Knowledge management and critical thinking are two broad and important phenomena for contemporary society. Their concepts are both well-discussed in the literature. However, the existing conceptual links between them have not been analyzed, and the role of critical thinking in the process of effective knowledge management has not been revealed. This article aims to fill this gap by presenting the conceptual connections between knowledge management and critical thinking. In order to reveal the inner structure of each concept and identify the conceptual connections, a critical review was conducted. The results showed the links between the concepts of knowledge management and critical thinking within three dimensions: relationships, process, and goals. In conclusion, each dimension is presented and described, with a special focus on the unexpected and deep intersections revealed between the two concepts on a personal, interpersonal, and societal level. This research may be regarded as providing the basis for further analysis of the links between these two phenomena. Increased awareness of the existence of critical thinking in knowledge management can forge new directions in organizational strategies and staff training programs.

<p>The article discusses the construction of the critical thinking concept in higher education and its change in scientific publications between 1993 and 2017. Based on a systematic literature review, the following research questions are raised: <em>how does construction of critical thinking concept change in the context of higher education during time? How are personal, interpersonal, and social aspects expressed in the concept of critical thinking in the context of higher education? </em>The systematic literature review revealed significant grow of publications starting from 1998.  It is also disclosed slight change in treating critical thinking as purely general or domain-specific competence. The authors of the researched articles do not make clear division between critical thinking as a general and as a domain-specific competence. Researchers in different fields tend to associate critical thinking with the development of a person’s cognitive and intellectual capacities, including skills and attitudes. However, some authors reveal also interpersonal and social aspects of critical thinking. Alas, there are not so many publications in favour of such comprehensive approach. But there is still some hope that critical thinking will be treated and nurtured as personal, interpersonal and social competence.</p>

Preface 6 variety in conceptualisations on what it is, how it is shown, what it addresses,and what it requires. The use and development of critical thinking are regularly and intentionally supported both in the labour market and higher education, despite diverse and clear indications that all that supporting of critical thinking, all that teaching of critical thinking are not always equally effective. Different conceptualisations of critical thinking result in different interpretations of the value of particular interventions, and, in turn, these different interpretations result in different reactions to those interventions. In addition to that insight, the monograph also extends an invitation for more research on fostering critical thinking, both by creating situations that afford critical thinking and by developing what is needed to engage in critical thinking. Here, too, we can only hope that the invitation will be widely accepted.The monograph highlights the importance of critical thinking, that is, why it is equally important to research it. It also highlights the complexity of critical thinking, stressing the need for research that acknowledges that complexity. The monograph recognises and illustrates that critical thinking deserves and requires multiple research approaches. Understanding critical thinking, the practice of critical thinking, the fostering of critical thinking, and the development of critical thinking requires knowledge and an in-depth understanding of the literature on critical thinking; it also requires engagement in empirical research, from qualitative and quantitative to descriptive, explanatory and interventionist. The monograph reveals that more conceptual and more empirical research need one another. Through instantiation, empirical research helps understand and validate conceptual research on critical thinking, while the use of conceptual literature is essential for deconstructing the findings in order to make them meaningful. The methodological richness and solid embeddedness in the (international) literature of this monograph might be intimidating, but extend an invitation to researchers and scholars in the domain of critical thinking to be especially critical when it comes to making methodological choices. Again, we can only hope that the invitation will be widely accepted.In The Society of the Spectacle, Guy Debord invites us to be critical and not to be 'spectators', writing: 'Spectators do not find what they want, they want what they find'. This monograph helps to not become spectators -to remain critical first and foremost about (the development of) critical thinking.

The study analyses the role of reflection in the context of professional improvement as one of the assumptions for profession competence of the social pedagogues. It is noted that reflection of professional experience is important in the preparation of the specialists providing social pedagogic assistance and in the improvement of their competence to act in both defined and undefined professional situations. Applying the qualitative research it has been established that in order to improve the provision of social pedagogic assistance it is important to continuously reflect on own professional activity. The research has established that reflection is one of the factors of the competence of specialists of  the social pedagogics, since reflection of individual experience allows to consider actions, practicable methods, to foresee the results and the impact on the situation, on other people and on the person.

Critical thinking has been more than just a part of academic rhetoric and educational practice for some time now. In the rapidly changing world of information flow, critical thinking is often identified as the goal of higher education, and in the modern labour market, the importance of critical thinking to an organisation’s success is emphasised. Critical thinking is recognised as one of the tools for the formation and development of human and social capital. Nevertheless, there is a lack of evidence about the manifestation in the labour market of the critical thinking developed at institutions of higher education. This article seeks to reveal the attitude toward the importance of critical thinking in the modern labour market and toward the responsibility for developing it from the perspective of different stakeholder groups (lecturers, students, employers and employees) (the case of Lithuania). Quantitative research methodology was chosen, using a questionnaire for data collection. It was found that in both higher education and the labour market, critical thinking is treated as a developed and dynamic competence that encompasses both cognitive skills and dispositions. All of the stakeholder groups consider inference and argumentation to be the most important critical thinking skills in the modern labour market. Critical thinking dispositions such as self-confidence and fairness are the most valued. All of the stakeholder groups delegate responsibility for the development of critical thinking to the individual. In evaluating critical thinking, no divide was established between the higher education and labour market segments. The most differences in attitudes emerged in evaluating the assumption of responsibility for the development of critical thinking.