Analysis of the Beliefs of Psychosocial and Socio-Educational Intervention Professionals in Master's Degree Training About Critical Competence

Critical thinking is a skill that is of great importance in our current and future society. This value is beyond all theoretical doubt although it does not have its practical realization to the same extent, especially in terms of coordinated and evidence-based approaches. It seems that the principle that life is made by living also applies to critical thinking and this is a problem. But in addition to actions based on evidence, there is another element that also has great relevance, such as the ethical foundation that must permeate the entire critical process, making what to criticize, for what, why, how and when, elements that should not be left to improvisation or what is traditionally done. The objective of this research is to describe the ethical connotations that come together in the critical process. To this end, we focus on a group case study of undergraduate and graduate students of psychosocial and socio-educational studies in Spain, collecting information with instruments built ad hoc. The results show little practical awareness of the weight of ethics in critical decisions, producing a change of orientation when making decisions when the focus is forced on the two dimensions and, above all, on the ethical aspect.