory, popularised by Carol Dweck, that students’ beliefs about their intelligence can affect motivation and achievement; those with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence can be developed and deliberate practice (Lucas and Spencer, 2017).

Step 4 often takes the form of engagement in extra-curricular activities. Creativity is one of the explicit objectives of the Scouting Programme, for example, with a Creative Activity badge (Scouts, 2019). The Royal Yachting Association promotes its OnBoard sailing sessions for schools as a way of fostering creativity in young sailors (Royal Yachting Association, 2018).

Assessing creativity in schools

Our understanding of creativity and its assessment has advanced to such an extent that the global testing body PISA is preparing a new Creative Thinking Test for use in 2021. But whereas schools are familiar with the other subjects tested by PISA – mathematics, science and reading – most schools do not assess creativity.

They don’t do so for a number of reasons. They do not necessarily see why it would be helpful. Some teachers worry that assessing creativity is a bit too close to assessing personality. Many teachers are rightly concerned about any test that might reduce a complex concept to a reductive number or grade. They do not know how to. And always in schools, the gravitational pull of individual subjects is so great that it dominates thinking about achievement in schools.

Across the world there is growing evidence that creativity can be assessed and that such assessments help students and teachers to be more precise about how it is being cultivated and what they are doing that works (Lucas, 2016). Table 1 shows some of the different approaches being used by schools.

Table 1 is titled "Approaches to assessing creativity in schools (Lucas and Spencer, 2017)" and shows a table with four columns and seven lines. The columns are labelled: "pupil", "Teacher", "Real-world", and "Online". The "Pupil"-column includes "Real-time feedback". The "Teacher"-column includes "Criterion-referenced grading". The "Real-world"-column includes "Expert reviews". The "Online"-column includes "Reliable, validated online tests".

Table 1: Approaches to assessing creativity in schools (Lucas and Spencer, 2017)

Teachers will be familiar with some of these approaches. Of particular interest and perhaps less well-known are creativity portfolios, capstone projects (complex, real-world assignments), exhibitions (often inviting critique from experts) and digital badges marking progress in an aspect of creativity.

The only educational administration currently routinely administering summative tests of creativity to students is the State of Victoria in Australia. In most countries where schools are experimenting with assessing creativity, the emphasis is formative, using assessment for learning Known as AfL for short, and also known as formative assessment, this is the process of gathering evidence through assessment to inform and support next steps for a students’ teaching and learning . As Dylan Wiliam has argued (Wiliam, 2006), this kind of approach helps by clarifying and understanding learning intentions and criteria for success, provoking good discussions, providing feedback and engaging students in their learning.

Beghetto (2018) challenges school leaders and teachers to:

  • Rethink the formula for success from ‘school success = doing what is expected x how it is expected’ to ‘creative expression in education = meet predetermined criteria x using an unexpected approach’
  • Share favourite ‘failures’, preparing and supporting students for and through setbacks that come with creative expression, by teachers sharing their own favourite ‘flops’
  • Build an unshakeable sense of possibility thinking (Craft, 2010), helping students to imagine how they can move from the way things currently are to how they might be and then go on and take ownership of causing this to happen.

And I add a challenge about the language we use. Talking about cultivating as well as teaching creativity and using the phrase tracking the progression of their creative thinking rather than assessing seems to invest these activities with both the art and the science that they require. For creativity can be ‘caught’ as well as taught, as the word ‘cultivation’ suggests. Approaches that frame assessment as setting precise goals and more accurately understanding progress towards these is more motivating than the meaningless notion of an imaginary ‘level 4b in Creative Thinking’.

References  

Baer J (2010) Is creativity domain specific? In: Kaufman J and Sternberg R (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity . Cambridge: Cambridge Handbooks in Psychology, pp. 321–341.

Beghetto R (2018) Taking beautiful RISKS in education to support students’ creativity. Educational Leadership 76(4): 18–24.

Craft A (2001) Little c Creativity. In: Craft A, Jeffrey B and Liebling M (eds) Creativity in Education. London: Continuum, pp. 45–61.

Craft A (2010) Possibility thinking and wise creativity: Educational future in England? In: Beghetto R and Kaufman J (eds) Nurturing Creativity in the Cassroom . New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 289–312.

Cropley A (1997) Fostering creativity in the classroom: General principles. In: Runco M (ed) The Creativity Research Handbook , volume 1 . Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 83–114.

