“CRITICAL READING WITH THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION”: FROM CONCEPT TO IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract

The postulate of teaching critical thinking is becoming increasingly popular in Polish schools. Those trying to implement it face two types of challenges. First, there is a lack of methodological programmes that allow for a change in teaching philosophy. The existing ones, which invite a repository of techniques that foster deep thinking, are not embedded in a long-term reflection on what conditions must be met for the real development to occur. The second major issue is the lack of preparation of teaching staff, who have not experienced effective learning in this area during their education, both as students and teachers. The paper focuses on the lesson study method and its practical implementation in education using the example of the “Critical Reading with the School of Education” project. The project was based on the premise that every teaching method should be subjected to detailed evaluation. Evaluation should be present at various stages of the programme, from conceptualisation relating to the educational context, through teacher training, to in-depth analysis of student performance. Each stage of evaluation has been carefully planned to correspond to the project’s research plan and is discussed in the article along with a presentation of the evaluation results.