Critical Thinking and Quality Education

Focus Areas

The Education Support Program has been promoting critical thinking as a necessary component of a quality education since 1997.  The Critical Thinking Project focuses foremost on the essential transaction of teaching and learning and provides a practical method that empowers teachers to create learning environments which nurture inquiry and active participation in learning. 

As a direct service delivery program that encourages teachers and education systems to place students at the center of the learning process, the project utilizes a "train the trainer" model and has reached over 50,000 teachers in 30 countries across five continents.  The program has been working with teachers and organizations on the Thai-Burma border since 1999, and the methodology is being utilized to improve teaching and learning in monastery schools across Burma.

The development and encouragement of critical thinking is one feature of a quality education system. In addition to encouraging critical thinking, the Education Support Program improves education quality by helping schools and teachers deal with economic challenges, develop professionally, and improve accountability and standards. The program works closely with Education International, the global federation of teachers unions, and has conducted activities such as a joint study exploring the impact of the global economic crisis on teaching and learning in Slovakia, Poland, Romania, and Serbia.  With help from the Education Support Program, the Council of Associations of School Teachers—the first association of its kind in Russia—will work with teachers’ trade unions on the professional development of teachers and on promoting civil society accountability in assuring quality tests and accreditation.