Department for Education (2014) National Curriculum: Framework Document . London: DfE Department for Education - a ministerial department responsible for children’s services and education in England .

Guilford J (1950) Creativity. American Psychologist 5: 444–454.

Horton S, Kim H and Care E (2017) New Data on the Breadth of Skills Movement: Consolidation. Washington: Brookings Institution.

Lucas B (2001) Creative teaching, teaching creativity and creative learning. In: Craft A,

Jeffrey B and Leibling M (eds) Creativity in Education. London: Continuum. pp. 35–44.

Lucas B (2016) A five-dimensional model of creativity and its assessment in achools. Applied Measurement in Education 29(4): 278–290.

Lucas B, Claxton G and Spencer E (2013) Progression in Student Creativity in School: First Steps Towards New Forms of Formative Assessments. Paris: OECD.

Lucas B and Spencer E (2017) Teaching Creative Thinking: Developing Learners who Generate Ideas and Think Critically. Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing Ltd.

National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE) (1999) All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture & Education. London: Department for Education and Employment.

OECD (2015) Intervention and Research Protocol for OECD Project on Assessing Progression in Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in Education . Paris: Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) Governing Board.

OECD Directorate for Education and Skills (2018) Framework for the Assessment of Creative Thinking in PISA 2021 (second draft). Paris: OECD.

QCA (2005) Creativity: Find it, Promote it – Promoting Pupils’ Creative Thinking and Behaviour Across the Curriculum at Key Stages 1, 2 Video Pack. London: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

QCA (2009) Personal, learning and thinking skills. Available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110215111658/http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-3-and-4/skills/personal-learning-and-thinking-skills/index.aspx (accessed 16 July 2019).

Royal Yachting Association (2018) Creativity– why it’s the key to learning. Available at: www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Creativity-why-its-the-key-to-learning.aspx (accessed 16 July 2019).

Scouts (2019) Creative Activity Badge. Available at: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4258/creative-activity-badge/?cat=11,18,774&moduleID=10 (accessed 16 July 2019).

Sternberg R (1996) Successful Intelligence: How Practical and Creative Intelligence Determine Success in Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Thomas Tallis School (2017) Pedagogy Wheel. Available at: https://www.thomastallisschool.com/tallis-pedagogy-wheel-guide.html (accessed 16 July 2019).

Torrance E (1970) Encouraging Creativity in the Classroom. Dubuque, IA: William C Brown.

Torrance E and Myers R (1970) Creative Learning and Teaching . London: Harper & Row.

Welsh Government (2019) Our National Mission: A Transformational Curriculum –Proposals for a New Legislative Framework. Cardiff: Welsh Government.

Wiliam D (2006) Assessment for learning – why, what and how. In: Cambridge Assessment Network Seminar. Cambridge: Cambridge Assessment Network.

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Why teaching for creativity should be central to the curriculum

Drew rowlands, chair of education and a board member of shakespeare north, suggests that schools need to be explicit about teaching for creativity.

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

The latest Ofsted Education Inspection Framework has a greater emphasis on offering a broad curriculum. School leaders are required to describe the quality of the education they are offering young people in terms of ‘Intent’ (what they are trying to achieve), ‘Implementation’ (how it will be taught and assessed) and ‘Impact’ (the effect on pupils).

The framework gives schools the opportunity to put creativity at the heart of their intent and teaching for creativity as an underpinning mechanism for how they will implement their curriculum, all to ensure that the creativity of all pupils is developed across the curriculum.

Creative teaching prepares young people for an uncertain future

We are living in a world during exponential times of change, which has been described by Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus as VUCA - Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. A world in which:

  • The amount of new technical information is doubling every 2 years .
  • Nano Technician, Vertical Farmer, Big Data Architect and Meme Archivist are just four roles today that we hadn’t heard of ten years ago; meaning that students will be entering jobs that currently don’t exist.
  • 90% of global data has been created in the last 2 years.
  • 50% of current work activities are technically automatable.

The World Economic Forum Future Jobs Report of 2020 has suggested fifteen skills that will be most needed between now and 2025. At least 10 of these are direct outputs of developing independent learners through creativity such as:

  • Analytical thinking and innovation.
  • Complex problem-solving.
  • Creativity, originality and initiative.
  • Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility.
  • Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation.

Schools have a clear role in equipping students with the knowledge, skills and understanding of how to develop and utilise their creativity. For the competencies that make us creative are the same ones that will make us resilient to change and agile to the uncertain times in which we live.

