Changes in information behavior require new competencies among teachers and learners. Learning to learn and to validate information from different sources will increasingly become a great challenge for learners and educators in future. So today critical thinking should be extended to include a digital component. This competence, digital critical literacy, is one of the most important educational objectives institutions like schools or universities. It implies more reflection, analysis and evaluating information and media. These abilities are vital components of education programmes generally and in teacher education programmes specifically because of the crucial role teachers play in supporting this form of literacy. So teaching to teach critical thinking and digital critical literacy is absolutely necessary in teacher education. The key issues in this study relate to how these competencies are integrated into teacher education programmes, what the core abilities of student teachers are in this field and how is critical thinking implemented in teacher education in Germany?