JONAED

This study investigated the critical thinking ability and learning styles of trainees in Police Colleges in Nigeria. The design adopted for this study was a descriptive survey design. The population of this study was 14,320 police trainees enrolled in various police training institutions in Nigeria. The random proportionate sampling strategy was used to select 375 respondents from the six (6) police training institutions comprising both male and female trainees. Two instruments were used to collect data for this study. They are the “Owolabi Critical Thinking Test (OCTT) (2011)” and the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) by Felder and Soloman (2003). The OCTT and ILS are both standardised tests. The reliability of the OCTT was established at 0.71 using the Cronbach’s alpha. The test-retest reliability of the ILS ranges from 0.73-0.87 within interval of four weeks. Three research questions and one null hypothesis were raised to guide the study. Mean scores and percentages were used for the analysis of the research questions. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance using multiple regression. The findings showed poor critical thinking ability among trainees. The dominant learning style dimension among trainees is the active, sensing, visual and sequential dimension. The relationship between learning styles dimensions and critical thinking ability of trainees in Police Colleges was found to be significant. It is therefore recommended among others that: programme for training institutions in the Nigerian Police should infuse elements of critical thinking in the curriculum; teachers/ trainers should be made to appreciate that trainees come with different learning approaches and care must be taken to provide tutoring that meets their needs as learners.