Nurturing Critical Minds: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Education and the Workforce
Nurturing Critical Minds: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Education and the Workforce
We are delighted to invite you to our upcoming international conference on “Nurturing Critical Minds: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Education and the Workforce”. The conference is interdisciplinary, it will cover a diverse range of fields and perspectives on the development of critical thinking skills in different academic fields at universities and labour market institutions. Showcasing the holistic approach, the conference aims to explore the vital role of critical thinking in diverse academic disciplines and its significance in the ever-evolving landscape of labour market institutions.
The conference aims to bridge the gap between universities and labour market institutions, fostering a culture of critical thinking that thrives in the classroom and enhances professional growth in the workplace. This conference will serve as a platform for educators, researchers, and labour market professionals from diverse fields to explore innovative strategies, and share best practices and collaborate on integrating critical thinking skills into educational curricula.
Keynote speakers
Alistair Starling
Co-Founder and Managing Director of the European Diplomats
Luís Sebastião
Associate Professor in the Department of Pedagogy and Education, Director of the Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora
Dimitris Pnevmatikos
Professor in the Department of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Western Macedonia
Erika Vaiginienė
Associate professor in the Department of Business, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Vilnius University
Inga Jončienė
Head of Business Development at Alliance for Recruitment
Adam Mastandrea
Assistant Professor in the Department of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University
Daiva Penkauskienė
Director of Modern Didactics Center, Associate Professor in the Institute of Educational Sciences and Social Work, Mykolas Romeris University
Sandra Kairė
Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University
Kay Hemmerling
Dr Kay Hemmerling, Chairman at the Institute for Moral-Democratic Competence (IMDC e.V.)
Programme
Programme
Inna Samoylyukevych
Critical Thinking as a Conditio Sine Qua Non for University-Level Foreign Lan-guage Teachers' Professional Development
Critical Thinking as a Conditio Sine Qua Non for University-Level Foreign Language Teachers' Professional Development
Inna Samoylyukevych
Vilnius University / Institute of Foreign Languages Lithuania
The rapid development of the information society causes new challenges to higher educa-tion, continuously encouraging faculty development. In this respect, it is crucial to draw attention to cultivating university-level teachers' critical thinking as a necessary condition for enabling them to effectively sift through today's information overload, find new and different ways of solving
educational problems, as well as to play an exemplary role in students' use of critical thinking skills [1]. Issues of incorporating critical thinking skills in language education have recently been tack-led in the field of research development on teachers' critical thinking [2], foreign language teaching in HEI and the labour market [3], as a component of the CPD framework for teacher educators [4], etc.
The present study reports on the analysis of the role of critical thinking in foreign language teachers' professional development within the project on the implementation of the CEFR Companion Volume [4] into the teaching/learning process at Vilnius University (Lithuania) in 2019-2022 [5]. A qualitative case study research was chosen as the number of participants was limited. Convenience sampling was used, the participants being selected among English language teachers delivering courses at different faculties and study programmes who volunteered to participate in the survey.
The qualitative analysis of anonymous teachers' responses to a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions resulted in identifying the ways teachers' critical thinking can contribute to
professional development concerning the curriculum, teaching and students. The findings showed that critical engagement in received knowledge in the process and as a result of professional de-velopment ensures university-level foreign language teachers' active participation in the culture of teaching and learning, reflection on their own proficiency in critical thinking skills as part of their professional competence and ability to foster students' critical thinking.
Keywords: critical thinking skills, professional development, foreign language teachers, higher education, curriculum
References
1 Borg, S. (Ed.). (2015). Professional development for English language teachers: Perspectives from higher education in Turkey. Ankara: British Council. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teaching/files/pub_British%20Council%20CPD.PDF
2 Wang, D., Jia, Q. (2023). Twenty years of research development on teachers' critical thinking: Current status and future implications – A bibliometric analysis of research articles collected in WOS. Thinking Skills and Creativity. 2023, 48,101252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2023.101252
3 Postič, S.; Kriaučiūnienė, R.; Ivancu, O. (2023). Viewpoints on the Development of Critical Thinking Skills in the Process of Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education and the Labor Market. Educ.Sci.2023,13,152. https:// doi.org/10.3390/educsci13020152
4 British Council (2015). Teaching for success: Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework for teacher educators. British Council Publishing, London.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/CPD_framework_for_teachers_WEB.PDF
5 Council of Europe (2020), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume, Council of Europe Publishing, Stras-bourg, available at www.coe.int/lang-cefr.
Biography
Inna Samoylyukevych is an Associate Professor at the Department of Research of Languages for Specific Purposes, Institute of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Philology, Vilnius University
Born in Ukraine, graduated from Zhytomyr Ivan Franko Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine (teacher of English and German). She obtained her PhD degree (Kyiv State Linguistic University, Ukraine). She worked at Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, Ukraine (Professor, Head of the Depart-ment of the English Language and Primary ELT Methodology). Fulbright scholar ( University of Missouri-Saint Louis, USA). National English language curriculum and course book writer. Her research interests include ELT methodology and foreign language teachers' professional development, and comparative studies in language teacher education.
