Reading Iraq, Italy, Lebanon and English cases of education curriculum policy through Mayssa’s framework of four competences of critical thinking reveals a gap in scripting competences for critical thinking

Students gaining competences for critical thinking as part of a formal curriculum facilitates them to develop more equal relationships of power between themselves and others without fear of repercussions from those in authority. Mayssa’s Framework of Four Competences for Critical Thinking drawing on John Dewey is presented: 1. can ask good questions; 2. can problem solve; 3. can collaborate; 4. can communicate. Curriculum polices as text from Italy, Iraq, Lebanon and England are read through this framework by operationalising Taysum and Iqbal (2012) analysis of policy as text. Evidence reveals none of the four nation states’ curriculum policies as text have the four competences for critical thinking from Mayssa’s Framework. This aligns with the curriculum policy as text analysis of 23 Nation states across the world (Taysum et al, 2012; 2014; 2017; 2020). Our new contribution to knowledge is state school students do not have access to these competences for critical thinking which prevents their examination success pattern matching the examination success of private school students who do have access to these critical thinking competences through pedagogies and elite networks. Recommendations are 1) Mayssa’s Framework of Four Competences for Critical Thinking be formally included in policy curriculums to allow pattern matching between state school and private school exam success mapped to curriculum outcomes and pedagogies, without unnaturally biasing the exam system in favour of private schools, and 2) if Mayssa’s Framework of Four Competences for Critical Thinking is resisted by an elite government, a clear explanation, line by line, of what is wrong with the policy is presented by the government to the teaching profession as part of a democratic dialogue.