| Critical thinking is a central, if contested, idea in higher education and there has been considerable discussion about how we are teaching students to think critically. This prompts questions about how we as teachers or academic developers are thinking critically about our practice and about the institutions and societies in which we work. Increasingly there are moves towards the surveillance of research and teaching. Ball (2003) points out that even reflective practice has become an instrument of control. Well-meaning efforts to improve the quality and status of teaching can become exercises in control, creating uniformity and a fear of genuine innovation and risk taking. Academic developers risk becoming coopted into a surveillance role. So, as terror fills our souls (Ball 2003), what is happening to critical thinking? This paper is a brief reflection on the role of critique in the modern university. |
