Integration of Critical Thinking in Interior Design Education: Investigating the Educators' Perception and Challenges

Critical thinking is a vital skill that higher education students need to equip themselves with to prepare them for the real-world workplace. Recognizing this, critical thinking skills are highlighted as one of the important soft skills by the Ministry of Higher Education in Malaysia in the higher education system. Considering the importance of these skills in education, numerous studies have been conducted on the subject. However, there is still a lack of research specifically focused on feedback from educators on the implementation in integrating critical thinking into interior design education. Therefore, this study aims to explore the perceptions and challenges faced by interior design educators in implementing critical thinking in interior design program. Using a qualitative approach, the study employs semi-structured interviews with interior design educators in selected case studies. 17 participants were involved, and the data collected from these interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results revealed four major themes: the role and attitude of students, the role and attitude of educators, instructional design, and teaching and learning activities.