Creating meaningful learning experiences

Where schools have effective curriculum intent, they are often focused on a strong commitment to developing meaningful learning experiences that help pupils develop their capacity to learn. In England, the Teaching and Learning Toolkit produced by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) places metacognition (the act of learning to learn) at the top of its meta-analysis of interventions that impact on pupil progress.

In essence, teaching for creativity is the pedagogical practice that allows metacognition, or the act of learning to learn, to happen.

Teaching for creativity

If curriculum intent is focused on creativity, teachers will need to embrace teaching for creativity as the tool for implementation. Many teachers already teach creatively. They use imaginative and innovative approaches to deliver curriculum and make learning interesting and memorable.

However, teaching for creativity is slightly different. It enables children to develop their own learning capacities. The following features summarise research into key aspects associated with teaching for creativity.

Be playful with style and pace

  • Try setting students tasks with differing time constraints. This will challenge pupils to adapt and think quickly.
  • Contrast this with tasks where pupils have to think more carefully and make decisions over a longer time.
  • For example, this could involve a blend of 5 minute exercises in which pupils have to generate answers/solutions and more complex challenges requiring pupils to collaborate to create an outcome over 20+ minutes.
  • In the longer example there are opportunities to build pupil responsibility by creating scenarios in which pupils have to explain and justify their decision or solutions. Allowing pupils to undertake more complex challenges inevitably involves them taking risks thereby experiencing a culture that allows for mistakes and the learning that emerges from these.

Generate pupil’s imagination

  • Develop pupil’s imagination by asking open questions that encourage dialogue and exploration. This approach helps pupil’s to develop deeper transferable thinking.
  • Start a lesson with a provocation or with a series of intriguing questions. Exploring issues from different perspectives and experimenting with thoughts and options stimulates imagination, often referred to as 'possibility thinking', and can be a useful approach to warm up creative thinking skills.

Make time for play

  • Play is free of constraints and encourages pupils to generate new ideas within a safe environment. This makes them more malleable to learning, helps them to experiment in their thinking and increases motivation and engagement.

The creative process

When creativity is taught effectively, it’s structured, disciplined and robust. The model below outlines a creative process developed by CapeUK (now IVE). It aims to recognise different dimensions that a creative process might go through.

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

The CapeUK/IVE Creative Process

In this method, teachers control the process. They frame each stage by posing questions that allow learners to respond and set a time limit for each step. In this way, the teacher can be confident there is structure, but, at the same time, pupils control the learning. They’re responsible for generating ideas, framing those ideas towards a solution, testing and refining them as part of the ‘doing’ and finally presenting and reflecting on their solution to the challenge.

Creativity - from intent to implementation and impact

A school that puts creativity at their heart of curriculum intent will be planning to:

  • Equip pupils with the tools to learn independently.
  • Inspire a love of learning.
  • Embed a culture that enables learners to grow in resilience and embrace challenge.
  • Empower learners to find new solutions.
  • Prepare learners fully for our changing world.

In order to implement this vision learning will be typified by:

  • Effective questioning on the part of the teacher.
  • Engaged pupils who own the solution they are working towards.
  • High degrees of collaboration.
  • Learning from things that don’t work.
  • Pupils and teacher exploring challenges without preconceived ideas of outcome/solution.
  • Strong structure with pupils learning at pace.
  • Pupils producing outcomes that have relevance to both their learning and lives.

If schools puts creativity at the heart of their curriculum intent with teaching for creativity as the mechanism for how that intent is implemented, the impact can be an outstanding learning environment where significant and sustained progress is evident in all aspects of school life.

Drew Rowlands is Chair of Education and a board member of Shakespeare North.

Further Reading

Cochrane, P. and Cockett, M. (2006). Building a creative school: A dynamic approach to school development. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham.

QCA (2004) Creativity: Find it Promote it

Lucas, B., Claxton, G. and Spencer, E. (2013) Progression in Student Creativity in School: First Steps Towards New Forms of Formative Assessments. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Vincent-Lancrin, S., et al. (2019). Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking: What it Means in School. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Jeffrey, B. and Craft, A. (2004). Teaching creatively and teaching for creativity: distinctions and relationships . Educational Studies, 30:1, 77-87.

Davis, L. (2018). Creative Teaching and Teaching Creativity: How To Foster Creativity In The Classroom. Psych Learning Curve.

