Supporting critical thinking skills needed for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme: A content analysis of a national and two international education programs in Turkey

• Published in: Thinking skills and creativity Vol. 47; p. 101211
• Main Authors: Dulun, Öykü, Lane, Jennie F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Content analysis; Critical thinking; International baccalaureate; Critical thinking; International baccalaureate; Content analysis
• ISSN: 1871-1871; 1878-0423
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2022.101211

•International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, International General Certificate of Secondary Education and Ministry of Turkish National Education Program Provide Grade 9 and 10 students with opportunities to develop interpretation, analytical and evaluation skills.•English and Turkish language courses have a variety of activities for students to think critically.•The International Baccalaureate's Approaches to Learning serves as guide to ensure critical thinking is integrated throughout the curriculum.•Students need more opportunities to manage and monitor their critical thinking development. Students need well developed critical thinking skills for future employment and to deal with real life problems. These skills involve reviewing, comprehending and analyzing sources of data to make informed decisions and to reflect on possible outcomes and consequences of these decisions. Fortunately, many education programs provide learners with activities and experiences to foster and develop their critical thinking skills. One well-known program is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for upper high school students. Given the challenges of this program, it is important to ensure that students are prepared before they enroll. Therefore, this study examined educational programs offered to Turkish students in grades 9 and 10 to learn about the objectives and learning experiences they receive to develop their critical thinking. A content analysis of three education programs was conducted, guided by a framework identifying dimensions of critical thinking. The three programs were the national program, the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme and Cambridge's International General Certificate of Secondary Education. For each program, four different subject areas were analyzed. The subject areas that addressed all the critical thinking components most thoroughly were the language courses (Turkish and English). The study also found that Approaches to Learning skills outlined by the International Baccalaureate provide strong guidance to ensuring critical thinking are integrated throughout the curriculum.