Pensamento crítico na Universidade Católica do Porto: um projeto em construção

In 2011, a pioneer and innovator pedagogical plan emerged in Catholic University - Porto Regional Centre. It has, as prime aim, the promotion of a continuous, wide, deep and transversal reflection, in order to establish, as a mark of the academic community, the compromise with Critical Thinking. This plan has, as biggest foundations, the understanding of the Human Being as a complex and multidimensional entity, and of Education as a continuous process of integrative and integrated formation. In this sense, the coordinates are: the dignity of the person and human development; freedom of thinking, feeling and critical-creative expression; culture of citizenship and participation; solidarity and respect towards otherness; cooperative work aiming the interchange of knowledge(s) and cultures; transformation of cognizance into social awareness and compromise. This communication aspires to present the process of implementation of the above mentioned project which, based on a multi and cross-functional model, grows up placed upon two main foundations: 1. Teaching – on the one hand, training of Porto Catholic University’s teachers and collaborators; on the other hand, classes for all students of all the degrees, intending: (i) to give the students the tools that allow them to reason in a more structured, inclusive, deep and critical way; (ii) to develop a reflective and personal learning, in an environment where all the characters take on a lead role; (iii) to stimulate the awareness of the need of having active citizens, in a changing society which claims for alternatives. 2. Research – with a cross-functional aspect, it regards the work of a team able to contribute to the creation of an area of permanent reflection and to the diversity of perspectives and ways of being in the world.