Pedagogy & Practice

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STEM, Creativity and Critical Thinking: How Do Teachers Address Multiple Learning Demands?

  • First Online: 31 January 2022

Cite this chapter

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

  • Deborah Corrigan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8324-8217 6 ,
  • Debra Panizzon 6 &
  • Kathy Smith 6  

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1 Citations

This chapter provides real examples that highlight how teachers must translate the concepts of creativity, critical thinking and the integrated nature of STEM in their practical realities. Such practical realities also require teachers to think about pedagogical approaches and their behaviours such as standing back with a clear pedagogical purpose, using questions to prompt student thinking and actively valuing student ideas become essential aspects of teaching practice to enhance student critical and creative thinking. Teachers also need opportunities to focus on their own thinking around these concepts by sharing and developing cumulative thinking around the nature of knowledge which defines disciplines and how to integrate this thinking with critical and creative thinking in STEM education. There is benefit in understanding creativity as a process of producing new ideas and critical thinking as evaluating and making value judgements in relation to evidence and arguments. In translating these concepts of creativity, critical thinking and STEM into practical realities, teachers need to consider the contexts in which they operate and look for opportunities and manage the risks that will arise. Such translations and considerations are not only difficult but are also often highly problematic in education traditions and structures that are already well-established.

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Acknowledgements

The researchers acknowledge the support from the Department for Education South Australia in funding the project discussed and permitting teacher contributions. We specifically acknowledge the Case Studies written by Ginny McTaggart, Roxanne Ware and Heather Brooks who agreed to the inclusion of identified excerpts in our chapter.

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Corrigan, D., Panizzon, D., Smith, K. (2021). STEM, Creativity and Critical Thinking: How Do Teachers Address Multiple Learning Demands?. In: Berry, A., Buntting, C., Corrigan, D., Gunstone, R., Jones, A. (eds) Education in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85300-6_6

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Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting. To make it more visible and tangible to practitioners, the OECD worked with networks of schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial a set of pedagogical resources that exemplify what it means to teach, learn and make progress in creativity and critical thinking in primary and secondary education. Through a portfolio of rubrics and examples of lesson plans, teachers in the field gave feedback, implemented the proposed teaching strategies and documented their work. Instruments to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention in a validation study were also developed and tested, supplementing the insights on the effects of the intervention in the field provided by the team co-ordinators.

What are the key elements of creativity and critical thinking? What pedagogical strategies and approaches can teachers adopt to foster them? How can school leaders support teachers' professional learning? To what extent did teachers participating in the project change their teaching methods? How can we know whether it works and for whom? These are some of the questions addressed in this book, which reports on the outputs and lessons of this international project.

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national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

  • > Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom
  • > Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?

national curriculum creativity and critical thinking

Book contents

  • Frontmatter
  • List of Contributors
  • Acknowledgments
  • 1 How to Discourage Creative Thinking in the Classroom
  • 2 Teaching for Creativity in an Era of Content Standards and Accountability
  • 3 Developing Creative Productivity in Young People through the Pursuit of Ideal Acts of Learning
  • 4 Creativity: A Look Outside the Box in Classrooms
  • 5 Using Constraints to Develop Creativity in the Classroom
  • 6 Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together
  • 7 The Five Core Attitudes, Seven I's, and General Concepts of the Creative Process
  • 8 Learning for Creativity
  • 9 Broadening Conceptions of Creativity in the Classroom
  • 10 Everyday Creativity in the Classroom: A Trip through Time with Seven Suggestions
  • 11 Education Based on a Parsimonious Theory of Creativity
  • 12 Roads Not Taken, New Roads to Take: Looking for Creativity in the Classroom
  • 13 Creativity in Mathematics Teaching: A Chinese Perspective
  • 14 Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?
  • 15 When Intensity Goes to School: Overexcitabilities, Creativity, and the Gifted Child
  • 16 Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity in the Classroom: Have We Come Full Circle?
  • 17 Attitude Change as the Precursor to Creativity Enhancement
  • 18 Creativity in College Classrooms
  • 19 Teaching for Creativity
  • Creativity in the Classroom Coda: Twenty Key Points and Other Insights

14 - Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

INTRODUCTION: CREATIVITY IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Since the latter years of the twentieth century, creativity has been recognized by policy makers as increasingly important in the education process. At a global level, it has been argued that such policies, whether focused on the youngest learners or those engaged in higher education, are imbued with a “universalized” perspective (Jeffrey & Craft, 2001), which implies that creativity is involved in almost all activities and that all human beings are to some degree capable of creative engagement. In England, Banaji, Burn, and Buckingham (2006) identified nine distinct rhetorics that underpin distinct yet overlapping approaches to creativity in the English classroom. Some are more prevalent than others and each has an age focus, but all are visible in both policy and practice:

Creative genius rhetoric – With its roots in the European Enlightenment, this post-Romantic perspective emphasizes the fostering of extraordinary creativity in a range of domains.

