This study examines how students’ critical thinking (CT) skills and well-being are associated with their academic achievement during early stages of higher education. Understanding these connections is important because these factors play a central role in studying and learning in higher education. 

CT is defined as purposeful, self-regulatory, and goal-directed thinking, combining a set of cognitive skills and affective dispositions (Facione, 1990). This study focuses on CT skills such as analysis, evaluation, and interpretation (Facione, 1990). CT is recognized as a key learning outcome in higher education (Arum & Roksa, 2011). The European Union has also emphasized the importance of CT in managing the complexity and constant change of today’s society (European Comission, 2019).

Well-being refers to optimal psychological functioning, encompassing both hedonic (happiness) and eudaimonic (personal growth) perspectives (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Well-being includes the feeling of relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2001), or the sense of belonging, defined as students’ feeling of being accepted, included, and connected to their institutions (Goodenow, 1993).  

Academic achievement can be defined and measured in multiple ways, but commonly used indicators include grade point average (GPA), the weighted average of course grades, and earned study credits (ECTS), which reflect students’ progress toward degree completion (van Rooij et al., 2018). Although these metrics do not directly assess learning outcomes or competency development, they serve as practical and widely accepted proxies for academic performance (York et al., 2015). 

The study addresses the following research questions: (1) To what extent do first year students’ CT skills explain their academic achievement in their first year of higher education studies? (2) To what extent is students’ well-being connected to their first-year academic achievement? 

One of the key skills for successful achievement and progress in studies is CT (e.g. Martín-Raugh et al., 2023). Cognitive strategies such as problem solving, reasoning, analysis, and interpretation - core components of CT (Facione, 1990) - form the foundation of students’ readiness for higher education and enable them to learn content across disciplines (Conley, 2008). However, students enter higher education with widely varying levels of CT skills (Arum & Roksa, 2011). Previous studies have shown that the majority of Finnish first-year higher education students demonstrate CT skills at a basic or lower level (Ursin et al., 2021), and international research indicates that some entering students may lack these skills altogether (Zahner et al., 2022). 

Given the critical role of the early months in higher education, this study investigates students’ well-being and CT skills upon entry to higher education studies to determine whether these factors are associated with academic achievement and study progress. By exploring these relationships, we can better understand the factors that contribute to early academic performance and identify students who may be in need for support. Academic achievement, as measured by GPA and ECTS, is important already at the beginning of studies as some institutions require minimum credit accumulation or GPA threshold for continued study. 

This is a quantitative study using data collected as a part of a national research project in 2023-2025. The participants of the study are 901 first-year undergraduate students from a Finnish higher education institution, representing multiple fields of study. The participating students’ CT skills were measured with the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) which is designed to measure higher education students’ CT and written communication skills (Zahner et al., 2022). The CLA+ includes two tasks. The first task is an open-ended performance-based task (PT) in which students write an essay based on provided material. The PT measures analysis and problem-solving, writing effectiveness, and writing mechanics. The second task is a selected-response task (SR) in which students choose the correct answer from given answer options based on provided material. This task is designed to measure scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical reading and evaluation, and critiquing an argument. The well-being of participating students was measured with two sets of questionnaires: a shortened version of The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWBS), referred to as SWEMWBS (Stewart-Brown et al., 2009) and a sense of belonging scale modified from PISA 2018 (OECD, 2020). SWEMWBS consists of seven positively worded items relating to the participants’ mental well-being in the two preceding weeks (Stewart-Brown et al., 2009). The sense of belonging scale includes six items in which students reflect their experiences of belonging to their institution and relationships with other students (OECD, 2020). Academic achievement and study progress were operationalized using students’ GPAs and accumulated ECTS credits, as recorded in an institutional student register between August 2023 and August 2024. Data will be analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as correlations, conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 29). The main analyses exploring the extent to which students’ CT skills and well-being explain academic achievement will be conducted using linear regression analyses.

At the time of writing this proposal, data of academic achievement is still being collected, consequently, no analyses have yet been conducted. Nonetheless, we expect to expect to find that students with stronger CT skills also perform better in their studies (e.g. Martín-Raugh et al., 2023). We also expect that students who experience better well-being to be more successful in their studies despite previous research suggesting the connection to be relatively modest (Bücker et al., 2018). The results of this study can be used to better support students’ transition from upper secondary to higher education and thereby supporting the upcoming academic journey. As this study is based on cross-sectional design, it includes inherent limitations. To gain a deeper understanding of how well-being, academic achievement, and CT skills development interact among higher education students’ educational paths, more research is needed. A longitudinal study on the development of CT and relevant background variables should therefore be designed and implemented.

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