A Comparison of the Critical Thinking Skills of BSW and MSW Students

Abstract

The Council on Social Work Education's standards requires the teaching and measurement of critical thinking skills at both the baccalaureate and masters level of social work education. How to measure those skills is a difficult question for educators. Equally difficult is determining whether the skills are being taught to social work students. This research is the result of a study begun in 1998 that compared scores on the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) of recently graduated BSW students and MSW students who had completed their degree or were in their last semester. Surprisingly, little difference seems to exist between the critical thinking skill levels of BSW and MSW students.