Democratic and political rhetoric – With its roots in the Romantic era, this perspective views creativity as offering empowerment.

The notion of creativity as ubiquitous – This idea views creativity as pervasive.

Creativity as a social good – This concept emphasizes social and individual regeneration, with a focus on inclusion and multiculturalism.

Emphasis on the economic imperative – This rhetoric emphasizes the neoliberal discourse regarding the economic program thus developing a rationale for fostering creativity in the classroom as necessary to developing economic competitiveness.

Approaches that emphasize play – With roots again in Romantic thought, this perspective sees childhood play as the origin of adult creative thought.

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  • Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in England?
  • By Anna Craft , University of Exeter, UK; The Open University, UK
  • Edited by Ronald A. Beghetto , University of Oregon , James C. Kaufman , California State University, San Bernardino
  • Book: Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511781629.015

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Developing Critical and Creative Thinking: in Science

This National Strategies study guide offers tried and tested practical suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom when considering the teaching of How Science Works. A variety of tasks help teachers to focus on developing their own creativity and critical thinking, transferable skills which they can pass on to their students. There are also strategies for developing critical and creative thinking for teachers to try.

The National Curriculum of 2007 placed a strong emphasis on the development of skills for life and work, personal learning and thinking skills and using creativity and critical thinking in problem solving.

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  1. Creativity and critical thinking and what it means for schools

    Creativity is one of the most critical skills for the future. Without creativity, there would be no innovation. However, there is mixed evidence on how to develop it and whether it is transferable. OECD has done research with schools and teachers in 11 countries to develop and trial resources to develop creativity and critical thinking in ...

  2. Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration

    Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Assessment, Certification, and Promotion of 21st Century Skills for the Future of Work and Education ... Our evaluation framework for critical thinking was in part inspired by Barnett's "curriculum for critical being" (2015), whose model distinguishes two axes: one defined ...

  3. Fostering and assessing student critical thinking: From theory to

    The research on creativity and on critical thinking do not actually overlap much, even though critical thinking sometimes plays an important role in creativity, and vice versa. School curricula and educational rubrics are, however, prone to group them together and to talk about "creative and critical thinking".

  4. Eight Instructional Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking

    Students grappled with ideas and their beliefs and employed deep critical-thinking skills to develop arguments for their claims. Embedding critical-thinking skills in curriculum that students care ...

  5. Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together

    6 Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together; 7 The Five Core Attitudes, Seven I's, and General Concepts of the Creative Process; 8 Learning for Creativity; 9 Broadening Conceptions of Creativity in the Classroom; 10 Everyday Creativity in the Classroom: A Trip through Time with Seven Suggestions

  6. Critical thinking in schools: Can it be taught

    The continuing rise of misinformation has sparked renewed calls for critical thinking to be at the heart of the national curriculum. Andrew Jones considers what exactly critical thinking is and how best it might be 'taught' Image: Adobe Stock In August, education secretary Bridget Phillipson ...

  7. Strategies for Teaching Students to Think Critically:

    Critical thinking in the national curriculum and teacher education in ... Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar. ... Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, and Collaboration: Asses... Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar "Valued" Thinking in Education: Liberating the Narrative.

  8. Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Creativity is a process that demands critical analysis and evaluation and shares with critical thinking the need for (to revisit Guilford) fluency, flexibility and originality of thought, the ability and dispositions to reinterpretation and challenge old ideas and to move forward in the face of ambiguity.

  9. PDF Fostering Critical Thinking across the Primary School s Curriculum in

    The primary education curriculum of the European Schools [64] mentions critical thinking as a key skill to develop among pupils together with other higher-order skills (e.g., problem-solving, collaboration, communication). However, there is a lack of clarity concerning what exactly is included across the curriculum.

  10. Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting.

