Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills and Media Literacy in Initial VET Students: A Mixed Methods Study on a Cross-Country Training Program

Context: In the last few decades, the constant and exponential changes in the society's con-sumption of information have increased the awareness of practitioners from the education and training field, on the need for training programs for the enhancement of critical thin-king skills and media literacy among students from Initial Vocational Education and Trai-ning (IVET) who are less exposed to intellectual trainings than their peers in traditional education pathways.Approach: With this impetus, the present paper reports the results of a mixed methods study evaluating a training program for such competences. Based on a cognitive psychology theoretical framework, the training program consisted in three main techniques through which trainers can work with students in the classroom. N= 35 trainers from five different countries (i.e., Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands) were instructed about the training techniques and implemented them in their training centres. Then, a total of N= 288 students among these countries were involved in the testing of the training, which took place on a duration average of 5 months. Mixed methods approach was used to eva-luate the effectiveness and quality of the training. Notably, prospective statistical analysis evaluated the training's impact of the participating students and compared with a control group. Qualitative interviews examined the training's lived experience with a group of stu-dents and trainers.