Exploring Teachers’ Views on Early Childhood Critical Thinking

This study explores early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ perceptions of young children’s critical thinking skills using Peter A. Facione’s critical thinking framework. Employing a quantitative descriptive design, data were collected from 131 ECE teachers in Banten Province through a structured questionnaire. The analysis revealed that teachers demonstrated a relatively strong understanding of problem analysis but showed limited comprehension of other critical thinking components, including interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. This gap potentially impairs their capacity to stimulate children’s reasoning, reflection, and conclusion-making skills. Furthermore, teachers were found to rely predominantly on factual questioning, with minimal emphasis on promoting analytical or evaluative thinking during classroom interactions. The findings underscore the urgent need for targeted professional development programs that equip teachers with effective questioning techniques and instructional strategies aimed at fostering higher-order thinking. Integrating critical thinking into the early childhood curriculum through play-based and inquiry-driven approaches holds promise in enhancing children’s cognitive flexibility, reflective thinking, and problem-solving abilities beyond mere factual recall.