  11. Teaching and assessing creativity in schools in England

    The National Curriculum (Department for Education The ministerial department responsible for children's services and education in England, ... (OECD) has been conducting research across 11 countries exploring the ways in which creative and critical thinking can be taught and assessed in schools (OECD, 2015).

  12. Full article: Educating for twenty-first century competencies and

    The policy focused on enabling students to develop creative and critical thinking skills, and its strategies included the explicit teaching of creative and critical thinking skills, reduction of curriculum content, revision of assessment modes, and greater emphasis on process instead of outcomes in learning and teaching (Tan, Koh et al ...

  13. Why teaching for creativity should be central to the curriculum

    Creativity - from intent to implementation and impact. A school that puts creativity at their heart of curriculum intent will be planning to: Equip pupils with the tools to learn independently. Inspire a love of learning. Embed a culture that enables learners to grow in resilience and embrace challenge.

  14. Creativity as part of a national curriculum

    In Australia creativity is referred to as Critical and Creative Thinking and is part of its national curriculum. Critical and Creative Thinking is one of seven general capabilities, each one of which can be embedded in individual subjects or learning areas, as the model above shows. While the country has a broadly described national curriculum ...

  15. Standardized Curriculum and Loss of Creativity

    Abstract. The current emphasis on national standards in core content areas works against 3 laudable goals of 21st-century education: cooperation, critical thinking, and creativity. I focus on creativity as a critical 21st-century skill and argue that the preoccupation with curriculum standards that are overly prescriptive undermines efforts at ...

  16. Positioning thinking within national curriculum and assessment systems

    Positioning thinking within national curriculum and assessment systems: Perspectives from Israel, New Zealand and Northern Ireland. ... Many nations are concerned to include explicit learning goals related to critical and creative thinking and problem-solving in their educational systems, as a response to 21st century learning challenges. ...

  17. STEM, Creativity and Critical Thinking: How Do Teachers Address

    This chapter provides real examples that highlight how teachers must translate the concepts of creativity, critical thinking and the integrated nature of STEM in their practical realities. ... Within Australia there is a specified national curriculum for Foundation (5 years of age) to Year 12 (16-17 years of age) that covers a range of ...

  18. Measuring What Matters: Assessing Creativity, Critical Thinking, and

    If creative and critical thinking are both inherently important in developing global problem solvers and further represent the goals of gifted curriculum, then classroom assessments must be designed to measure student development of these process skills. Many assessment rubrics emphasize the end product or superficially address process skills.

  19. Fostering Students' Creativity and Critical Thinking

    Creativity and critical thinking are key skills for complex, globalised and increasingly digitalised economies and societies. While teachers and education policy makers consider creativity and critical thinking as important learning goals, it is still unclear to many what it means to develop these skills in a school setting. To make it more visible and tangible to practitioners, the OECD ...

  20. Possibility Thinking and Wise Creativity: Educational Futures in

    6 Infusing Creative and Critical Thinking into the Curriculum Together; 7 The Five Core Attitudes, Seven I's, and General Concepts of the Creative Process; 8 Learning for Creativity; 9 Broadening Conceptions of Creativity in the Classroom; 10 Everyday Creativity in the Classroom: A Trip through Time with Seven Suggestions

  21. Developing Critical and Creative Thinking: in Science

    This National Strategies study guide offers tried and tested practical suggestions for teachers to use in the classroom when considering the teaching of How Science Works. A variety of tasks help teachers to focus on developing their own creativity and critical thinking, transferable skills which they can pass on to their students. There are also strategies for developing critical and creative ...

  22. Critical and Creative Thinking

    Critical and creative thinking involves students thinking broadly and deeply using skills, behaviours and dispositions such as reason, logic, resourcefulness, imagination and innovation in all learning areas at school and in their lives beyond school. Thinking that is productive, purposeful and intentional is at the centre of effective learning ...

  23. PDF Critical and Creative Thinking learning continuum

    Typically, by the end of Year 10, students: Reflecting on thinking and processes element. Think about thinking (metacognition) describe what they are thinking and give reasons why. describe the thinking strategies used in given situations and tasks. reflect on, explain and check the processes used to come to conclusions.

  24. Fostering Critical Thinking Skills: Comparative Creative Projects in

    Fostering Critical Thinking Skills: Comparative Creative Projects in General Education Humanities and Social Science Classrooms. ... According to both post-secondary educational advocates and employers, critical thinking is a vital skill for students to learn during their university education. It is not a skill, however, that students can be ...